What's New with WhatsApp? All You Need to Know about Messaging Limits

WhatsApp has begun globally implementing new per-user messaging limits, known as the "Frequency Cap," started on May 23, 2024. In this blog post, we will explore what these limits entail, their impact, and how businesses can adapt to this change for continued success.

WhatsApp remains a crucial tool for customer communication, making it essential for businesses to understand upcoming changes and news from WhatsApp. Following a successful pilot program in India earlier this year, the Frequency Cap aims to enhance user experience by reducing message overload and ensuring that each communication is relevant, timely, and valuable.

What is the Frequency Cap?

The WhatsApp Frequency Cap are restrictions on the number of marketing messages a user can receive from various businesses within a specified period. The messages affected by the WhatsApp Frequency Cap are marketing template messages meant to start new conversations with users, however, ongoing conversations and essential communications like utility, authentication, and service messages are exempt from these limits.

The goal of the Frequency Cap is to improve user experience on WhatsApp. WhatsApp aims to ensure that each marketing communication is both timely and relevant for recipients by preventing message fatigue. This enhances user satisfaction and encourages businesses to focus on their message quality.

The pilot program in India revealed significant impacts, such as a 30-50% decrease in marketing message delivery. This varied across industries and was influenced by audience quality and message relevance, underscoring how important it is for businesses to craft high-quality, targeted messages.

These changes require a strategic shift in how marketing messages are crafted and delivered. For more meaningful engagements and higher customer satisfaction, businesses must focus on the following aspects:

• Relevance
• Impact
• Added value

Tips and Best Practices for WhatsApp

Businesses should review their current WhatsApp marketing messaging strategies and optimize their message templates. This includes ensuring that messages are relevant, timely, and valuable to the recipient.

1. Segment Your Audience

Tailor messages to specific audience segments based on their interests and previous interactions to enhance relevance and engagement.

2. Optimize Message Frequency

Adjust the frequency of messages to align strategic objectives, making sure not to bombard users with messages.

3. Craft High-Quality, Compelling Content

Focus on delivering high-quality, engaging content that provides real value to the recipients.

4. Encourage Interaction

Encourage clients to engage with messages by using interactive elements to drive engagement, creating meaningful dialogue and interactions.

5. Monitor and Measure Results

Track key metrics such as chat events, open rates, conversion rates, and more with WhatsApp Analytics to gauge the effectiveness of campaigns.

Read our blog Maximizing Marketing Potential with WhatsApp: Strategies & Best Practices to learn more about WhatsApp Marketing, crafting successful WhatsApp Marketing Campaigns, learn from templates, and more.

Crafting compelling message templates is crucial for capturing the audience’s attention and driving engagement. Below is a deeper dive on how to create effective WhatsApp message templates with the WhatsApp Frequency Cap in mind:

1. Personalization

Personalization is paramount to making messages stand out. Personalize messages with recipients’ information such as their name and their preferences or previous interactions.

• Personalized messages are more likely to resonate with users and result in higher engagement rates.

For example, if a user recently purchased a product, businesses may follow up with personalized recommendations or useful information related to their purchase.

2. Clarity and Brevity

WhatsApp users appreciate messages that are clear and to the point. It is important to avoid long messages that would lose the reader’s interest.

• Businesses may use bullet points or numbered lists to break up text and ensure readability.

Businesses must keep messages concise, ensuring the main message is delivered within the first few lines.

3. Strong CTA

Every message should include a clear and compelling call-to-action (CTA).

• Phrases such as “Shop Now”, “Get Started”, or “Start Trading” can effectively drive user actions.

Whether it be to visit the business’ website, make a purchase, or talk to an agent, CTAs should be prominently displayed and easy to follow.

4. Multimedia Integration

Enhance messages by integrating multimedia elements (videos, images, or documents).

• Visual content can make messages more engaging and memorable.

Businesses can use product images or tutorial videos to provide value and encourage interaction.

5. Value Proposition

Businesses must highlight the value proposition in their messages. It is important to clearly show how reading the message sent by the business benefits the recipient.

