What This Guide Covers
If you're using WhatsApp Business API to communicate with customers at scale, two things matter most:
Avoiding bans – Making sure your number or Business Portfolio continue unrestricted
Increasing your messaging limit – Scaling from 1,000 messages/day to 10,000 or 100,000
This guide walks you through the practical steps to achieve both. These are the same best practices we share with businesses sending thousands of messages daily through Spur.
Who this is for:
Businesses sending high volumes of messages (customer support, collections, notifications, marketing)
Teams that have been banned before and want to avoid it happening again
Anyone stuck at the 1,000 message/day limit and trying to scale up
Understanding WhatsApp's Quality Rating System
Before we get into tactics, you need to understand how Meta evaluates your WhatsApp account.
Quality Rating
Your quality rating is based on how customers respond to your messages:
Green (High): Customers are engaging positively. Low block/report rates.
Yellow (Medium): Warning zone. You're getting some negative signals.
Red (Low): Danger. High block/report rates. Ban risk is high.
You can see your quality rating in WhatsApp Manager under your phone number settings.
What Creates "Bad Signals"
Meta tracks these actions from customers who receive your messages:
Blocking your number
Reporting your number as spam after recieving marketing messages from you
Not responding to your messages (especially marketing messages)
Deleting the conversation without reading
The more bad signals you get, the worse your quality rating becomes and the closer you get to a ban.
Best Practices to Avoid Bans
1. Keep 2-3 Backup Facebook Business Accounts (FBMs) Ready
Don't put all your eggs in one basket. If your primary Business Portfolio gets restricted, having backup accounts lets you switch quickly without downtime.
Why this matters:
Bans can happen even when you're following best practices
Having aged (older) Facebook accounts speeds up verification if you need to start fresh
You can distribute risk across multiple accounts
How to do this:
Create additional Facebook accounts using fresh emails (see our guide on starting fresh)
Verify them with different phone numbers
Keep them active but don't use them for business yet, just have them ready
Important: Don't create all backup accounts on the same day from the same IP address. Space them out and use different devices/emails.
2. Reach 10,000 or 100,000 Message Limit BEFORE Sending Marketing Messages
This is the most critical rule.
Why this matters:
Higher messaging limits give you a higher threshold for handling bad signals.
If you're at the 1,000 message/day limit and you get 50 blocks/reports in a day, your account is at serious risk. But if you're at the 100,000 message/day limit, those same 50 bad signals are a tiny percentage of your volume, Meta's systems won't flag you.
The goal:
Get to 10,000 messages/day minimum before sending any marketing messages
If possible, push to 100,000 messages/day for maximum safety
How you reach these limits:
You increase your messaging limit by sending utility messages only, not marketing.
What are utility messages?
Transactional messages that customers expect and need:
Order confirmations ("Your order #1234 has been placed")
Shipping updates ("Your order is out for delivery")
Delivery confirmations ("Your order has been delivered")
Payment confirmations ("Payment received for order #1234")
Order cancellations ("Your order has been cancelled")
Appointment reminders (for service businesses)
Account notifications (password resets, login alerts, etc.)
What are NOT utility messages (these are marketing):
Abandoned cart messages
Product recommendations
Flash sale announcements
New collection launches
Discount offers
"Come back and shop" messages
The strategy:
Send as many legitimate utility messages as you can. If you're an ecommerce brand processing 500 orders a day, that's:
500 order confirmation messages
500 shipping update messages
500 delivery confirmation messages
That's 1,500 utility messages right there, without sending a single marketing message.
Once you hit 10,000/day limit:
Only then should you start sending marketing messages like abandoned checkout recovery or promotional broadcasts.
Why this works:
Utility messages have extremely high engagement and low block/report rates because customers are expecting them. This builds trust with Meta's systems. By the time you start marketing, you've already proven you're a legitimate business with good sending practices.
Scale Your Messaging Volume Gradually (The 200-Message Rule)
If you're currently at the 1,000 message/day limit, don't jump straight to sending 1,000 messages tomorrow. Meta's systems flag sudden spikes in volume.
