WhatsApp is where your customers already talk to you. What is missing is connecting it to the business.

In Portugal, when someone wants to ask a price, confirm a booking or find out whether an order has shipped, they open WhatsApp. They do not open email or go looking for a form.

Most companies have worked that out and reply there, from somebody's phone. What almost none have done is connect that channel to the rest of the business, and that is the difference between answering messages and selling on WhatsApp.

This article explains the three ways a company can use WhatsApp, what each allows, what it costs, and a rule change scheduled for October that is worth factoring into any plan.

The three ways, and only one needs a project

The ordinary app. What most small businesses use. It works, it is free, and it has two serious limits: it is tied to one person's phone, and it talks to nothing else. If that person is on holiday, the channel is on holiday.

The WhatsApp Business app. Also free, adding a business profile, catalogue, quick replies, labels and away messages. For a business with one or two people answering and moderate volume, this is enough and there is no point complicating it. If that is you, stop reading and go configure it.

The WhatsApp Business API. The version that connects to your company's software. It has no interface of its own: you use it through a provider, and it is what enables everything below.

What the API solves that the app does not

It knows who is talking. When someone sends a message, the system receives their number in international format, verified by Meta itself. If that number is in your database, the message is automatically associated with that customer, without asking anything. That lets you reply with their history in front of you, or let the system answer questions such as the status of an order.

Several people answer the same number. No more relying on one colleague's phone. There is a company number, with shared history.

It connects to what already exists. Online store, invoicing software, booking system. Order confirmations, dispatch notices and appointment reminders start going out by themselves.

It leaves a record. Conversations stop living on a personal phone, which resolves a real continuity problem and a data protection one.

The rule that organises everything: the 24-hour window

This is the piece to understand before any decision, because it shapes both design and cost.

When a customer messages you, a 24-hour window opens, refreshed by each new message from them. Inside that window you reply freely, in whatever words you choose.

Outside it, you cannot write whatever you like. You may only send templates pre-approved by Meta, classified into categories such as utility, marketing or authentication.

That has a practical consequence which changes how you work: WhatsApp rewards those who reply quickly. The more of the conversation that happens inside the window your customer opened, the better it works and the less it costs.

How it is billed

The model changed considerably over the past two years, and many articles still describe the old one.

Since 1 July 2025, Meta charges per delivered message rather than per 24-hour conversation as before. Each template sent is billed individually, and the price depends on two things: the message category and the country the customer is in, not where your business is.

Rates vary widely between markets. As an order of magnitude, the sources consulted point to marketing rates around 0.025 dollars in the United States and above 0.12 in Germany. Your provider's margin is added on top of that in every case.

There are also free windows worth knowing about. When someone arrives through a click-to-WhatsApp advert or a Facebook page button, messages are free for 72 hours, templates included. Designing acquisition around these entry points cuts the cost substantially.

What changes in October, and why it matters now

One change has a fixed date, and it belongs in planning already.

From 1 October 2026, Meta begins charging for messages that have been free until now: free-form replies inside the 24-hour window, and utility templates sent inside that same window.

This is not a reason to postpone anything. It is a reason to design properly. Anyone who consolidates notices rather than fragmenting them, classifies templates correctly, and concentrates conversation inside the free entry windows will pay a fraction of what is paid by whoever sends messages piecemeal.

Because these rules change frequently, always confirm current figures in Meta's documentation before signing off a budget.

Where this genuinely pays off

Not every business needs the API. It clearly pays off when at least one of these applies:

If none of that applies, the WhatsApp Business app is enough, and we say so regularly.

A warning about shortcuts

There are tools promising to automate WhatsApp without going through the official route, connecting as though they were just another device on a personal account.

They work, and they are tempting because they look free. But they operate outside Meta's terms, and the risk is having the number blocked. Losing the number your customers use to reach you is a far bigger problem than the saving it represented.

For internal and experimental use, that is each person's call. For the number a company uses to serve customers, it is not worth it.

How Digito helps

We always start with the same question: how many messages do you receive a day, and about what. The answer decides whether you need a project or simply a better configuration of the free app, and we say both with the same candour.

When it does make sense to proceed, we handle connecting the API to what you already have: online store, invoicing software, booking system. We design the flows around the 24-hour window so most of the conversation happens in the free part. We prepare templates for approval in the correct category, which is where many people overpay without realising. And we leave conversations recorded where your contacts live, so they are not trapped on a phone.

If you receive too many messages to answer by hand, or want order confirmations to go out by themselves, let's talk about your case.

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