What to Do When Your WhatsApp Business Account Gets Blocked

WhatsApp’s potential as a business tool has been a game-changer for many companies, especially in the ecommerce sector. It brings the personalization of text messages for marketing on a platform that is familiar to most people. 

However, some people might feel like their experience on the platform is diluted when used as a business tool. This often happens when businesses spam customers when they’d much rather use it to talk to people they know. Such spamming is also an easy way to get your WhatsApp business number blocked. 

If yours is blocked, too, don’t worry. You can still save your account, and we will walk you through it in this blog. 

What is a blocked WhatsApp Business account and why does it happen? 

A WhatsApp Business is an account designed for small businesses, primarily to cater to their customers. This makes it easier for them to automate responses and improve customer interaction and marketing. While these accounts help customers interact easily with the businesses and vice versa, some activities or lack of rule-following might end with account suspension. 

According to WhatsApp, if you have infringed the intellectual property rights of customers, use a third-party app to send bulk messages, are reported as spam, scam, or put another user at risk, you can get blocked. Maybe you were not careful in understanding WhatsApp’s rules and regulations or didn’t pay enough attention to them, or perhaps you were banned by mistake. Whatever the reason, when your account is blocked, you can no longer send or receive messages to customers.  This can be detrimental to your marketing, sales and support campaigns, leading to a slow down in sales. 

Let’s take a look at some of the most common reasons for blocked WhatsApp Business accounts: 

1. Bulk messages: You might have sent messages in bulk to many contacts who aren’t even on your contact list, and used external tools to automate the same. 
2. Spammy advertisements: Every business owner wants to promote their products and discounts. However, you could get blocked if you do it repeatedly and stuff your messages with promotional links and spam users. WhatsApp can scan such messages and treat them as low-quality content for users. 
3. Users reported you: Creating WhatsApp groups with users who do not know you and spamming it with promotional messages are easy ways to get your WhatsApp business number blocked. When such activities bother users, they will report you and mark you as spam. If there are too many such reports, WhatsApp will suspend you. 
4. Violating guidelines: WhatsApp has laid out rules on how merchants should carry out their business on WhatsApp. If someone violates them, their number will get blocked. Selling prohibited items, using abusive/problematic language, saying racially, or ethnically offensive things, or even spreading false news–all of these are reasons why someone can be banned on WhatsApp. 

How to unblock your WhatsApp Business account? 

If your account is blocked for any of the above reasons, here are ways you can unblock it. 

If the ban is temporary, it will unblock in a day. 

If you are experiencing a prolonged permanent ban, here are some steps you could take: 

1. Identify why your WhatsApp Business account was disabled

To do this, navigate to your WhatsApp Manager through Facebook Business Suite, click on the hamburger menu icon, and select Account Quality. 

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This will show you the reason why your account has been suspended. The image above shows how the account was blocked because the website wasn’t found. Resolve the issue mentioned for your account and then wait to find out if that unblocks your account. 

If the issue isn’t resolved even after fixing this problem, you can reach out to the support team. 

2. Reach out to customer support to request unblock 

Based on the type of WhatsApp account that you have, you can reach out to customer support. 

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• Personal number: If you have a small business handled without a business account and you are using your personal number, then send an email to WhatsApp Messenger Support for your appeal.
• Business number: If your number is registered as a business account on WhatsApp, then send an email to WhatsApp Business Support via this email: smb_web@support.whatsapp.com. In your appeal to unblock your account, be polite and explain the situation to the support team. You could also tell how you need it for your support and sales activities. 

3. Ensure you’re using the right version of the app 

Those who use an unofficial or modded app version of WhatsApp are often penalized with a temporary ban. Make sure you use the correct version from the app store. This can also help fix the issue. 

Best practices to prevent your WhatsApp Business account from getting banned 

While there are ways to unblock a banned WhatsApp Business account, it is always better to prevent getting banned in the first place. Here are some best practices we recommend following: 

1. Leverage official WhatsApp Business API

Using third-party apps for your WhatsApp communications and processes can get you blocked. However, the official versions of the WhatsApp Business API can help you improve the processes and avoid the troubles of an account suspension. 

