Free Unlimited Service Conversations with iSlash AI WhatsApp API

Service Conversations (or User-Initiated Conversations) are free when you are onboarded with iSlash AI WhatsApp API.

Business-Initiated Message Rates

Business-Initiated Messages, which include Marketing, Utility and Authentication Messages, the rates vary based on message category and country/region rate.

Message Categories : WhatsApp messages are divided into two main categories -

1. Business-initiated messages: Messages sent by the business to the user first.

2. User-initiated messages: Messages sent by the user to the business first.

Business-Initiated Messages

Business-initiated messages are charged based on each Message Template used. These messages are further categorized into:

1. Marketing Messages
   Used for promoting new products, services, or features, targeted offers, abandoned cart reminders, and similar promotional content.

   

   
   

2. Utility Messages
   Used to facilitate user-requested actions, such as subscription confirmations, order or delivery notifications, account updates or alerts.

   Utility messages facilitate a specific, agreed-upon request or transaction, or update a customer about an ongoing transaction. These may include transaction confirmations, transaction updates, and/or post-purchase notifications.

   
   

   • Free to send during the 24-hour Customer Service Window.

   
   

   

   For a template to be categorized as utility, it must meet the following additional criteria:

   • Must be non-promotional, not containing any promotional or persuasive intent.

   • Must be either

     1. specific to, or requested by, the user

        (clearly related to their order, account, services, or transactions)

     2. or essential or critical to the user

        (e.g., to ensure user safety).

        
        

3. Authentication Messages
   Used to verify a user's identity via one-time passwords, such as for account verification or recovery. Authentication conversations enable you to authenticate users with one-time passcodes, potentially at multiple steps in the login process (e.g., account verification, account recovery, integrity challenges).

   

User-Initiated Messages

User-initiated messages are also referred to as Service Conversations, which aim to support customer inquiries.

When a customer sends a message to you, it opens a 24-hour customer service window. Within this 24-hour window, you can respond with free-form messages.

During this 24-hour window, Utility Template Messages sent are also free of charge.

Ways to Initiate a Conversation

To start a conversation with your customers, you can use the following methods:

1. User-Initiated Message:
   When a customer/user proactively contacts your business, a 24-hour free customer service window is opened.

2. WhatsApp Link:
   When a customer/user clicks the WhatsApp button from a social media profile and proceed to send a message to business, a 24-hour free customer service window is triggered to begin.

3. Click-to-WhatsApp Ads (CTWA, Free Entry Point Conversations):
   When a customer/user clicks on a Click-to-WhatsApp ad from social media and initiates a chat with your business.

   • Note: For this type of user-initiated conversation, if the business responds within 24 hours, the free customer service window will be extended to 72 hours.

4. Through Business-Initiated Marketing, Utility, and Authentication Messages:
   When you send an approved marketing, utility, or authentication message template to a customer, AND the customer interacts by clicking a button in the message or send you a message, a 24-hour customer service window is opened.

With per-message pricing, businesses on our platform will be charged:

• Per delivered marketing template message

• Per delivered authentication template message

• Per delivered utility template message, if delivered outside of a customer service window

For example, if you send a marketing template and then two utility templates to a WhatsApp user, that will incur 3 charges (1 marketing, 2 utility). If the 2 utility templates are sent while a customer service window is open between you and the user, however, it would only incur a single charge (1 marketing).

Free Entry Point Conversations

When a user messages your business from an ad that clicks to WhatsApp or a Facebook Page action button, and the business responds within 24 hours, that response opens a 72-hour (3-day) ‘free entry point’ window where free-form messages and template messages are not charged.

If you do not respond within 24 hours, a free entry point conversation is not opened and you must use a template to message the customer, which is charged per message basis.

Once the free entry point conversation is opened, you can send any type of message to the customer without incurring additional charges. However, you can only send free-form messages if there is an open customer service window between you and the customer.

For example, if the customer messages you via a Click to WhatsApp Ad at 10am and you respond via a template message at 10pm the same day:

• The free-entry point conversation starts at 10pm and lasts 72 hours.

• You can send template messages at no charge in those 72 hours.

• You can send free-form messages until 10am the next day, at which point the customer service window closes, as it is independent of the free entry point conversation (if the customer messages you again, however, it opens another 24 hour customer service window in which you can send free form messages).