Follow these best practices to stay compliant with Meta's policies and protect your WhatsApp sender reputation. Use of WhatsApp messaging must meet Iterable's Acceptable Use Policy.
NOTE
To add WhatsApp Messaging to your Iterable account, talk to your customer success manager.
In this article
Make it easy for users to opt in and out
Your users must consent to receive WhatsApp messages from your business. Be sure to set up an intuitive opt-in flow that clearly communicates the types of WhatsApp messages users can expect to receive and how they can opt out if they choose to do so. To learn more about best practices for obtaining opt-in, see Meta’s support articles Get Opt-In for WhatsApp and Best Practices for Opt-In.
Maintain a high quality rating
When your business maintains a high quality rating, your sender phone number is less likely to be flagged or restricted. Keep your business profile up to date with the correct business name, email address, website, and phone number.
Follow Meta's content rules
Your WhatsApp messages cannot contain any content prohibited by Meta, or content that could be deemed offensive or spam. Meta prohibits the following content, goods, and services in WhatsApp messages:
- Firearms
- Alcohol and tobacco
- Drugs (prescription, recreational, or otherwise)
- Medical and healthcare products
- Endangered species (wildlife and plants)
- Live, non-endangered animals (excluding livestock)
- Hazardous goods and materials
- Real, virtual, or fake currency (including ICOs and binary options)
- Body parts or fluids
- Business models, goods, items, or services that Meta determines may be or are fraudulent, misleading, offensive, or deceptive, or may be or are exploitative, inappropriate, or exert undue pressure on targeted groups
- Real-money gambling and gaming
- Adult products and services
- Dating services
- Multi-level marketing
- Payday loans, paycheck advances, peer-to-peer lending, debt collection, and bail bonds
For a full list of prohibited content, as well as limited exceptions to these rules, see the Further Guidance on Regulated Verticals section of the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.
Send messages at appropriate times
Similar to SMS, WhatsApp messages are more real-time than email or in-app messages and could be more disruptive to users if they arrive at inconvenient times. If you send messages during mealtimes or in the middle of the night, users may become frustrated and unsubscribe.
To avoid disturbing users, send WhatsApp messages during the day, in the user's local time. Avoid sending at night, on holidays, and on Sundays. Use Iterable's Quiet Hours feature in your WhatsApp campaigns to ensure WhatsApp messages are delivered at appropriate times for users.
Don’t over-message users
In addition to being a general best practice for marketing, it’s important not to send users too many WhatsApp messages because users may unsubscribe or report you, which can hurt your sender reputation.
Frequency capping
To prevent users from receiving too many marketing messages from various brands,
Meta recently implemented frequency capping. Under these new rules, users can
only receive marketing WhatsApp messages from a limited number of businesses
during a rolling seven-day period. (Messages are delivered on a first-come,
first-served basis.) When a user’s frequency cap is reached, any additional
WhatsApp messages they’re sent during the frequency cap time frame aren’t
delivered, and a whatsAppBounce event is logged on their Iterable user profile.
Please note that Meta's frequency capping differs from Iterable's frequency management feature, which is currently incompatible with WhatsApp messaging.
Want to learn more?
For more information about some of the topics in this article, check out these Iterable resources. Iterable Academy is open to everyone — you don't need to be an Iterable customer!
Iterable Academy
Support docs