Meta Restricts WhatsApp Marketing to U.S. numbers; Zoho Desk Limits Bulk & Mass Actions for Marketing Templates

Meta has always limited WhatsApp marketing messages based on user engagement with previously sent templates. Businesses may have repeatedly seen the error message “USER_MARKETING_TEMPLATE_LIMIT” when messages failed to deliver.  Learn more about the restriction from meta

Zoho Desk does not allow marketing templates to be sent in bulk or through mass actions, as this could lead to compliance violations and legal risks for both customers and BSPs.

Hello, everyone!

Starting April 1, 2025, Meta will pause all WhatsApp marketing messages sent to U.S. phone numbers (+1 country code). If you try to send a marketing message to a U.S. number, it will fail and show an error.

This change affects businesses that use WhatsApp to send promotional messages, discounts, or sales offers to customers in the U.S.

However, you can still send important messages like:

• Order confirmations
• Payment receipts
  
• Shipping updates
  
• One-time passwords (OTPs)
  
• Customer service replies within 24 hours
  

What's changing on April 1, 2025?

• No WhatsApp marketing messages can be sent to U.S. numbers. This affects any message classified as marketing under WhatsApp’s template system, including promotional offers, discounts, and outbound sales messages.
• Non-marketing messages (such as receipts, OTPs, and support replies) are still allowed.
  
• Businesses outside the U.S. can continue sending marketing messages to non-U.S. customers.
  
• U.S.-based businesses can still send marketing messages to non-U.S. numbers.
  

How this affects your business

If You Use a U.S.-registered WhatsApp Business Number  

• You can send marketing, utility, and authentication template messages to international (non-U.S.) customers.
  
• You cannot send marketing messages to U.S. numbers.
  
• Customer-initiated conversations are still allowed worldwide.
  

Billing and payment impact

• Prepaid credits: If you prepaid for WhatsApp marketing messages, those credits cannot be used for U.S. numbers.
  
• Refund credits: If you have purchased credits for sending marketing templates, refunds for those credits can be issued.
  
• No charges for failed messages: If your marketing message fails due to this restriction, you will not be billed.
  
• Queued messages: If a message was scheduled before April 1 but fails after that date, refund policies may vary.
  
• Marketing conversations in the U.S.: No longer billable under WhatsApp’s conversation-based pricing.
  

How this affects Zoho Desk users

If you use Zoho Desk to manage WhatsApp conversations, this change will impact:

Inbox  

• Marketing messages sent to U.S. numbers will not be delivered.
  
• Agents will see failed message notifications if they try sending marketing templates to U.S. customers.
  

 

Automation and workflows  

• Any ticket-based automation that sends WhatsApp marketing messages should be updated to exclude U.S. recipients.
  

What Zoho Desk users need to do next

To comply with this new rule and avoid message failures, Zoho Desk users should:

• Update inbox workflows to remove WhatsApp marketing for U.S. numbers.
  
• Revise automation rules to prevent failed message attempts.
  
• Train agents on these changes so they do not send marketing messages to U.S. customers. 
  

For help, contact support@zohodesk.com 

Adjusting your business workflows

• U.S. numbers will automatically be excluded from WhatsApp marketing messages.
  
• WhatsApp delivery rates will drop for U.S. numbers.
  

Can I still create WhatsApp marketing templates?

Yes, but you cannot use them for U.S. recipients.

What you need to know about creating templates  

• Templates will remain approved in Meta’s system.
  
• Exclude U.S. numbers when sending marketing messages.
  
• Templates can still be used for non-U.S. customers.
  

Restrictions on Bulk and Mass Actions for Marketing Templates in Zoho Desk

• Users are not permitted to send marketing templates in bulk or through mass actions in Zoho Desk, as this may lead to compliance and legal risks for both the customers and the Business Service Provider (BSP). These restrictions are applicable across all Zoho data centers (DCs).
  

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What happens to existing WhatsApp marketing templates?  

Pre-approved templates remain in Meta’s system. They can still be used for non-U.S. recipients but will not be deliverable to U.S. numbers.

Will businesses be charged for failed messages?  

No, businesses will not be billed for failed WhatsApp marketing messages. If a message was queued before April 1, 2025, refund policies may vary.

Can businesses still send WhatsApp messages to U.S. customers?  

