15 Sept 2022: Shorter messages are better

Neelke Stadler Updated by Neelke Stadler

Spend the time and effort to simplify, simplify, simplify. You’ll be rewarded in engagement. 

One of the biggest mistakes teams make when writing content for chat services, is they make it too long. Your users are busy. It is crucial to get your key message across as quickly as possible.

Button and list message limits on WhatsApp have always been 1024 characters. And now WhatsApp has changed media message limits to 1024 characters too. This means only text-only message can be longer than 1024 characters. We strongly believe content should be short and will prompt you in the interface to keep it short.

How we help you in the interface
  • A prompt to stick to best practise principles and keep messages shorter than 450 characters.
  • A warning that you cannot add media files when content exceeds 1024 characters.
  • An error when you add a media file BUT have content exceeding 1024 characters. WhatsApp does not allow this.
Best practise is to keep your content under 450 characters

Although 1024 characters is possible, best practise it to keep your content under 450 characters. Break it up into paragraphs and use formatting and emojis to make it easier to scan. We make you aware of this best practise by changing the character counter to orange as a warning.

It is more difficult to write simple, concise content than it is to write longer content. But spend the time and effort to simplify, simplify, simplify. You’ll be rewarded in engagement. 

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