6 Effective & Intelligent Ways For Reducing Whatsapp Costs

Introduction: Setting the context

In recent years, the digital communication landscape for businesses has seen a significant shift, with many moving away from traditional channels like SMS and email to embrace newer, more interactive platforms like WhatsApp. This transition is driven by the desire to meet customers where they are most active and to leverage the rich, engaging experiences that platforms like WhatsApp can provide.

Digital-first businesses, in particular, have been quick to adopt WhatsApp because of:

• It’s widespread usage
  
• High engagement rates
  
• Ability to send rich media messages, including images, videos, and interactive elements, which are not possible with SMS or email
  
• Evolving technology that is innovating almost every week, providing various opportunities to businesses to grow
  

WhatsApp's appeal is further enhanced by its end-to-end encryption, ensuring secure conversations between businesses and their customers. The platform also offers features such as read receipts and the ability to easily start conversations, making it a more interactive and personal way to engage with customers. This has made WhatsApp an attractive option for customer service, marketing, and transactional communications.

However, as businesses increasingly adopt WhatsApp, concerns around cost have become more prominent. Unlike SMS or email, where costs are relatively low and predictable, WhatsApp's conversation-based pricing model can lead to higher expenses.

Before diving into how you can save cost, let’s understand the pricing structure with more clarity. 

WhatsApp Pricing Structure

WhatsApp charges businesses for each 24-hour conversation window initiated with a customer, with rates varying depending on the type of message and the country of the recipient. You can find more about the 24-hour conversation window here with examples.

The charge is only when messages you send to customers are delivered. The following are the charges in India:

• Marketing message: INR 0.7265
  
• Utility/ transactional message: INR 0.3082
  
• Authentication: Same as utility/ transactional
  
• Service/ Support: INR 0.2906
  

If you are using a BSP to access WhatsApp APIs, then you would be paying ~ 10-25% higher.

Prima-facie these are obviously more expensive than all the traditional channels like Email and SMS, which costs ~ 1 paisa per Email and ~ 15 paise per SMS.

But there are multiple reasons why business are opting for WhatsApp over SMS despite of its higher cost. Check here to deep dive on why businesses are opting for WhatsApp over SMS.​

Now that we understand the cost structure (which is obviously expensive), lets identify how businesses can control and reduce WhatsApp costs effectively, without effecting customer experience.

6 effective ways

The last few cost savings recipes are technology and intelligence based which can lead to significant savings.

1. Work with a Tech partner instead of a BSP

Business Service Providers who act as resellers of WhatsApp will almost always have an added margin of ~ 10-25% over and above the WhatsApp costs along with some fixed platform or service fee.

When you operate using a Tech Partner, you directly deal with WhatsApp for your commercials and payments and get access to the direct WhatsApp costs.

Tech Partner like Fyno will provide you better technological access along with all the necessary orchestration / workflow builder that you need to use WhatsApp.

This straightaway can save ~ 10-25% upfront.  We have captured the benefits of working with a Tech Partner in detail here. 

2. Categorize template messages appropriately

Ensure that you are correctly understanding and selecting the message category for your template. Sometimes, people may save and apply for a transactional/ utility message as a marketing message, which attracts the highest tier of WhatsApp charges (ie, 73 paise) per message rather than ~32 paise.

3. Leverage Free Entry Points​

• Click to WhatsApp Ad: If you are using Meta for facebook and instagram marketing as well, in some of your campaigns you can use your Call to Action smartly to land the users in your WhatsApp channel. Such conversations will open a free 72 hours window with the customer.
  
  Now one may read between the deal to identify that is not a great hack or a generous deal that WhatsApp is offering. WhatsApp is not charging for this since you are already paying Meta for the successful Ad campaign when some body clicks on the CTA.

• Facebook Page - CTA: Now this is a really a freebie by WhatsApp and the Meta ecosystem. You can add a WhatsApp conversation button/ CTA on your Facebook Page. Users who initiate a conversation with business using that button opens up a 72 hour free window with the customer.
  
  So if your organic efforts/ content lands your customer on the facebook page, and such user clicks on the WhatsApp CTA, it will open a 72 hour free window. This is one example of end-to-end free journey to establish a user touch point.
  
  Please note that for both of the free entry points discussed above, you need to respond within 24 hours to enjoy the total 72 hour free window.

The next 4 methods are only achievable with use of some sophisticated tech stack or infrastructure.  ​

4. Use intelligent multi-channel routing/ workflow​

Implementing intelligent multi-channel routing or workflow can significantly reduce communication costs for businesses, especially when considering the use of WhatsApp in conjunction with other channels like email, in-app notifications, and SMS.

