WhatsApp Sales Automation Guide: App vs API, the 24-Hour Window, Costs and Consent

Most small sellers already sell on WhatsApp, whether they planned to or not: customers ask about sizes, stock and delivery there because it is the app they already have open. This guide covers the decisions that matter before you try to automate any of it: which WhatsApp product to use, how the 24-hour customer service window works, what Meta charges for, and what Turkish law says about consent. It ends with message templates you can adapt.

We checked the rules below against Meta's own documentation and the official text of Turkey's Law No. 6563 in October 2026. Rules and prices change, so check the official sources listed at the end before you rely on a detail.

TL;DR

• The WhatsApp Business app is built with the small business owner in mind: one business profile, your products, greeting and away messages, and replies typed by you.
• The WhatsApp Business Platform (API) is for connecting WhatsApp to your own systems: your store, a CRM, several people answering, and automated messages such as shipping updates. Many businesses reach it through one of the partners Meta lists on its WhatsApp Business site.
• The 24-hour customer service window opens each time a customer messages you. Inside it you can reply freely; outside it, the platform only lets you send approved templates.
• Pricing: since 1 July 2025, Meta charges per delivered template message. Replies inside the window are free.
• Consent in Turkey: commercial messages need the recipient's prior consent under Law No. 6563, and people must be able to refuse easily and for free.

WhatsApp Business app or the Business Platform (API)?

Three questions usually settle it:

1. Do you need messages to go out automatically when something happens in your store, such as an order being placed or shipped? That needs the platform.
2. Will more than one or two people answer customers from the same number? The platform handles this better.
3. Is WhatsApp mostly a place where customers ask questions and you answer them? Start with the app and its greeting and away messages, and move later if volume grows.

The 24-hour customer service window

Meta's WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy says that on the Business Platform you may reply to a customer without a template "as long as it's within the 24-hour customer service window, which opens and resets with each user message." Outside that window, "you may only send messages via approved Message Templates."

In practice:

• Answer while the window is open. A question asked at 21:00 can still be answered freely the next morning, as long as fewer than 24 hours have passed since the customer's last message.
• Order updates after the window need a template. "Your parcel has shipped" three days after the order is a template message.
• Automated replies are allowed inside the window, but the policy also asks for a clear path to a human. If you automate answers, make "talk to a person" easy. Our guide to automating repeat customer questions with a clear hand-off to a person covers which questions to automate and how to test before customers see it.

What it costs: Meta's per-message pricing

Meta's pricing page sets out the current model:

• Per-message pricing since 1 July 2025. It replaced the earlier conversation-based model, so older guides that talk about paying "per conversation" are out of date.
• You are charged only when a template message is delivered. Non-template messages inside an open customer service window are free.
• Utility templates delivered inside an open window are free. An order confirmation sent while the customer is still chatting with you costs nothing.
• Rates depend on the template category (marketing, utility or authentication) and the recipient's country calling code. Look up the current rate for Turkish numbers (+90) on Meta's rate card; we do not quote a figure here because it changes.
• Some free entry points give a 72-hour window in which all messages are free. Meta's pricing page lists which entry points qualify.

Category matters for cost. Meta describes utility templates as follow-ups to something the customer did, with no promotional language, and marketing templates as messages meant to generate interest or drive sales. An order update that also carries a discount code is no longer a pure utility message.

Consent for commercial messages in Turkey

Two sets of rules apply at the same time: Turkish law and Meta's policy.

Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce (official text on mevzuat.gov.tr):

• Article 6: commercial electronic messages may be sent only with the recipient's prior consent, which can be given in writing or by any electronic communication means.
• The same article's exception: if the recipient gave you their contact details so that you could contact them, messages about changes to, use of or maintenance of the goods or services they obtained do not need separate consent.
• Messages to tradespeople and merchants (esnaf ve tacir) may be sent without prior consent.
• Article 8: recipients may refuse commercial messages at any time without giving a reason. The sender must make refusing easy and free by electronic means, say how to do it in the message, and stop within three business days of receiving the refusal.

Meta's WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy adds that you may contact people only if they gave you their number and opted in to receive messages from you, and that you must respect every opt-out request, whether it arrives on WhatsApp or elsewhere.

Two more things to check with your advisor: how Turkey's central consent system for commercial messages, İYS (İleti Yönetim Sistemi), applies to your WhatsApp messages, and how you store customers' numbers and chats under the personal data protection law, KVKK (Law No. 6698). This section summarises the rules; it is not legal advice.