Yes, non-marketing messages such as order confirmations, receipts, and OTPs are still allowed.

How can businesses continue engaging U.S. customers?  

Encourage customer-initiated chats using Click-to-WhatsApp Ads. Use WhatsApp for transactional updates rather than promotions.

Will Meta lift this restriction in the future?  

Meta has not provided a timeline for when WhatsApp marketing may resume in the U.S. Businesses should continue monitoring Meta’s announcements for any policy changes.

Unexpected billing charges for WhatsApp marketing messages to U.S. numbers  

The message may have queued before April 1, 2025, and processed later.

Can I use Zoho Desk to send bulk or mass marketing or promotional messages via WhatsApp?

Zoho Desk supports both utility and marketing templates for WhatsApp in real-time conversations through the IM inbox. However, bulk and mass actions for marketing templates are not supported in Zoho Desk. For running campaigns or promotional activities at scale, we strongly recommend using Zoho Marketing Automation to ensure compliance with WhatsApp's policies.

Best,

Prabin

• Topic Participants

• Raj R

  

• Sticky Posts

• Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences

  Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynote

• WhatsApp pricing changes: Pay per message starting July 1, 2025

  Starting July 1, 2025, WhatsApp is shifting from conversation-based pricing to per-message billing. That means every business-initiated message you send will count. Not just the first one in a 24-hour window. Pricing updates on the WhatsApp Business Platform

• Live Webinar - Work smarter with Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace integration

  Hello customers! Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace are coming together for a webinar on 14th May, 2024. Zoho Workplace is a suite of productivity apps for email, chat, docs, calls, and more at one single place. Zoho Desk is closely integrated with a few tools

• Apple iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 updates for Zoho Desk users

  Hello Zoho Desk users! Apple recently announced the release of iOS 17 and iPad OS 17. These latest OS updates will help you stay productive and efficient, through interactive and seamless user experiences. Zoho Desk has incorporated the updates to help

• Zoho Desk Cheat Sheet For The Year-End

  Check out these Zoho Desk best practices to end this year on a high and have a great one ahead! #1 Set Business (Holiday) Hours - If you have limited working hours, please make sure you restrict your business hours or set them as holidays for the coming days. Let your customers know when you will, and won't, be available. #2 Update the Annual Holiday List - Check the holidays for the new year and update the holiday schedule. Usually, holidays from the current year will be carried over for the next

• Recent Topics

• Accounting on the Go Series-51: Effortless Transactions: Create and Manage Directly from Uploaded Documents

  Hello everyone, We’re back with another useful feature that makes working with Zoho Books even easier! This time, we’re simplifying the process of creating transactions directly from uploaded documents. Imagine you’re out meeting clients, and you receive

• [WEBINAR] Effortless migration to the VAT-ready South Africa edition of Zoho Books

  Hello there, If you are one of our early users from South Africa using the older edition of Zoho Books, this webinar is for you! We have now launched a new South Africa edition with VAT support, to which you can migrate your existing data. Join this session,

• Accounting on the Go Series-52: Capture Receipts on the Go, Right from Your Lock Screen.

  Hello everyone, We’re excited to introduce a feature that will make your life so much easier—especially for those constantly on the move! With iOS 18, Zoho Books now allows you to capture receipts directly from your lock screen using Locked Camera Capture.

• AT - Austrian Accountant familiar with ZOHO

  Hello, as I have just migrated to ZOHO and unfortunately have to change my accountant next year, I am looking for an accountant (for Austria) who already has experience with Zoho or who already manages clients using Zoho books. Is there anyone here from

• Zoho Workflow issue

  Dear Zoho Users, I have Zoho Books premium subscription, I have created a email alerts workflow for Invoices and following are the configurations for the same: 1. Workflow for Invoice module 2. Choose when to tigger - created or edited 3. Filter the triggers

• Accounting on the Go Series-53: Swift Transactions at Your Fingertips-Zoho Books in Your Control Center

  Hello again, We’ve all had those moments where you need to get something done quickly, but the process of unlocking your phone, finding the app, and navigating through menus slows you down. Now, with Zoho Books integrated into the iOS 18 Control Center,

• Update on PDF Download Issues Caused by Antivirus Software

  Hello users, Antivirus software is designed to protect your computer from malicious software and threats. However, they may mistakenly identify legitimate files and software as threats at times. This is known as a false positive. We have received reports

• Accounting on the Go Series-54: Effortlessly Find Your Zoho Books Customers in Your Phone’s Contact List

  Hello Zoho Books users! How are you all ? We’re happy to share a handy new feature in Zoho Books mobile app. Now, you can access your Zoho Books customers right from your phone's contact list, making it easier to stay connected on the go. How this can

• Integration of Phase 2 -e-invoicing- KSA

  Zoho Team, I want to get a training of integration of phase 2 invoicing KSA in zoho step by step.