By prioritising messages on low-cost channels first and waiting for a brief period (15 minutes to 1 hour) to check if the message gets read before deciding to send a WhatsApp message, businesses can potentially save on the higher costs associated with WhatsApp communications.

This strategy is particularly effective for non-time-sensitive communications, such as marketing messages, where there is flexibility in the timing of message delivery. Even 20% of users engage with the message on these alternative platforms, it saves ~20% of WhatsApp’s overall costs. Imagine if you are paying a WhatsApp bill of $5000 each month, you will can potentially save $1000+ or even more with this strategy.

This approach underscores the importance of a well-thought-out multi-channel communication strategy that optimizes the use of various channels based on cost, engagement rates, and user preferences.

In practice, this means leveraging tools and analytics to monitor where users are most likely to engage with communications and using this data to inform the choice of channel. For example, if analytics indicate that a significant portion of the target audience engages with emails or reads in-app notifications, these channels can be prioritized for initial communications. 

If the desired engagement level is not reached within a certain timeframe, the communication can then be escalated to WhatsApp or other higher-cost channels.

5. Leverage the 24 hour window intelligently

Many businesses use multiple WhatsApp numbers or accounts for messaging with their customers. There can be multiple reasons - example:

• Different marketing teams independently running campaigns in silos
  
• A company has multiple segments and each segment has a different WhatsApp number
  
• Some users may have blocked one or more numbers of the Company, necessitating the Company to have multiple Whatsapp accounts
  
• Companies using different WhatsApp accounts for marketing, transactional or service messages

For businesses operating multiple WhatsApp numbers, they can manage session tracking across these accounts. If a conversation with a customer is initiated from one number, Fyno ensures that all subsequent messages within the 24-hour window can be sent from the same number/ account so that you don’t get charged additionally on the other account.

Example:
A retail brand with separate WhatsApp numbers for customer service and promotional communications initiates a service conversation. Later, they decide to send a follow-up satisfaction survey and a promotional offer within the same 24-hour window.

They can ensure these messages can be sent from the service account, leveraging the open conversation window and avoiding additional session charges that would incur if the other account were used.

For marketing messages, which are a significant component of digital communication strategies, the costs on WhatsApp can be notably higher compared to traditional SMS or email campaigns.

6. Leverage user Intelligence​

A great starter here is to understand your user base effectively. A lot of times, service / transactional messages could bring you better engagement, retention & repeat purchases rather than an explicit marketing nudge with offers.

Now this evaluation is possible only by testing templates, gathering insights on how each template performed in terms of engagement, click rates/ open rates and then storing the intelligence per user to be able to leverage it in future communications.

Once you have these insights, you can ensure that every time a specific engagement and retention campaign is run, appropriate category of Whatsapp messages can be sent to users. Even if 20-30% of your users like service based retention techniques, it will directly half your promotional WhatsApp costs, while delivering better communication experience.

The platform offers analytics that enable businesses to monitor the performance and cost implications of different types of messages and conversation categories. Fyno's flexibility allows for real-time adjustments to strategies, ensuring that businesses can respond to data-driven insights by modifying their communication workflows to optimize for both engagement and cost-efficiency.

By leveraging Fyno's modular communication infrastructure, businesses can ensure that their engineering and product teams are not barriers to optimizing WhatsApp usage and minimizing costs. Instead, they're empowered to implement logical workflows and change rules on the fly, taking full advantage of cost rationalization tips without being constrained by their codebase or initial platform design decisions. This approach not only helps in controlling costs but also in maintaining agility and responsiveness in customer communication strategies.

To sum it up

The challenge for businesses is to navigate this cost-benefit landscape effectively. Strategies such as optimizing the use of the free conversation quota, leveraging other channels in conjunction with WhatsApp, and employing targeted communication tactics to reduce unnecessary messaging costs are becoming increasingly important. 

Navigating the costs associated with WhatsApp for business communications requires a nuanced understanding of the platform's pricing model and an intelligent approach to message orchestration. This is where having a robust technology stack becomes critical, enabling businesses to employ sophisticated strategies for minimising costs without compromising on customer experience.

Today's reality and why you need Fyno

Unfortunately, many companies operate with limited technological capabilities, relying on basic communication services or marketing automation tools that lack the depth needed for effective cost management on platforms like WhatsApp. 

Such limitations often mean missing out on valuable opportunities to optimize messaging strategies and reduce expenses. It's in this context that a technology solution like Fyno becomes invaluable.

Fyno's advanced communication infrastructure and automated routing capabilities empower businesses to implement intelligent cost-saving measures seamlessly. 

Fyno's status as an official tech partner of Meta underscores its proficiency in delivering WhatsApp-focused enhancements, highlighting its capability to navigate the platform's complexities and unlock cost efficiencies.