Dentolize · WhatsApp Paid Messages Walkthrough
On this pageTeaching this to clinic staff, step by stepCommon trainee mix-ups to watch for

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Teaching this to clinic staff, step by step

1. Show the pricing banner first

Open WhatsApp → Conversations. Point out the yellow banner: "WhatsApp pricing changes take effect on 1 October" with a link to a video. This sets context for everything else — nothing they're about to see is a bug, it's the product getting ahead of a real WhatsApp policy change.

2. Explain the tag on each conversation

Open any conversation (or point at the conversation list). Show the small coloured tag next to the countdown:

  • Green "Free" — replying right now costs nothing.
  • Blue "Free (ad)" — this contact came from an ad; replying now both

costs nothing and unlocks 72 hours of continued free replies.

  • Plain "Paid" — replying now will be billed.

Emphasize: the countdown next to the tag is not the same thing as "can I still send a message" — a conversation can still be repliable (allowed) after it turns Paid; Paid only means it now costs something.

3. Show the "Free window" filter

In the conversation list filters, check "Free window". Explain this is useful for triaging: reply to free conversations first if trying to minimize cost for the day.

4. Walk through the Messages Cost tab

Open WhatsApp → Messages Cost. Pick a date range. Show:

  • The table: every message sent, who sent it, its category, and its cost.
  • "Show Analytics": the Free / Paid / Unknown boxes, each expandable to a

per-category breakdown.

  • Clicking a name jumps into that conversation.

Have the trainee click the "Paid" box and confirm the table filters down to just paid messages.

5. Set up the daily caps (owner/admin trainees only)

Open WhatsApp → Settings → General. Point out Daily paid bot messages and Daily paid user messages, directly below "Automatic Reply Enabled". Explain:

  • Blank = no limit.
  • The two are independent — capping one doesn't affect the other.
  • Free replies never count against either cap.
  • Hitting the user cap shows an error when trying to send; hitting the bot

cap just makes the bot go quiet for the rest of that ~24-hour window, with no error anywhere.

Common trainee mix-ups to watch for

  • Confusing "conversation is Paid" with "I can't reply" — they're

unrelated. Paid conversations can still be replied to; it just costs money to do so (unless a daily cap blocks it).

  • Assuming the 72-hour free window applies to every conversation — it only

ever comes from replying to an ad-referred contact within a day.

  • Assuming "Unknown" in the cost report means something is broken — it

just means the message predates this feature.