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MESSAGING AND TEMPLATES
Utility template
A utility template is a WhatsApp message template that concerns a specific transaction, account or request the customer already made: order confirmations, delivery updates, appointment reminders, payment alerts, account notices. It is priced far below marketing and is not subject to the marketing frequency cap. Utility templates are charged per delivered message, including inside the 24-hour window, from 1 October 2026.
marketing templatetemplate categorycustomer service windowmeta october 2026 pricing change
Why it matters
Utility is the category that keeps WhatsApp operations cheap: Rs 0.115 per delivered message in India against Rs 0.8631 for marketing, no per-user cap, no pacing throttle and no United States pause. Until 30 September 2026 a utility template delivered inside an open customer service window was free; from 1 October 2026 it is charged there too, so sending an update while the customer is still chatting no longer saves money. The catch is content discipline: one promotional line in a utility template gets it recategorised to marketing and billed at about seven times the price. What changed on 1 October 2026.
In VGraple CRM
Appointment reminders, order status updates, payment links, form follow-ups and sequence steps default to utility templates. The builder warns when wording looks promotional, and the template editor and the broadcast cost estimate note that utility templates are charged inside the window from 1 October 2026. The estimate prices each recipient at their country's utility rate. Automation rules can send utility templates on stage changes without a human touching the inbox.
Related terms
Marketing template, Template category, Customer service window, Template recategorisation.