Allocating Days to Customer Channels: Best Practices & Guide

This guide will detail the best approaches our partners are using to automate channels for their customers and simplify payment for API access

Account Balance is your prepaid amount converted into days. You use these days to activate and extend customer channels, ensuring uninterrupted WhatsApp API access for your clients.

This guide explains how to allocate prepaid days from your Account Balance to customer channels. If you're new to balance management or need instructions on how to top up your balance, please first review our detailed guide: [Account Balance Replenishment →]

Why Allocate Days to Channels?

Each customer channel must have sufficient allocated days to remain active and fully operational. Initially, a newly created channel can enter a 5-day trial period. However, this trial option is not automatically available to all partners; it is provided upon discussion and based on specific criteria.

We typically offer the 5-day trial period to partners who already have paying customers or active subscriptions on their account. This ensures the partner's genuine intent and prevents potential misuse of trial channels. For new partners who haven't yet demonstrated commercial commitment, there are two ways forward:

1. Start bringing clients to showcase commercial readiness and growth potential.

2. Assume the risk by funding trial days from their own account balance (e.g., the partner pays for 30 days and allocates some as trials for prospective customers).

Proper management and allocation of balance days ensure seamless, uninterrupted service for your customers.

How the Channel Extension Works:

You can extend a channel's active period by transferring days from your account balance. For example:

• Allocate any desired number of days to a channel, thus extending its active status for the period you need.

• You can do this through the interface, but we advise you to automate this process using our API endpoint:

curl --request POST \
     --url https://manager.whapi.cloud/channels/{CHANNEL_ID}/extend \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'authorization: Bearer YOUR_PARTNER_TOKEN_HERE' \
     --header 'content-type: application/json' \
     --data '{
       "days": 10,
       "comment": "Auto top-up for channel {CHANNEL_ID}"
     }'

• The comment parameter is mandatory but customizable, assisting you in tracking extensions easily on your Billing History page.

Recommended Best Practices:

1. Automate Extensions

Consider automating the allocation of days, especially when dealing with multiple customers. Automated extensions reduce the risk of human error and ensure consistent channel uptime.

2. Daily Billing & Daily Extensions

Some partners prefer charging their clients daily. If this applies to your business model, automate channel extensions daily to match your billing precisely. If your customer stops using your service, simply don't renew their channel the next day.

Practical example:

Imagine you have two customers paying for daily access. However, based on past experience, you know that typically your clients actively use your service for about one week, followed by a pause. By extending channels every 5–10 days instead of 30, you precisely match your customers' real usage patterns.

This ensures efficient use of allocated days and minimizes potential financial losses from unused days.

3. Monitor and Adjust Regularly

Adjust allocated days based on actual usage and customer requirements.

If a customer stops paying, you can delete their channel. Any unused days will automatically return to your account balance for future use.

4. Optimal Allocation:

• Every 5 days: This approach is the most popular among our partners. Allocate varying days based on client agreements and custom terms.

• Monthly: Allocate 30 days per channel monthly—simple and predictable.

• Quarterly/Annually: Provide discounts or incentives for customers opting for longer-term allocations.

Why Use Balance Allocation?

• Centralized control over customer subscriptions.

• Flexibility in adjusting subscription periods.

• Simplified billing process.

How to Manage Unused Days:

• Unused days from deleted channels return automatically to your account balance for future allocation.

For further details or assistance, feel free to contact our support team at [email protected].