1. Why are WhatsApp's spam filters blocking my messages?

WhatsApp's spam filters protect users from unwanted messages. When they block a message, it's usually because:

• Too many recipients marked your messages as spam in a short time, triggering rate limiting
• The recipient has opted out of receiving business or promotional messages
• Your template was paused due to low engagement. This means you've sent many messages but a significant number of recipients haven't responded, indicating they don't want to engage with your business. WhatsApp interprets this as sending irrelevant messages to customers.
• Your template was paused due to negative feedback. This happens when recipients mark your account as spam after receiving your messages. These signals are sent to WhatsApp, and they block your messages as a result.
• The recipient has already received too many marketing messages from other brands. To maintain platform quality and prevent a poor user experience, WhatsApp limits how many marketing messages any one user can receive. If they've hit that limit, your message may be blocked—even if they've never received a message from you before.

You can learn more about specific WhatsApp error codes and reasons for blocking here: https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/support/error-codes

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2. What should I do to improve my delivery rates?

The key is sending more relevant messages to your customers. Here's how:

• Segment your audience: Use Zoko's segmenting feature to target specific customer groups rather than blasting your entire list.
• Personalise your offers: Instead of sending a generic "50% off everything" to everyone, send targeted promotions. Upsell products related to their previous purchases, or cross-sell complementary items they're likely to want.
• Target engaged customers: Focus on people who have recently responded to your ads, messaged you, or interacted with your store. These customers are more likely to engage positively.
• Limit message frequency: Avoid sending too many messages in a short period. Space out your campaigns to prevent fatigue and reduce the chance of being marked as spam.
• Clean your list regularly: Remove customers who haven't engaged in a long time. Continuing to message unresponsive contacts hurts your engagement metrics and increases the risk of being flagged.
• Use conversational messaging: Ask questions or include clear calls to action that invite a response. Higher reply rates signal to WhatsApp that your messages are welcome.
• Test and iterate: Monitor which templates perform well and which get ignored. Retire underperforming templates before they accumulate enough negative signals to get paused.

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3. Why are my utility messages being blocked by spam filters?

Utility messages shouldn't be blocked by spam filters. If yours are, it's likely because WhatsApp re-categorized them as marketing messages.

Check your template category at https://app.live.zoko.io/whatsapp/templates. If it's been changed, you can appeal through Facebook Business Manager to have it re-categorized—provided the message is genuinely utility in nature.

However, if your template or the variables you pass into it contain any promotional or marketing language, WhatsApp will deny the appeal and continue blocking the messages. In their view, they're marketing messages regardless of the original category.

Note: When WhatsApp re-categorizes a template, they send a notification to the email associated with your WhatsApp Business Manager. Keep an eye on your inbox if you weren't aware of the change.

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