Charges from Meta for Automation & Template Messages

> 💡 Quick Summary: Meta charges per message, based on your template category. The money-saver: if your customer replied within the last 24 hours, ABC Sales AI sends your automation messages as regular messages instead of higher-priced templates.

1. The Basics: Meta Charging Structure

When you send a template message to a customer using WhatsApp API, Meta charges you per message, depending on the category of the template used.

• Utility: $0.014 ≈ RM0.06 - Use for transaction confirmations, post-purchase updates, account notifications
• Marketing: $0.086 ≈ RM0.40 - Use for promotions, offers, new product announcements

How to differentiate:

Inside ABC Sales AI, navigate to your Templates tab. Look at the Category column:

• "M" Tag: Indicates a Marketing template (Higher Cost)
• "U" Tag: Indicates a Utility template (Lower Cost)

2. The "ABC Sales AI Advantage": The 24-Hour Rule

> 💰 This is where ABC Sales AI saves you money. Meta has a 24-hour Customer Service Window that starts from the customer's last reply.

• Outside the 24-Hour Window: You must use a Template Message → charged at the template rate
• Inside the 24-Hour Window: You can send automation/blasts as "Normal Messages" → no template charge (and until 1 October 2026, no Meta charge at all; from that date, regular in-window messages are charged per message at a lower rate than templates)

When are you charged?

Scenario A: The Window is CLOSED 🔴 (Charged)

• Status: More than 24 hours have passed since the customer last replied.
• Cost: If you blast this customer now, you WILL BE CHARGED because the system must send a Template to re-open the conversation.

Scenario B: The Window is OPEN 🟢 (No template charge)

• Status: The customer replied less than 24 hours ago.
• Cost: If you run an automation or blast to this customer now, ABC Sales AI sends it as a standard message. You avoid the template fee (free until 1 October 2026; per-message at the lower service rate after that).

3. Real-World Scenario: Appointment Booking Example

1. Customer books an appointment for next Monday. Timeframe: Monday (Day 0) - Window Status: 🔴 Closed - Cost Status: Charged
2. You send a meeting confirmation immediately. Timeframe: Monday (Day 0) - Window Status: N/A - Cost Status: Included in Step 1 cost
3. You send a "1-Day Before" reminder. Timeframe: Sunday (Day 6) - Window Status: 🔴 Closed (>24h) - Cost Status: Charged ($0.014)
4. Customer replies to the reminder. Timeframe: Sunday (Day 6) - Window Status: 🟢 Window Opens! - Cost Status: No template charge
5. You send a "1-Hour Before" reminder. Timeframe: Monday (Day 7) - Window Status: 🟢 Open (<24h) - Cost Status: No template charge 🎉

> 🎯 The Bottom Line: Because the customer replied to your Day 6 reminder, your Day 7 reminder skipped the template fee entirely. ABC Sales AI automatically detects the open window and sends it as a regular message instead of a template. That's $0.014 saved per message, and it adds up fast. (From 1 October 2026, in-window messages carry a smaller per-message charge of their own, so the gap narrows but the saving stays.)