Meta announced that starting October 1st, the terms and conditions for businesses that automate customer service using APIs, CRMs, and chatbots on WhatsApp Business will change, with charges for responses exceeding the free monthly limit of 1,000 messages.

In other words, charges will apply to “companies that use integrations with customer service systems, CRMs, chatbots, or automation tools, and not to those who only use the free app on a phone.”

This will modify the business support model on WhatsApp Business, considering that “until now, when a user initiated a conversation, the company had a 24-hour window to respond at no cost.”

The Meta modification pertains to the WhatsApp Business Platform, also known as the WhatsApp Business API, the infrastructure that “allows the application to be linked with external programs to organize inquiries, automate responses, route conversations to agents, and connect catalogs with sales systems.”

The charge for messages will apply to companies that operate this platform directly or through technology solution providers. As is known, the use of chatbots and AI systems is part of this model because “automated responses require message processing and delivery.” Consequently, the charge will apply to companies, and “businesses that use the free WhatsApp Business app and respond manually from their mobile phones will not be affected by this Meta change.”

It should be clarified that this change in no way implies a charge for individuals who contact a business through WhatsApp. “A neighborhood store, a freelancer, or a startup that receives messages through the regular app can maintain that service without this cost.” The difference arises when the business integrates its account with a management platform, automates part of the customer service, or uses the API to manage a high volume of conversations.

Regarding the charge, it will be applied when a business number exceeds 1,000 free messages per month, which would require reviewing the types of communications sent to users.

As for the cost of each message on WhatsApp Business, the plan is to charge “per message delivered, taking into account the token consumption associated with AI processing, in addition to the delivery fee. The reported global rate is $2 per million tokens used.” For example, a message requiring between 20,000 and 25,000 tokens would have an estimated cost of between $0.04 and $0.05 per response. A simple inquiry will require fewer resources; a lengthy or automated response using AI tools will consume more resources and increase the cost.

M.Pino

Source: infobae

(Reference image source: Marek Studzinski on Unsplash)

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