Glossary / Cost Per Conversation (CPC)
Cost Per Conversation (CPC)
Cost Per Conversation (CPC) is Meta's per-conversation billing model for WhatsApp Business API — the foundational pricing unit that replaces seat-based costs and aligns AI efficiency with your unit economics.
Full definition
The WhatsApp Business API charges businesses per conversation, not per message, not per seat. A conversation is a 24-hour window of two-way messaging between a customer and a business. If a customer replies within 24 hours, all messages in that window (customer and business, inbound and outbound) are counted as one conversation. If the conversation goes silent for 24+ hours and the customer re-initiates, that's a new conversation. CPC pricing — typically ₹2–5 per conversation depending on country and business type — replaces the seat-based model of older CRM and helpdesk platforms (Zendesk, Intercom, Freshdesk). This is fundamentally better for businesses running AI: an AI agent handling 1000 conversations costs the same as a human handling 10 — only the conversation count matters, not headcount.
Key facts
- A conversation is one 24-hour two-way messaging window between customer and business
- Restarting after 24h silence = new conversation = new cost
- Session messages (replies within 24h) cost ₹2–5 depending on country
- Template messages (business-initiated) may have different pricing tiers
- Per-conversation pricing (not seats) means AI agents reduce cost per conversation, not total spend
- Typical ROI: 100 conversations at ₹3 each = ₹300/day; 1 support rep = ₹2000+/day — conversion cost is 1/7th
Related terms
The WhatsApp Business API (now Meta's Cloud API) is the official programmatic interface that lets businesses send and receive WhatsApp messages at scale, send bulk campaigns via approved templates, and build AI agents or chatbots — distinct from the free WhatsApp Business app which is single-user only.
ReadCPL (cost per lead) and CPS (cost per sale) attribution is the practice of tying every lead and sale back to the exact ad, campaign, channel, or agent that generated it — so marketing spend is measured against revenue, not vanity metrics like clicks.
ReadConversational commerce is the practice of driving marketing, sales, and customer support through messaging channels — WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and chat — rather than traditional websites, email, or phone calls. In India, SEA, and MENA it's often the primary way customers buy.
ReadSee cost per conversation (cpc) in production
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