The APIs, also known as WhatsApp Business Platforms, help streamline several business functions and give credibility to your account. A basic WhatsApp business account gives you features such as labels and auto-replies. But, if you use an API, you can get the following features too: 

• Business account verification: Customers are more likely to trust an account with a business name over a random number claiming to be a part of a business. With an API, you can get an official name featured on users' chats even if they haven’t saved your number. A green tick mark also accompanies your name. And we all know how important those are today! Users automatically associate your business as a trustworthy account when your account looks professional. 
• Send messages seamlessly: With an API your business account can have multiple logins and users. This way, you can answer customers more promptly. You can also personalize messages with first names and automate them. Additionally, using an API, you can test the messages before sending them to a broadcast list to avoid errors and typos. To make this further simpler to do without technical know-how, you can also use WhatsApp Business API solution providers like QuickReply.ai. 

2. Stay in touch with customers beyond WhatsApp

As an eCommerce business, staying in touch with your customers beyond WhatsApp is essential. If you lose your account, you still want access to your database of users and potential customers, and continue keeping them engaged with your brand. 

WhatsApp Business Platforms help you integrate your customer’s social channels and connect them to your database. This way, you could connect with them on Facebook, Instagram, and more when needed. It also gives you an upper hand in increasing your visibility to your users beyond WhatsApp. 

3. Segment your customers 

Customer segmentation is when you divide your customers into different groups. It prevents you from getting your WhatsApp Business number blocked by enabling you to send contextual messages to customers and not look spammy.  

You can segment customers by location, age, purchasing history, gender, engagement rate, etc. These help you send specific, customer-centric messages that understand user intention. 

For example, when you divide customers by location, you can send festive-based promotional messages based on their area. Likewise, when you segment using purchasing history, you can send special discounts to repeat customers and introductory discounts to users who haven’t yet purchased from you. 

Here are some advantages of segmenting your WhatsApp list: 

• Customers are more inclined to respond to personalized and relevant messages, preventing them from reporting you as spam.
• It helps increase your engagement rate as messages are more relevant to them. 
• It increases your order values as users will make purchases when your messages are aligned with their interests.
• You can send more messages to customers who interact more with your messages and send limited messages to those who don’t. 

Additionally, with a WhatsApp Business API solution provider like QuickReply.ai, you can also segment customers based on their engagement with previous campaigns - this data is key to knowing which customers really want to hear from you.  

4. Allow people to opt-out

Even if you are segmenting users and following several best practices to avoid spamming, some users will not be interested in your business. In such situations, they will report or block you. To avoid such problems, send your messages with an option to opt out of the broadcast list. 

You can also ask them why they want to opt out to understand how others perceive your messages. Additionally, most customers wouldn’t prefer to block your account as this would prevent them from contacting you. Additionally, you could always include a message for them to opt back in your last message by reinforcing the value you intend to share with them on the channel.  

5. Send different types of WhatsApp messages 

Your messages shouldn’t be limited to promotions and discounts. You should find different ways to communicate your marketing messages to customers. 

Simple integration between your Shopify store and WhatsApp through an API can help you integrate the customer’s journey across platforms. You can alert them when they abandon their cart with discounts and messages that generate FOMO, such as, “Hey, your cart is waiting for you.”. Often, this nudges customers to place an order finally. 

Once they place the orders, check if they want to receive updates on WhatsApp through a simple checkbox. If yes, send them shipping information, delivery dates, and live tracking details. Your customers will appreciate how they don’t have to reach out for such information; instead, it is readily available. 

Once they receive the order, collect feedback through WhatsApp messages. You can also prompt them to buy more by cross-selling through different product recommendations based on their last purchase. 

You can also engage customers by sending them messages about giveaways, seasonal sales, and more. All of these ensure your customers understand that you are not spammy and prevent your WhatsApp Business number from getting blocked. 

Help your business thrive using WhatsApp 

Whatsapp Business is an excellent tool for small and large businesses alike. But it is easy to get carried away and sound spammy or unintentionally breach the community guidelines. This is how you get your WhatsApp Business number blocked. 

We hope this article helped you understand why accounts get blocked with ways to navigate out of the situation. 

However, ensuring you are not breaching rules and doing what’s best for you and your customers can be challenging. To make it easier, you can leverage WhatsApp business API solution providers like QuickReply.ai. 

We can be your end-to-end platform for all the necessary activities on your WhatsApp Business account. You can communicate with customers as they place orders, recover abandoned carts, and provide timely alerts for your discounts. You can also set up WhatsApp chatbots with automatic messages for when you aren’t around, giving you a WhatsApp support team. 

You can address more significant business decisions instead of manually sending messages to customers on WhatsApp. Let the API do the work for you while helping you stay compliant and adhere to regulations. 

Book a demo today to know more.