WhatsApp for jewellery stores: from first look to the store visit

WhatsApp for a jewellery business works best as the consultation channel between a customer's first look and the store visit. Share specific pieces, answer with photos, video or a call, book the visit, then keep savings-scheme instalments, custom orders and repairs on plain utility updates. Festive offers go separately, as marketing.

Jewellery is the opposite of an impulse buy. A bridal set is chosen over weeks, often by several family members, against a gold rate that moves every day. The store that wins is the one whose salesperson is easiest to consult between visits. This guide covers how to run that on the WhatsApp Business API for a single showroom or a chain.

Why jewellery sells through conversation, not checkout

Three things make jewellery different from the D2C commerce most WhatsApp guides describe.

• The price moves. Gold-weight pieces are priced at the day's rate plus making charges, so a price sent on Monday may be wrong by Thursday.
• The decision is shared. The customer forwards pieces to a mother, sister or future in-laws before deciding, so whatever you send has to survive being shared.
• The sale closes in the store. For anything above everyday wear, most customers want to see and try the piece. The job of WhatsApp is to make that visit specific: these three pieces, this salesperson, Saturday at 5 pm.

That changes what to measure. Count consultations that become booked visits, and visits that become sales, not clicks on a product.

Sharing pieces: catalog, carousels and video

There are four ways to put a piece in front of a customer, and they suit different moments.

Catalog. Meta's catalog overview explains that price, title, description and image changes reach customers' product screens once their app learns of the change. Jewellery does not appear among the prohibited or restricted categories in Meta's Commerce Policies. For selling in India, Meta's online selling requirements add a country of origin for every physical product, and importer details for imported pieces such as Italian chains.

Carousels. Meta's marketing templates overview lists product card carousels and media card carousels, each holding up to 10 horizontally scrolling cards. A carousel sent as a template is marketing, so keep it for collection launches and shortlists the customer asked for.

Video. A short turntable clip of a necklace in daylight answers more questions than five photos. Meta's video message specification accepts MP4 and 3GP files up to 16 MB, with H.264 video and AAC audio.

Consultations: chat, calls and booked visits

Most consultations start in text and need a voice at some point: a question about stone quality, a budget negotiation, a design change on a custom piece.

Meta's Calling API lets a customer call your WhatsApp business number and lets your staff call the customer. The rules that matter for a showroom:

• Customers can call your number once calling is switched on in its call settings, and Meta's calling pricing says user-initiated calls are free.
• To call a customer, you first need their call permission. In production you can send 1 permission request per customer per day and 2 per week, and permission requests are charged as messages.
• Calls you place are billed in six-second pulses, at a rate set by the customer's country code and your monthly volume.
• Calling requires a messaging limit of at least 2,000 unique recipients a day, and the number must run on the Cloud API.
• Meta's documentation lists video calls and screen sharing with a note that they are planned or in development. Until they are available on your number, run video consultations in the store or ask your provider about availability.

When the customer is ready to see pieces, book a specific slot with a named salesperson, and confirm it with a utility template. A confirmation that lists the pieces you will keep ready ("the 22-carat temple necklace and two matching jhumka options") turns a vague visit into a planned appointment. InfiQ's Calling API guide covers the set-up in detail.

Instalments, custom orders and repairs: keep them utility

After the sale, most of a jeweller's WhatsApp traffic is operational. Meta's template categorization guidelines treat order updates and billing reminders as utility, provided they are non-promotional and specific to the customer.

Two habits keep these messages useful.

Keep promotions out. A scheme reminder that ends with "visit us for our new Diwali collection" stops being utility and is billed as marketing. Send the collection separately.

Put the HUID in the purchase confirmation. The Bureau of Indian Standards' hallmarking FAQ says customers can check a hallmarked piece's HUID number with the Verify HUID feature in the BIS CARE app. Putting the HUID in the message lets the customer verify the piece from the chat, and it gives them a record of it.

Running the showroom team on one number

Customers buy from a person, so the same salesperson should answer them every time, even on a shared business number.

• Assign each customer an owner. Tag the customer with their salesperson and route their messages to that person, with a fallback during weekly offs. When a salesperson leaves, the conversation history stays with the store.
• Answer rate questions automatically. "What is today's 22-carat rate?" is a frequent message during the season. Post the day's rate from your rate board as an automated reply, and hand over to a person when the customer asks about a specific piece. Replies inside the open window are service messages, billed at ₹0.145 each in India (ex-GST) since 1 October 2026.
• Keep custom-order files in the thread. Design sketches, CAD renders and the approved version belong in the customer's conversation, where the next person to pick it up can see them.

Festive and wedding seasons: plan around Meta's limits

Dhanteras, Akshaya Tritiya and the wedding season concentrate a jeweller's marketing into a few weeks, which is exactly when WhatsApp's limits bite.

Opt-in by category. Meta's opt-in rules require you to name your business and cover the kinds of message you will send. A scheme member who agreed to instalment reminders has not agreed to festive offers, so collect a separate marketing opt-in at the counter or on the scheme form.

Per-user marketing limit. Meta's per-user marketing limit can hold back marketing templates for people who engage less, returning error 131049. Meta advises waiting at least 24 hours before resending. Marketing messages sent inside an open 24-hour window, after the customer has messaged you, do not count, which is another reason to invite replies.

Messaging limits. Meta's messaging limits cap the unique customers you can reach outside an open window in a moving 24-hour period, across your whole business portfolio. Check yours a month before the season, not the week of it.

A hypothetical two-showroom jeweller in Coimbatore shows the budget. The figures are illustrative, not from any customer. It has 1,500 active scheme members and 6,000 customers with marketing opt-in.

• Instalment reminders and receipts: 1,500 × 2 = 3,000 utility messages a month, so 3,000 × ₹0.19.
• Three festive campaigns to the opted-in list: 18,000 × ₹0.94.

Rates are per delivered message and exclude GST. InfiQ's retail cost guide shows how the categories add up for a retail business.

Where InfiQ fits

InfiQ supports catalog and commerce, carousel templates and the WhatsApp Calling API for voice calls on your business number. A shared team inbox lets every salesperson work the same number, with conversations assigned by team and kept with the business.