The safe way to scale from 1,000 to 10,000:
Send 200 utility messages on Day 1, then wait.
Send 200 messages on Day 3, then wait.
Send 200 messages on Day 5, and so on.
Important: These should be utility messages only (order updates, shipping confirmations, etc.), not marketing.
Why this pattern works:
Gradual increases look organic, not like spam
Spacing out sends gives Meta time to evaluate your quality rating after each batch
If you get negative signals, you'll catch them early before they compound
Utility messages have high engagement, which signals quality to Meta
After each batch:
Check your quality rating in WhatsApp Manager
Monitor block/report rates
If your rating stays green, continue increasing volume
If it drops to yellow, pause and fix the issue before continuing
Once you hit 10,000/day:
You can start sending marketing messages (abandoned cart, broadcasts, etc.), but continue scaling utility messages to reach 100,000/day for maximum safety.
Scaling from 10,000 to 100,000 Messages/Day
Once you hit 10k, the process is similar but you can move faster:
Day 1: Send 2,000 utility messages
Day 3: Send 2,000 utility messages
Day 5: Send 2,000 utility messages
Continue this pattern, checking your quality rating after each day.
3. Get Blue Tick Verification Before Sending Marketing Messages
What is Blue Tick (Meta Verified Badge)?
The blue checkmark next to your business name on WhatsApp. It signals to both customers and Meta's systems that you're a verified, legitimate business.
Why you need it before marketing:
Blue Tick acts as a trust signal to Meta. When you send marketing messages (which naturally have lower engagement than utility messages), having verification helps Meta's algorithms give you the benefit of the doubt.
Without Blue Tick:
Marketing messages are more likely to be flagged as spam
Quality rating drops happen faster
Ban risk is higher
With Blue Tick:
Meta's systems trust you more
You can handle slightly more bad signals without getting flagged
Customers are more likely to engage (they see you're verified)
When to get verified:
Get Blue Tick before you start sending abandoned cart recovery, broadcasts, or other marketing messages.
How to get verified:
Check Meta's official requirements for business verification. You'll typically need:
Verified Business Portfolio
Consistent business information across platforms
Active messaging history (which you'll have by this point)
Business documentation
4-6 news articles about your brand published by reputed news outlets to show yours is a notable brand
Spur can also help with Blue Tick verification, reach out to our sales team if you need assistance. You can also fill this form to get your blue tick application fast tracked.
4. Always Provide an Opt-Out Button (Even for Utility Messages)
Even if you're sending legitimate utility messages (order updates, shipping notifications, payment reminders), give customers an easy way to stop receiving messages.
Why this matters:
If someone wants to stop your messages and they don't see an opt-out option, they'll either:
Block your number
Report you as spam
Both actions hurt your quality rating.
How to do this:
Add a button to every message that says:
"Stop messages"
"Unsubscribe"
"Opt out"
When they click it, remove them from your broadcast lists and confirm via a message: "You've been unsubscribed. You won't receive marketing messages from us anymore." (Spur's Contact Opt-Out AI action can do this for you without any manual intervention required from you)
Important:
This is especially critical for first-time contacts. If someone receives a message from you for the first time and doesn't recognize your brand, their first instinct might be to block/report. Giving them an opt-out option redirects that impulse into a cleaner action.
5. Stop Outbound Campaigns If Your Quality Rating Drops
Your quality rating is your early warning system. Respect it.
If your rating is Yellow (Medium):
Stop all marketing outbound immediately
Continue sending only utility messages (order confirmations, shipping updates, etc.)
Focus on improving quality: clean up your contact list, improve message relevance
Wait until your rating returns to Green before resuming marketing
If your rating is Red (Low):
Stop ALL outbound messages, marketing AND utility
Your account is on the edge of a ban
Review what went wrong: bad contact list? Irrelevant messages? Too much volume too fast?
Don't ignore yellow/red ratings.
We've seen businesses say "it'll be fine" and continue sending, only to wake up to a permanent ban the next day.
