Introduction

One of the most frequently asked questions is: How many conversations is a business allowed to initiate with customers (message templates)?

In other words, how many customers can a business start conversation with using message templates for promotion?

The importance of this question comes from the need of any business to expand and spread its promotional campaigns to the largest number of customers.

Messaging Limits:

According to Meta, the concept of messaging limits in WhatsApp Business is the maximum number of conversations (per WhatsApp phone number) that a business is allowed to initiate with customers within a maximum period of 24 hours.

Initially, any business - through its WhatsApp phone number - can initiate 250 conversations within a 24-hour period, which can be increased, but under certain conditions.

{info} You can check your current messaging limits in your your WhatsApp Accounts By Settings tab > WhatsApp Manager > Account tools > Phone Numbers

As previously mentioned, the number of conversations a business can initiate with customers can be increased to exceed the initially approved limit of 250 conversations, but this increase occurs gradually and under certain conditions.

{info} We must first understand that a conversation means one interaction with a (unique) customer. Therefore, if you interact with the same customer multiple times within 24 hours, this is considered as “one conversation.”

How to increase messaging limit:

Messaging limits can be increased to the following levels:

  • 1K business-initiated conversations
  • 10K business-initiated conversations
  • 100K business-initiated conversations
  • An unlimited number of business-initiated conversations


Increase Messaging limits from 250 to 1K:

business phone number is initially limited to 250 business-initiated conversations in 24-hour.

So, what is the way to increase this limit to the first level of 1000 conversations?


The answer is by following one of these steps:


First: Business Verification

Submit your business for business verification. Once approved, Meta will evaluate the quality of your messages. If your messages meet the quality standards, you'll be eligible to increase the limit.

Second: Identity Verification

If you submit your business for verification and are approved, you may be asked to verify your identity.

Third: Open 1K Conversations in 30 Days

Open 1,000 or more conversations within a 30-day period using templates with a high-quality rating. Meta will analyze the quality of messaging. Based on this analysis, the increase will be approved or denied

{info} If you completed business verification or identity verification or have met the 1K conversations in 30 days threshold but are still limited to 250 business-initiated conversations, you can contact WhatsApp support to request a messaging level upgrade.


Automatic scaling

After reaching the 1K messaging limit, automatic scaling may increase your limit further. Meta evaluates your phone number based on the following criteria:

  • Phone Number Status: Your phone number status must be in a "Connected" status.
  • Phone Number Quality Rating: Your phone number must have a quality rating of "Medium" or "High", and if your business phone number has a low-quality rating, it may continue to be limited to 250 business-initiated conversations until its quality rating improves.
  • Conversation Count: In the last 7 days, you have initiated a total number of conversations more than or equal your current messaging limit divided by 2.


Meta continuously evaluates these criteria to ensure your eligibility for an increase.

Now, Consider the following examples:

Example1:

Messaging limit increased from 1K to 10K in 2 days:

Day One Two Three Four Five Six Seven
Number of Business-initiated conversations 500 500
Total initiated conversations within a 7-days period 5001 1000
Messaging limit 1000 10,000

    1. From the first day, the business initiated half the allowed limit of conversations, and thus was entitled to this increase, which begins to take effect 24 hours after the start of the 500th conversation. ↩

Example2:

Messaging limit increased from 1K to 10K in 4 days:

Day One Two Three Four Five Six Seven
Number of Business-initiated conversations 100 200 200 300
Total initiated conversations within a 7-days period 100 300 5002 800
Messaging limit 1000 1000 1000 10,000

    2. On the third day, the business initiated half the allowed limit of conversations, and thus was entitled to this increase, which begins to take effect 24 hours after the start of the 500th conversation. ↩

Example3:

Messaging limit increased from 1K to unlimited:

Day One Two Three Four Five Six
Number of Business-initiated conversations 500 5,000 50,000
Messaging limit 1000 10,000 10,000 100,000 100,000 Unlimited

The business is subject to verification process by Meta. If the business is approved, Meta will analyze messaging quality to determine if messaging activity warrants an increase in messaging limit. Based on this analysis, Meta will then either approve or deny a messaging limit increase.

High-Quality Messages

Here are some guidelines for sending high-quality messages:

  • Ensure that messages follow the WhatsApp Business messaging policy in terms of legal and business-related content.
  • Only send messages to users who have opted into receiving messages from your business.
  • Make the messages highly personalized and useful to users. Avoid sending open-ended welcome or introductory messages.
  • Be mindful of messaging frequency; avoid sending customers too many messages a day.