WhatsApp for salons: what to send, what not to, and what it costs

WhatsApp for salons works best for messages the client is glad to get: receipts, booking confirmations, reminders, birthday wishes and “your package ends next week”. Send offers only to clients who said yes to offers, at most once a week, and never at night. If you send by hand to a few clients, the free WhatsApp Business app is enough. If you want reminders to go automatically, you need the WhatsApp Business Platform, where Meta charges per message and every message you start must use a template Meta has approved.

What to send

Meta decides the category from the template’s words, not from what you call it. A reminder that adds “and get 20% off colour this week” becomes marketing.

What not to send

• Offers every few days. Clients mute or block you, and blocks and reports can hurt your number’s standing with Meta.
• The same offer to everyone. A men’s grooming offer sent to every bridal client reads as spam.
• Long paragraphs and many images. One clear line, one reason, one way to book.
• Anything at 11 pm. Keep quiet hours, roughly 9 pm to 9 am, for everything except a reminder about today’s booking.
• Messages from staff’s personal numbers. Clients’ numbers leave with the stylist.

What a good month looks like for one client

A sample month for Neha, a regular who said yes to offers:

1. Booking confirmation when she books her colour.
2. Reminder the day before, which she taps to confirm.
3. Short reminder three hours before.
4. Receipt after paying, with the next visit already booked.
5. One offer, two weeks later: a hair spa at a quieter time.

That is five messages, and only one is promotional. Every other message is something she would have asked for anyway. If your month for a client looks like five offers and one reminder, turn it round.

Who replies matters as much as what you send. Clients will reply to reminders with “can I come at 5 instead?”. Someone at the desk needs to see those replies within the hour, or the reminder creates a bad experience instead of a good one.

Consent and how often

Meta requires a business to have the client’s permission before messaging them, to say clearly that they are opting in to messages from you, and to name your business when they do. The permission doesn’t have to be WhatsApp-specific, but it must follow the law. In practice:

• Ask at the first visit: “Can we send you booking reminders and the occasional offer on WhatsApp?” Note the yes or no.
• Keep two separate yeses: booking messages (almost everyone says yes) and offers (fewer will).
• Offers go only to clients who said yes to offers, and at most one a week to any client.
• Make it easy to stop: “Reply STOP and we won’t send offers.”

Frizzi works this way by default: offers go only to clients marked “OK to send offers”, at most one every 7 days per client, with quiet hours from 9 pm to 9 am. A self sign-up tablet at the desk lets clients tick “Send me offers” themselves.

WhatsApp Business app or the Platform (API)?

Many salons use both: the app for chatting, and the Platform for automatic messages.

What Meta charges, in brief

Since 1 July 2025 Meta has charged per message delivered, not per conversation. The price depends on the template category (marketing, utility or authentication) and on the client’s country, and India has its own rates. Messages clients send you are free. When a client messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens, and normal replies inside it are service messages, which have a free monthly allowance. Marketing messages cost the most. Meta can change prices at the start of a quarter, so check its official pricing page and India rate card for today’s rates rather than any blog, including this one.

If your software sends through your own WhatsApp Business number, Meta bills you directly. With Frizzi, every plan includes free messages for reminders and updates (100, 300 or 1,000 per branch a month on Basic, Plus and Pro); promotional messages need the ₹599 pack of 500. Messages from your own number don’t use these allowances, because you pay Meta yourself. Prices are on the pricing page.

Templates need Meta’s approval

Outside the 24-hour window you can only send a template: fixed words with blanks that fill in for each client. Meta reviews each one when you create or edit it, and only approved templates can be sent. Write them plainly and fill every blank with real details:

Hi {{1}}, this is a reminder of your {{2}} at {{3}} tomorrow at {{4}}. Tap below to confirm, reschedule or cancel.

Happy birthday, {{1}}! Enjoy a free head massage with any service at {{2}} this month.

Keep reminders free of offers so they stay utility. Templates can also be written in Hindi or another language in Meta, even though the Frizzi app itself is in English.

How Frizzi sends messages

1. In the Frizzi client app, free and unlimited, for clients who have it (coming soon to the stores).
2. On WhatsApp automatically, once you connect your salon’s own WhatsApp Business number and Meta approves the templates.
3. A desk “tap to send” list, where reception taps Send and WhatsApp opens on that device with the message ready. It works with any WhatsApp.

Frizzi doesn’t send SMS reminders; SMS is only for sign-in codes. More on the WhatsApp reminders page, and for using reminders against empty chairs, see how to reduce no-shows.

Questions