Drip Campaign

Why drip campaigns matter on the WhatsApp API

WhatsApp is a permission-first channel with famously high open rates, which makes a well-timed sequence far more effective than the same content over email. But the same permission model means you cannot simply keep messaging a contact whenever you like. Once the free 24-hour service window — the period after a user messages you — has closed, every further message must be a template Meta has approved in advance. A drip campaign is the disciplined, compliant way to keep in touch across that boundary: each scheduled step is a pre-approved template, sent in the right category, at a pace that keeps engagement high and blocks low. Done well, it lifts activation, recovers carts, and revives lapsed contacts. Done badly — too many messages, too close together, or irrelevant — it invites blocks and reports that drag down your number's quality rating for every campaign, not just this one.

How billing works for a drip sequence

This is where drip planning gets financially real. Since 1 July 2025, Meta bills the WhatsApp Business API per delivered message, priced by category — marketing, utility, or authentication — not per conversation. So a drip campaign's cost is simply the sum of the delivered steps, each charged at its category rate. A five-step marketing nurture costs five marketing-rate deliveries per contact who receives all five; a mixed sequence where early order-update steps are genuine utility messages and later nudges are marketing is billed at the corresponding blend. The 24-hour service window is a free window for handling a conversation a user started — it is not a billing unit and it does not make your scheduled outbound steps free. InfiQ prices every step with transparent ₹ pricing (ex-GST), so you can see the per-contact cost of a sequence before you turn it on rather than discovering it on the invoice.

• Each delivered step is billed by its own category rate (marketing / utility / authentication)
• Total drip cost ≈ delivered steps × contacts × per-message rate, blended across categories
• The free 24-hour service window does not cover scheduled outbound steps that land after it closes
• Fewer, better-targeted steps usually beat a longer sequence on both cost and quality rating

Common mistakes to avoid

Most drip failures are not technical — they are judgement errors baked into the sequence. The classic one is missing exit logic: a customer completes their purchase but still receives the 'you left something behind' step two days later, which reads as careless and erodes trust. Another is over-messaging — stacking five steps into three days because the tool made it easy — which pushes recipients to block or report, quietly damaging your quality rating. Teams also mis-categorise steps, labelling a promotional message as utility to chase a cheaper rate, which risks template rejection and quality penalties. And many forget that every step needs its own approved template with the right variables; a beautifully mapped sequence stalls the moment a step hits an unapproved template. Build the exits first, space the steps to the value they deliver, categorise honestly, and get every template approved before launch.

• No exit logic — contacts keep getting nudged after they have already converted or opted out
• Over-messaging — too many steps too fast, driving blocks and quality-rating damage
• Mis-categorising steps — labelling marketing as utility, risking rejection and penalties
• Launching with unapproved templates — a step with no approved template silently fails to send
• Ignoring cost per contact — long sequences multiply across a large list into real spend