6. Consider Switching to MMLite (Meta's New Messaging Protocol)
MMLite is Meta's new messaging protocol designed for high-volume, low-cost messaging.
What it offers:
Lower cost per message
Higher tolerance for certain use cases (like reminders or notifications)
Can help reduce ban risk for specific messaging patterns
When to consider MMLite:
If you're sending thousands of transactional or utility messages daily
If cost is a major factor
If you've had quality rating issues in the past
7. Use Multiple WhatsApp Numbers to Distribute Load
If you're sending extremely high volumes (10,000+ messages/day), consider splitting the load across multiple phone numbers.
How this works:
Instead of sending 50,000 messages from one number, use 5 numbers and send 10,000 from each.
Why this helps:
If one number gets flagged, your other numbers stay active
Each number has its own quality rating, so bad signals don't compound
You can isolate risky campaigns (like cold outreach) to one number and keep utility messages on another
How to set this up in Spur:
Connect the same AI Agent to all numbers (if using AI)
Segment your contact list and assign different segments to different numbers
Monitor quality rating for each number independently
Example setup:
Number 1: Order confirmations and shipping updates (low-risk, high-engagement)
Number 2: Marketing broadcasts (medium-risk)
Number 3: Payment reminders or collections (higher-risk)
If Number 3 gets flagged, Numbers 1 and 2 continue operating without disruption.
Red Flags That Increase Ban Risk
Avoid these behaviors at all costs:
❌ Buying contact lists and cold messaging people who didn't opt in
This is the #1 cause of bans. If people don't recognize your brand, they'll block/report you immediately.
❌ Sending the same message to thousands of people at once without segmentation or personalization
Generic broadcasts get ignored or reported. Personalize and segment.
❌ Continuing to send after your quality rating drops to yellow or red
This is like ignoring a fire alarm. Stop immediately.
❌ Using promotional language in utility message templates
If you submit a template as "utility" (e.g., order confirmation) but it contains marketing copy, Meta will reject it, and repeated violations hurt your standing.
❌ Messaging people who haven't interacted with you in 6+ months
Old, inactive contacts are more likely to block/report you because they don't remember opting in.
What to Do If You Get Banned
If your number or Business Portfolio gets restricted despite following best practices:
Step 1: Appeal through Meta
Go to WhatsApp Manager, find the restriction notice, and submit an appeal. Explain your use case clearly and provide evidence that you followed policies.
Step 1.5: For Spur Customers only – Let Us Appeal for You
If your appeal fails, contact Spur support before taking any other action.
As a Meta Tech Partner, we can submit appeals on your behalf through our official partnership channels, often with better results than individual appeals.
Important: Your number must stay connected to Spur for us to help. Once you disconnect it, we lose access to appeal through our partner channels.
Don't disconnect your number until we've tried to get it reinstated for you.
Step 2: If your appeal fails, start fresh.
Follow our guide on creating a new Facebook account, Business Portfolio, and connecting a fresh phone number.
Step 3: Review what went wrong
Before relaunching, identify the root cause:
Was your contact list clean?
Did you scale volume too fast?
Were your messages relevant and valuable to recipients?
Fix the issue before restarting, or you'll get banned again.
Summary: The Ban-Proof Checklist
✅ Keep 2-3 backup Facebook Business Accounts ready
✅ Send only utility messages (order updates, shipping confirmations) until you reach 10,000/day
✅ Scale gradually: 200 messages every alternate day until you hit 10,000/day
✅ Get Blue Tick verification before sending marketing messages
✅ Always include an opt-out button in every message
✅ Stop marketing outbound if quality rating drops to yellow
✅ Stop ALL outbound if quality rating drops to red
✅ Use multiple WhatsApp numbers to distribute risk
✅ Only message people who opted in
✅ Monitor your quality rating daily
Most important rule:
Don't rush. Businesses that try to scale too fast are the ones that get banned. Slow, steady growth with high engagement is the way to reach 100k messages/day safely.
Need help setting up multiple numbers or improving your quality rating? Contact Spur support or check out our other WhatsApp guides.