What good consent looks like in a small shop:

• An unticked checkbox at checkout with its own sentence, for example "Send me stock alerts and offers on WhatsApp."
• A record of who agreed, when, and to which wording.
• A one-word way out in every marketing message, such as "Reply STOP", that you actually honour.

Example: an order-to-confirmation flow for a small Turkish shop

Picture a two-person shop selling skincare through its own website, with WhatsApp as the place customers ask questions.

1. A customer asks whether a cream suits combination skin. Their message opens the 24-hour window.
2. You answer inside the window. No template is needed and, on the platform, the reply is free.
3. The customer orders on the website and ticks the order-update box. Your store system sends an order confirmation template (utility). If the customer is still chatting with you, it is free.
4. The customer pays by bank transfer. Until the money arrives, the order is in a state you need to track; we wrote about why payments disappear between intent and revenue.
5. The parcel ships two days later. The window has closed, so a shipping-update template goes out.
6. A month later the product is back in stock. You send a stock alert only to customers who opted in to marketing messages, and every alert says how to stop them.

Sample message templates

Write templates in your customer's language, Turkish for most Turkish buyers, and keep each one to a single purpose. The words in square brackets are placeholders you fill in per customer.

1. Order confirmation (utility)

Hi [first name], thank you for your order [order number] at [shop name].
Total: [amount]. We'll message you here as soon as it ships.

2. Shipping update (utility)

Good news, [first name]: order [order number] is on its way with [carrier].
Track it here: [tracking link]. Questions? Just reply to this message.

3. Back in stock (marketing, opted-in customers only)

[first name], [product] is back in stock at [shop name]: [product link]
Reply STOP if you'd rather not receive stock alerts.

For a customer who asks about an item that is out of stock, a normal reply inside the window works better than a template: say when you expect it back and ask whether they want a message when it arrives. Their "yes" is a record of consent for that alert.

A setup checklist

1. Choose the app or the platform using the three questions above.
2. Complete your business profile: opening hours, address and a link to your store.
3. Write your templates for order confirmation, shipping and stock alerts, choose the right category for each, and submit them for approval.
4. Add consent at checkout with its own wording, and keep a record of who agreed and when.
5. Handle refusals: make stopping free and simple, and stop within three business days.
6. Measure your own numbers: how long customers wait for a first reply, and how many questions turn into orders. Your data is worth more than any industry average.

Where Tekeralab fits

Tekeralab does not sell a WhatsApp chatbot or a WhatsApp sales tool. Our live product, Smart Publisher, schedules social media posts, and it uses WhatsApp in one narrow way: in hybrid mode it can send you a Telegram or WhatsApp reminder with a one-tap share, so you can post to platforms it does not publish to automatically. Read how the Android app prepares a post and hands it to Instagram for you to publish, and what it took to make those Android reminders arrive on time.

We learned how much work sits between a buyer's first question and checkout while running our own marketplace, Tekera21. That story is in the real products that built TekeraLab.

Official sources

• Meta, WhatsApp Business Platform pricing
• Meta, WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy
• Meta, template category guidelines
• Republic of Türkiye, Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce

Frequently asked questions

Is the WhatsApp Business app enough for a small shop?

Often, yes. If one or two people answer customers from a phone and you do not need to send order updates automatically from your store system, the app is a reasonable start. Move to the Business Platform (API) when you need integration with your store or CRM, several people working in one number, or messages that you start, such as shipping updates.

Do I pay Meta for replying to customers on WhatsApp?

On the Business Platform, since 1 July 2025 Meta charges per delivered template message. Non-template replies sent inside the 24-hour customer service window are free, and utility templates delivered inside an open window are free too. Rates for charged templates depend on the template category and the recipient's country calling code, so check Meta's current rate card before you budget.

What happens when the 24-hour window closes?

The window opens and resets with each message the customer sends. Once it has closed, the Business Platform only lets you send approved message templates until the customer writes to you again.

Do I need consent to send WhatsApp campaigns in Turkey?

Yes. Under Law No. 6563, commercial electronic messages may be sent only with the recipient's prior consent, given in writing or by electronic means. Messages to tradespeople and merchants are an exception. Recipients can refuse at any time, refusing must be easy and free, and you must stop within three business days. Meta's own policy also requires opt-in. This is not legal advice; confirm the details, including any İYS registration, with your advisor.

Can I send order and shipping updates without marketing consent?

Law No. 6563 says that when a customer gives you their contact details so you can contact them, messages about changes to, use of or maintenance of the goods or services they obtained do not need separate consent. Keep those messages free of promotions; a discount code turns an order update into marketing.