WhatsApp tracks how customers react to what a business sends. Negative feedback from several users, or low read rates, pushes a template from high (green) to medium (yellow) or low (red). A new template starts with a pending rating until enough signals are collected.
A low rating has consequences for templates first: a template that keeps receiving negative feedback can be paused, then disabled, and messages using it are no longer sent. Low-quality history is also what triggers template pacing on later sends.
For the messaging limit, the rule changed on October 7, 2025: a drop in a phone number's quality rating no longer lowers its limit. Quality still decides whether the limit grows, since automatic scaling requires high-quality messages across all numbers and templates, and Meta rate-limits businesses whose quality stays low for a sustained period.
The way to protect the rating is unchanged: message only opted-in contacts, keep content relevant and segment lists. Kanal builds segments from Shopify customer and order data for WhatsApp campaigns.