• Be it a special discount, an exclusive offer, or valuable information, businesses should make sure there is a payoff, where businesses make sure users understand what’s in it for them.

Read our blog How to Write WhatsApp Bulk Messages that aren’t Spammy to know more on how to craft effective WhatsApp Bulk Messaging templates!

1. Focus on Quality

Businesses must send messages that genuinely enrich the customer experience, high quality messages that offer real value are more likely to be read and acted upon by users.

2. Review and Optimize

Regularly review messaging strategies and templates. Analyze the performance of different messages and refine the approach based on what works best.

3. Segment and Target

Effective audience segmentation can help businesses tailor their messages to each segment to ensure they are relevant and engaging. Divide the audience into segments based on demographics, interests, past interactions, and engagement levels.

4. Leverage Analytics

Use analytical tools to track the performance of marketing messages. Monitor metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. This data will help businesses understand what works and what does not.

5. Focus on Compliance

Ensure that messaging complies with WhatsApp guidelines. Businesses should be wary of the following which can lead to compliance issues and affect messaging quota:

• Misclassifying messages
• Providing opt-in and opt-out options for recipients
• GDPR compliance
6. Engage in Two-Way Conversations

Encourage two-way conversations by responding promptly to inquiries and engaging with users in meaningful interactions, building stronger relationships and enhancing user satisfaction.

WhatsApp’s Frequency Cap will impact industries differently based on their communication needs and strategies.

1. Forex (Foreign Exchange) Trading
• Use marketing messages to provide valuable educational content, such as trading tips and market analysis, to enhance engagement
• Tailor promotional messages to specific trader segments based on their trading behavior and preferences
2. Estate Agencies
• Send personalized property listings and updates based on user preferences and search history
• Use multimedia such as virtual tours and high-quality images to make promotional messages more engaging and valuable
3. E-commerce and Retail
• Enhance the relevance of each message by personalizing offers based on user behavior and purchase history
• Schedule or automate WhatsApp messages strategically to ensure they reach users at the most effective times
4. Travel and Hospitality
• Use audience segmentation to send highly relevant promotions to specific user groups, such as frequent travelers or loyalty program members
• Create dynamic message templates that adjust content based on user preferences and past behaviors

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Are there any exceptions for the Frequency Cap?

Yes, there are specific exceptions to the WhatsApp Frequency Cap. The new limits only apply to WhatsApp Marketing messages intended to start new conversations with users. Several types of messages or conversation categories are exempt from the WhatsApp Frequency Cap, including:

• Utility Messages

Essential notifications such as appointment reminders, transaction confirmations, and delivery updates. These are intended to provide necessary information to the user.

• Authentication Messages

Messages for verifying user identities, such as OTPs (one-time passwords) for secure logins and transactions.

• Service Messages

These are messages that support customer service interactions with ongoing conversations.

These exemptions are for maintaining the functionality of crucial communications while controlling the volume of marketing content that users receive.

2. What are the specific limits of the Frequency Cap?

As of now, WhatsApp has not disclosed the exact number of marketing messages that users can receive or the specific time frames for these limits. It has been indicated that these parameters may be refined over time to better suit user needs and improve the overall experience.

Without the exact limit, businesses should focus on the following:

• Quality
• Relevance
• Value of each message
• How engaging each message is

Conclusion

The introduction of WhatsApp’s Frequency Cap marks a significant shift in how businesses will approach their messaging strategies on the platform. By limiting the number of marketing messages users receive, WhatsApp aims to enhance user experience and ensure interactions are relevant, timely, and valuable. For businesses, this change necessitates a strategic re-evaluation of how they communicate with their audience. Emphasizing personalization, relevance, and value in each message will be crucial in maintaining engagement and adapting to the per-user messaging limits.

By focusing on quality over quantity, businesses can foster more meaningful interactions with their customers, as well as being able to continue to leverage WhatsApp as a powerful tool for communication and customer engagement despite the constraints of messaging limits.

If you want to learn more about WhatsApp and other messaging channels for your customer communication, schedule a free, no commitment demo with Convrs now or try it out for yourself with a free trial of the Convrs platform!