- 64% of people in France use an instant messaging app every day (Arcep).
- Prospecting individuals by email or SMS requires their prior agreement; business-to-business prospecting is exempt under three conditions.
- On WhatsApp, a business writes only to people who agreed to receive its messages, and Meta bills every message.
- Since 2 August 2026, a chatbot must tell the person it is talking to that they are interacting with an AI.
Your prospects already write on WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger: 64% of people in France open a messaging app every day, and WhatsApp reaches 87% of messaging users there (Arcep, Digital Barometer 2026). They expect an answer in the same thread. What remains is to know what to tell them on each channel, which agreement and which cost to plan for, and how a chatbot qualifies before handing over to a human.
The definition, and a close cousin
Conversational marketing covers the real-time exchanges with your contacts, on the channels where a conversation comes naturally: site chat, messaging apps, social networks. Every message calls for a quick answer, adapted to the person. A chatbot often holds the front line, then hands over to a human when the request goes beyond its scope.
Conversational commerce is a neighboring notion: “a marketing technique that includes interactions with the customer via a messaging service, notably via conversational technologies such as chatbots”. Our guide to sales chatbots details this idea.
64%
of people in France use an instant messaging app every day.
Arcep, Digital Barometer 2026
87%
of messaging users in France are on WhatsApp.
Arcep, Digital Barometer 2026
50%
Each of the three apps, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, is used by at least half of messaging users in France.
Arcep, Digital Barometer 2026
What to send on each channel, from your site to SMS
Each channel has its use, and one principle: write where the client already is.
Website
Helping during the visit
Product FAQ, catalog search, recommendations, upsells, abandoned-cart reminders: the agent covers the visit and picks up leads along the way.
Campaigns in the pocket
Targeted campaigns (segmented audiences, promotions, win-backs of inactive contacts) via the official WhatsApp Business API; after 24 hours without an exchange, only templates approved by Meta go through; an advisor takes over with the full history.
From the comment to the private thread
A comment containing the term you chose receives an automatic reply, then an invitation to move to direct messages, where the conversation starts.
Messenger and Facebook
The relay for your ads
After a Facebook ad, Messenger serves as the entry point; on a post you chose, every comment triggers a private bubble, with no public reply to the comment.
SMS
Confirm and follow up
Confirmations, reminders, missed appointments, abandoned carts, and two-way exchanges; on Botnation’s side, each send consumes credits.
Our page on the WhatsApp channel details campaigns and templates. On Instagram, our guide to automating direct messages covers what Meta allows.
A prospect clicks your ad: what the conversation becomes
On WhatsApp, right after the click
Hello! You are coming from our ad: I am the team’s AI assistant. What are you looking for today?
Hello. A birthday gift for my mother.
Great. What budget would you like to stay within?
Something reasonable, mid-range.
Got it. By when does it need to arrive?
By next Saturday, if possible.
Noted. I can bring in an advisor to help you choose: shall I connect you?
Yes, with pleasure.
The lead arrives structured and enriched in the team’s tools, and a salesperson takes over while the prospect is still warm. Botnation connects with the main CRM and marketing tools (HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier), with leads synchronized and assigned to the right teams.
With Botnation
Qualify your prospects in the conversation and hand structured leads to your sales teams
The chatbot asks the right questions during the exchange, then passes them on.
- Qualifying questions follow the dialogue: need, budget, timing, role, project.
- Each lead leaves structured, enriched and automatically sent to your sales teams.
The rules to know before the first message
What the text says
The CNIL, France’s data protection authority, states the rule for electronic prospecting. Sending commercial messages by email, SMS or similar means to individuals requires, in principle, their prior consent, under article L.34-5 of the French Postal and Electronic Communications Code. For messages between professionals, prior consent is not systematically required. Three conditions must hold: the message relates to the professional activity of the person contacted, that person is told where their data comes from and what the message is for, and they can object simply to further prospecting. CNIL page of 10 June 2026.
WhatsApp adds its own condition: a business writes only to people who agreed to receive its messages. That is Meta’s rule, distinct from French law. And sending must be able to stop: the CNIL asks for a simple way to unsubscribe, provided for at data collection and repeated in every message where it is required.
One last rule: the machine says what it is. The European regulation on artificial intelligence provides: “Providers shall ensure that AI systems intended to interact directly with natural persons are designed and developed in such a way that the natural persons concerned are informed that they are interacting with an AI system”. It has applied since 2 August 2026. Depending on whether your prospects are businesses or individuals, our article on B2B and B2C chatbots details what changes.
What WhatsApp messages cost
Meta has billed each message since 1 July 2025. It charges nothing when a user writes to a business first. Their message opens a 24-hour customer service window: while it is open, free-form messages go through; once it closes, only templates do.
| Type of message | What it is for | Billing as of 1 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Promote an offer or a brand, via a template | Billed, at the rate of the recipient’s country |
| Utility | Confirm a transaction or pass on information, as a template or inside the window | Billed, including inside the 24-hour window, since 1 October 2026 |
| Authentication | Send an identity verification code | Billed |
| Service | Answer a customer inside the 24-hour window | 1,000 free messages per month and per number, then billed |
Meta’s rates are set by country; no euro amount is repeated here. Checked on 28 October 2026.
An ad that opens WhatsApp also opens a free window: according to Meta, up to seven days without billing. The marketing rate depends on the recipient’s country, through the country calling code; for France, it dropped on 1 January 2026.
On the platform side, building and testing a Botnation chatbot is free, with no card required; publishing takes a subscription from 39 € per month, excluding VAT (checked on 28 October 2026). To set up your first one, our guide to installing a chatbot, on a website as on WhatsApp, details each step.
Results reported by Botnation customers
The figures below come from Botnation’s customer pages.
“One sale through the bot pays for ten years of your platform” (« Une vente grâce au bot me rentabilise 10 ans de paiement de votre plateforme »)
On its customer page, Manufacture Castex reports a 150% rise in add-to-carts since the chatbot. Fraisiers de France announces, on its own customer page, 20% more revenue in the launch year and 16% more orders over the year.
Where to start
-
Choose the channel of your clients
The one where your audience already writes: WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram each reach at least half of messaging users in France.
-
Announce that it is an AI
The first message tells people they are talking to an AI; the European rule has required it since 2 August 2026.
-
Check consent before any promotional message
Prior agreement from individuals, opt-in on WhatsApp required by Meta: both to verify before the first campaign.
-
Set the handover to a human
Decide when an advisor takes over, with the conversation history to back them up.
-
Start from a ready template, test without paying
The lead-collection template is ready to use; building and testing are free, with no card required.
Common questions
Do you need a developer to get started?
No. Botnation is a no-code platform: you build and test your chatbot for free, with no card required, and the subscription starts only when you publish.
Can a business message a prospect first on WhatsApp?
Only if that person agreed to receive your messages, the condition Meta sets. Outside the 24-hour window opened by their message, only approved templates can go out.
How much does a marketing message cost on WhatsApp?
Every message is billed, at a rate set by country according to the recipient’s calling code. The marketing rate for France dropped on 1 January 2026; the amounts appear in Meta’s rate cards.
Does a chatbot have to say it is an AI?
Yes. The European regulation on artificial intelligence requires informing people that they are interacting with an AI system; it has applied since 2 August 2026.
Launch your first conversational chatbot
Build it and test it for free, with no card required, then publish it when it is ready.
Sources
- Digital Barometer, 2026 edition, Arcep, 9 February 2026.
- Commercial prospecting by electronic means: the rules, CNIL, 10 June 2026.
- Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform, Meta, updated 30 September 2026.
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, EUR-Lex, English text.