• I can not save new invoice

  Hello Now I am trying to save a new invoice but I can not save it because showing unpaid invoice warning which are not overdue. Please let me know how to skip unpaid invoice warning letter and save new invoice. Thank you

• ADD CONDITIONS FOR FIELD IN ZOHO BOOKS TEMPLATE CUSTOMAZATION

  HELLO I WANT TO ADD CONDITIONS FOR FIELD IN ZOHO BOOKS TEMPLATE CUSTOMAZATION FOR SALES ORDER . I HAVE SET %StatusStamp% IF APPROVAL I WANT THAT TEXT TO BE DISPLAYED WITH GREEN COLOR OTHERWISE OF OTHERR STATUS RED COLOR AS SHOWN IN CODE BELOW . BUT IT

• Accounting on the Go Series-55: Seamlessly Add New Vendors While Creating Transactions from Scanned Documents

  Hi there! We’ve made handling documents and vendors in Zoho Books even simpler. Now, when you upload a document and scan it, if the app detects a vendor that isn’t already in your organization, you don’t have to leave the page to add them manually. With

• Accounting on the Go Series-57: Effortlessly Add and Manage Bank Accounts from the Zoho Books Mobile App

  Hi all, Great news for our users in the US and Canada! Managing your finances just got a whole lot easier. Zoho Books has always made it seamless to integrate bank accounts and fetch feeds automatically. Now, we’re taking it up a notch—directly from the

• Accounting on the Go Series:58-Effortless Compliance: Download XML for Invoices & Credit Notes on Mobile

  Hi there! In Mexico, XML files are crucial for electronic invoicing and fulfilling SAT (Tax Administration Service) requirements. These files ensure your transactions are accurately recorded and tax-compliant. Now, you don’t need to rely on the web app

• Auto Generated Invoice number YEAR

  Auto Generated Invoice number shows transaction year as 25 even though it's 24 still.

• Books generiert keine valide XRechnung

  Hallo zusammen, ich möchte hier ein Problem ansprechen, das mir aktuell bei der Nutzung von Books erhebliche Schwierigkeiten bereitet, und hoffe auf Austausch oder Lösungsansätze von anderen Nutzern. Bei der Erstellung von XRechnungen mit Books treten

• WHEN UPDATE ORGANIZATION INFO OLD INVOICES ALSO CHANGE INVOICING DATA

  Hi We have updated our tax information because we have become a company, up until now we were an individual. The problem is that when updating the data in the zoho books profile all the old invoices change their tax information as well. Is there a way

• Invoice import error - duplicate customer name column - there are no duplicates

  It is not allowing the importing of any rows because of a duplicate customer name problem, but there are no duplicates in the custoemr name row. Has anyone dealt with this issue before?

• [WEBINAR][Feb 2025] Automate your entire financial operations from receipts to reconciliation with Zoho Books & Zoho Expense integration

  Hello there, We are hosting a free, live webinar on the importance of travel and expense management solutions for businesses, and how Zoho Expense automatically syncs with Zoho Books to simplify your accounting even further. The webinar is on February

• Customize Layout

  I am using "Customize Layot" for customize Quotation template but I try to add logo into the header by "%ScaledLogoImage%" code but dont add logo into header. what is problem?

• Problem - cant add Users (i.e. Zoho one / CRM Users) to BCC or CC in email, i.e. Sales orders or Retainers

  I can go to zoho books email templates, and select any email template, and automatically include any Zoho One user, i.e. member of staff. However in the context of sending an email, it will not let us add a member of staff from the user list, instead

• UK MTD ITSA

  UK Making Tax Digital for Income Tax I have had notice this is to apply from April 2026. What is Zoho doing about this? I will need to start planning to implement this in the next months so need an update as to what I will and will not be able to do in

• Partial refunds

  I am trying to process refund for a one item invoice, however the refund is partial: i am getting this error while creating credit note, can anyone share some wisdom about this

• Zoho Books Roadshows are back in the UAE!

