The Switch

Previous guidelines from Meta strictly limited a brand’s ability to communicate with prospective clients through the Messenger platform. Businesses were allowed a one-time notification to follow up with customers when their 24-hour communication window had ended. The intention of this policy was to prevent companies from spamming users with countless messages about unnecessary promotions and alerts. However, at the first-ever Meta Conversations Messaging Conference on May 19th, the announcement was made of a new feature that would completely eliminate the limited messaging concept. The reason for the sudden switch in policy: increased profits for Meta, of course.

Recurring Messages Rundown

Meta’s new Recurring Messages feature permits brands to send out “proactive, automated messages” to users via the Messenger platform. The catch: users will have to opt-in to receive these marketing messages. Users will also have the ability to select the frequency of alerts that they receive. On the business side of things, companies will also have the option to select a frequency at which they would like to send out their messages to subscribers. At the moment, brands seem to have free range to send out a variety of messages, from newsletters to promotions and everything in between.

The Cost

Meta is currently allowing businesses to use Recurring Messages for free, but don’t expect this deal to last! The cost is still unknown as Meta is researching prices that companies are willing to pay for a similar feature on WhatsApp. In a statement, Meta said, “we currently charge businesses to send messages from the WhatsApp Business API and we’re listening to customer feedback to guide decisions on our pricing model.”

The Bottom Line

Having the ability to advertise via Messenger seems extremely valuable, as not all users check their email on a regular basis. However, brands should consider developing a strategy to recruit subscribers before committing a portion of their profits to Meta Recurring Messages. Recruiting users could be as simple as offering a coupon for your product or service when they choose to opt in to receiving recurrent messages. This is crucial to keep in mind since without having a steady list of subscribers to contact, your business could end up losing money.