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Requirements and considerations for sending WhatsApp marketing campaigns

Before you send WhatsApp marketing campaigns with Shopify Messaging, make sure that your store meets the following eligibility requirements, review the considerations, and confirm that your message follows the content guidelines.

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Eligibility requirements

To create and send WhatsApp marketing campaigns using Shopify Messaging, your store must meet the following requirements:

  • You must have the Shopify Messaging app installed on your store and meet the requirements for using Shopify Messaging.
  • Your business must comply with the WhatsApp Business Solution Terms and WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.
  • Your business entity must not be registered in China.
  • You must connect a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) through Meta Embedded Signup. Shopify verifies your eligibility during onboarding.
  • If your store is located in Brazil or Indonesia, then you can send WhatsApp messages to customers in your own country, but you must verify and scale your account with Meta in any of the following ways to send marketing messages to other countries:
    • Verify your business with Meta.
    • Scale your message sending by reaching a minimum of 1,000 business-initiated conversations per day, per phone number for 30 consecutive days.

Supported regions

WhatsApp marketing campaigns through Shopify Messaging are available globally, with certain exceptions. You can send WhatsApp marketing to customers in most regions, except for the following locations:

  • United States: WhatsApp marketing messages can’t be sent to customers in the United States. However, if your store is located in the United States, then you can still use WhatsApp to send marketing messages to your subscribers in other supported countries. To learn more, refer to Meta's Per-user marketing template message limits documentation for the United States.
  • China: Consumer-level WhatsApp use is banned in China. You can’t send WhatsApp marketing messages to customers in China, and WhatsApp isn’t supported for Shopify stores based in China.
  • Sanctioned regions: WhatsApp marketing isn't supported in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Crimea, Donetsk, or Luhansk. You can't send WhatsApp marketing messages to customers or use WhatsApp marketing for your Shopify store in these locations.

Content guidelines

WhatsApp marketing messages use templates that are submitted to Meta for approval when you create a campaign. Review the following guidelines when creating your messages:

  • Each message template must be submitted to Meta before you can use it in a campaign.
  • Every message includes a STOP-to-unsubscribe instruction in the message body by default. This text can't be removed or edited.
  • WhatsApp marketing messages can include an image header, text, or a product. Video headers and carousel cards aren't supported.

Considerations

Keep the following considerations in mind when you send WhatsApp marketing campaigns:

  • Customer consent: You can send WhatsApp marketing messages only to customers who have explicitly opted in. For information about how to collect and import customer consent, refer to Set up marketing consent for WhatsApp.
  • Sending limits for new accounts: New WhatsApp Business Accounts are subject to a cap of 2,000 messages per day until your account moves through Meta's trusted-account tiers.
  • Per-user marketing message limits: WhatsApp might limit the number of WhatsApp marketing messages that a subscriber receives from any business during times when the subscriber is less likely to engage with these messages. This is based on several factors, including the subscriber’s recent marketing message read rate, and how many messages they currently have in their inbox from friends, family, and businesses. To learn more, refer to Meta’s Per-user marketing template message limits developer documentation.