  Hello there, Business owners and accounting professionals of the UAE, we’re coming to your cities! FTA accredited Zoho Books is now officially one of the Digital Tax Integrators in the UAE. With the newly launched direct VAT filing capabilities, we're

• New user After moving over from QBO

  New user observations/suggestions. QBO took away a lot of features I was used to with the desktop version. Chaos ensued. Zoho Books has a lot of what I was used to and a bit more. Good deal Some things I have run into and suggest some upgrades. 1: The

• Sole Trader - Financial Advisor (Appointed Representative) - Paid via Capital Account but no Invoicing...

  Hi. I'm about to venture into a new business after 12 months of intensive learning/exams. A little chuffed if I may say so especially at 52! I really like the look of ZoHo Books for my modest enterprise but I'm in need of some guidance, please. My services

• Multi-Unit Inventory with Flexible Unit Selection (Purchase in One Unit, Sell in Another)

  We need multi-unit inventory management in Zoho Books with the flexibility to choose units (e.g., Box or Piece) at the time of purchase or sale. For example, if 1 Box = 10 Pieces, we should be able to record purchases in Boxes but sell either in Boxes

• Disputed Purchase Invoices

  We have recently moved to Zoho Books from Sage. In Sage we were able to post a purchase/vendor invoice but mark it as on dispute. This would usually be a pricing query or if something was damaged. It would show in their ledger, so we could agree their

• No TDS Deduction

  In some of our case, where we are reselling items at the same rate we purchased. In this scenario, Indian IT Law has a provision to request customer not to deduct TDS if the transaction value is same. TDS is paid by us (intermediary reseller) before we

• CBSA - GST CHARGES on imports

  Hi there, We have a questions about landed cost categorization. We received a shipment from overseas. CBSA invoiced us for the GST on the items. Now we entered the CBSA-GST as a separate bill and attached it as landed cost to the main invoice based on

• Zoho Books

  How do I manually insert opening balance?

• Sales order & purchase order item links for item details

  This is fantastic for checking lots of things, I use it a lot. It would be great to see it extended to invoices & bills On another note, may as well throw in my favourite whinge ..... Wish you guys would get the PO receive differences sorted urgently,

• Bank charges are applied. Please select a bank account.

  Hello, I'm trying to add bank charges to a customer payment, but I get the error message "Bank charges are applied. Please select a bank account." I found this old thread, where it says that I need to "select a Bank account for the 'Deposit To' dropdown

• How to add receipts

  How to add receipts

• Support for auto-upgrade in TrueSync (for Windows)

  WorkDrive TrueSync app now supports auto-upgrading to the latest version for Windows OS. You must manually download and install the TrueSync app version 3.4.0 to avail this feature. Download the latest TrueSync app for Windows (version 3.4.0) Supported

• WorkDrive API Documentation

  WorkDrive provides users and developers an extensive set of APIs to help integrate functionalities of Zoho WorkDrive with other Zoho applications and third-party tools. We have published the official WorkDrive API Documentation page for all external users.

• March 15, 2023: Zoho Docs is discontinued

  As of today (March 15, 2023) Zoho Docs is discontinued for all users. We would like to thank our customers for trusting us for so many years! Going forward, we're confident you'll enjoy using Zoho WorkDrive for all your advanced file management and collaboration

• Introducing WorkDrive 4.0: Enhanced productivity. Advanced data administration. (Phase 1)

  Hello All, We're excited to share the release of WorkDrive 4.0, which includes important new features and enhancements focused primarily on productivity, secure collaboration, data administration, integrations, and user experience. Read the official announcement

• External download link limit

  Can You please help us to understand this For Zoho WorkDrive external users, the download limit is a maximum of 5 GB total download size and a maximum of 50 first-level files and folders What is the meaning of first level? We are using these files in

• Dynamically catching new file creations

  I have a team folder with many subfolders, and in those folders we add new documents all the time. I'd like to have a workflow or script to notify me (and then take other actions) when a file is added anywhere in that structure that ends in "summary.txt".

• Next Page