This blog is for folks leveraging WhatsApp chatbot for social impact, and specifically for those folks whose programs include broadcasting nudging messages to a large number of audience to re-engage. 

The objective of this blog is to share 

1. Constraints for broadcast messaging by bots on WhatsApp
2. Practical tips for getting reduce cost of broadcasting and increase the delivery rates of broadcast messages via WhatsApp to the beneficiaries

Summary: Broadcast messaging via WhatsApp requires consent and can only use pre-approved HSM (Highly Structured Message) templates when the user hasn’t interacted with the bot within the last 24 hours. HSMs are categorized by Meta as marketing, utility, or authentication, affecting cost and delivery rates.

1. Cost Difference: Utility messages cost significantly less than marketing ones (up to 6.8 times cheaper). Rewording and getting approval under “utility” helps reduce broadcast costs.
2. Reach: Marketing messages face frequency capping, limiting how many people will actually receive them. Utility messages aren’t impacted in this way, improving delivery reliability.
3. Approval Bias: Meta’s algorithm often favors marketing categorization, especially for non-English (indic) languages, even if the message fits utility criteria. Careful wording is required for utility approval.
4. For Nonprofits: Use specific phrases like “reminder,” “update,” or “account information” to increase approval chances for utility HSMs, saving costs and ensuring more consistent message delivery.

The very basics

Here is the basics of broadcasting messages via WhatsApp

1. The user / audience must consent to receiving to message from a business account. 
2. The organization can only use HSM (Highly Structured Message) templates to initiate a conversation.
3. HSM templates have to be approved and categorised (into marketing, utility or authentication) by Meta.
   1. The approval is to ensure that the messages are not inciting violence, hateful content, mis or disinfomation 
   2. Categorisation (into marketing, utility or authentication) is also for Meta to charge according to the type of message being sent. 

What is “Marketing” and “Utility” HSMs

Here is broad definition and examples

Marketing: Enable businesses to achieve a wide range of goals, from generating awareness to driving sales and retargeting customers. Examples include new product/service/feature announcements; targeted promotions/offers; and cart abandonment. Read more here

Utility: Enable businesses to follow up on user actions or requests, since these messages are typically triggered. They must include specificity about the active or ongoing transaction, account, subscription or interaction to which they relate. Read more here

Examples for utility include opt-in confirmation; order/delivery management (e.g., delivery update); account updates or alerts (e.g., payment reminder); or feedback surveys.

1. Confirm opt-in to receive messages on WhatsApp as a follow up to opt-in collected via other channels (e.g., website, email) or confirm opt-out
2. Send important account updates, including time-sensitive alerts, safety information, payment reminders, and other information relevant to already-active or subscribed products and services.
3. Confirm, update or cancel a transaction with a beneficiary, using specific order or transaction details in the body of your message. 
4. Collect feedback on previous orders, interactions or ongoing relationships with customers. These messages should not be requesting feedback related to potential upsell or cross-sell opportunities.
5. Send a message to begin an interaction on WhatsApp that began in another channel. These messages should not be initiated without a user having requested the conversation to be moved to WhatsApp.

Marketing vs Utility conversations

1. Cost 

Sending a Marketing HSM (INR 0.7648 or $ 0.0107) template costs 6.8 times more than sending a Utility HSM(INR 0.115 or $0.0014). Thereby a drastic cost saving can be achieved by spending time towards optimizing the broadcast templates to be reworded and getting them approved under utility category. The prices shared above are for the India region. To explore prices for other regions go here

2. Reach 

In order to keep WhatsApp a spam free platform, meta has introduced frequency capping. This monitors the number of marketing messages being received by an individual in a given time period and blocking further marketing messages from reaching the individual. Read more here

The limit of marketing messages, the time duration for limit refresh are all a black box, even to the BSPs. Which means there is effectively no way to determine with good predictability if a message scheduled for 1000 people will reach the said 1000 people. 

What this effectively means is that you can be sure that a marketing HSM will definitely not reach all the 1000 people, and what is more disorienting is that you can not know with any approximation how many people it will reach. The number could be totally random and depending on the individual’s frequency capping if the experiment is repeated multiple times. 

3. Ease of approval 

The algorithm approves most messages under marketing, even if the message might be a Utility HSM, if applied under marketing, it will get approved as marketing HSM but the vice versa can never happen.

HSMs in indic language (even direct translations of Utlity HSMs) are not getting approved as utility but are getting approved as marketing. Which indicates that the algorithm is biased towards approving messages under marketing. Which has got to be one of the systemic problems with the categorization algorithm for HSM templates. 

Recommendations for non-profits

Upon multiple trials here are some findings: 

1. Utility messages get approved for the following use cases: Reminders, Updates on account information etc. Plugging those words can lead to increased chances of templates getting approved under utility

2. Here are some samples you (as NGO staff) can take as base templates. With some tweaks in the words, these can be versatile for many use cases. Make sure you apply for the utility category and uncheck the “allow meta to recategorize the template before applying” 

Examples of Utility Templates

1. Sending weekly content (health, education, citizenship, polls) 

Example 1: with 2 click buttons for users to engage further or skip

Hello {{1}}

This is an important {{2}} update:

{{3}}

Click to know more

Note:  “Click to know more” can be changed to 

1. “Click to participate” 
2. “Click to contribute”

So as to make it slightly more action oriented. 

2. Sending reminders for completing an action. 

Example includes 2 click buttons to start and skip the action.

Hello {{1}}

This is a {{2}} reminder

{{3}}

Take care and stay safe

Note: The ending can be altered to a org motto or any other sign off salutation. 

3. Call for volunteering/ joining events 

Hello there {{1}}

Friendly reminder to {{2}}

Click below to continue

Note: Click below to continue can be changed to an org motto or a better sign off.

4. Ask me anything type of engagement (hindi example) 

नमस्ते {{1}}

यह संदेश आपको याद दिलाने के लिए है {{2}}

अपनी चिन्ताये के बारे में यहाँ बेझिझक प्रश्न पूछे

Note: While applying the templates use a generic business oriented text (in line with the utility categories) in the example values of the variables, so that the template has a higher chance of getting approved under utility. 

More reading 

1. Learn how TAP is using ChatGPT to re-word HSM templates from marketing to Utility. 
2. For an insight into what ingredients make for engaging opening messages to hook in the audience and engage with the chatbot read here.