Going 1,000 messages over your monthly cap costs 10 SAR to top up
If a busy month pushes your salon 1,000 messages past Growth's 5,000-message monthly allowance, topping up costs 10 SAR from the in-app Store — Waya's top-up tiers are 500 messages for 5 SAR, 1,000 messages for 10 SAR, or unlimited for that month at 20 SAR, so the price scales predictably with how far over you go.
This kind of overage typically comes from a seasonal push — a Ramadan or Eid campaign, a National Day promotion, or a bridal-season broadcast sent to a full client list — rather than from routine trigger volume, which usually stays well inside the standard allowance.
A worked example: Ramadan campaign pushes a 400-client salon over the line
Take a 400-client salon on Growth, normally sending around 500-600 messages a month from welcome, stamp, reward, and win-back triggers alone — comfortably under the 5,000 allowance. During Ramadan, add a weekly evening-hours announcement sent to the full list four times across the month: 400 clients x 4 sends = 1,600 additional messages. Total for the month: roughly 2,100-2,200, still under 5,000 in this case — the overage scenario becomes real only for larger client bases or more frequent seasonal sends.
| Client base | Baseline monthly messages | Seasonal campaign (4 sends) | Total | Over 5,000 cap? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 400 | 500-600 | 1,600 | ≈2,100-2,200 | No |
| 1,000 | 1,200-1,500 | 4,000 | ≈5,200-5,500 | Yes, by 200-500 |
| 1,500 | 1,800-2,200 | 6,000 | ≈7,800-8,200 | Yes, by 2,800-3,200 |
Reading the top-up cost off the overage amount
A 200-500 message overage rounds up to the 500-message top-up tier at 5 SAR. A 2,800-3,200 message overage needs three of the 1,000-message tiers (30 SAR) or, more efficiently at that volume, the unlimited-for-the-month option at 20 SAR — cheaper than stacking multiple fixed-message top-ups once the overage gets large.
This is also where switching to Premium (149 SAR/mo, unlimited messages) starts to make sense on its own terms: a salon regularly buying the 20 SAR unlimited top-up every month is effectively already paying close to Premium's message-related value without the other Premium features.
- Small overage (under 500 messages) → 5 SAR top-up
- Medium overage (500-1,000 messages) → 10 SAR top-up
- Large or unpredictable overage → 20 SAR unlimited-for-the-month option
- Recurring monthly overages → consider whether Premium's unlimited messages is more efficient
Avoiding the overage in the first place
Waya's scheduled campaigns respect the shop's working hours automatically, but they don't cap the audience size for you — a full-list send to a large client base is the fastest way to burn through a monthly allowance. Consider segmenting a seasonal campaign to your most active clients (the "active in trailing 2 weeks" segment) rather than the entire enrolled list, if the message balance is a real constraint. See the message budget math for a trigger-by-trigger breakdown of where routine messages go each month.
Planning your top-up budget in five steps
Estimate ahead of a known busy season rather than discovering the overage mid-campaign.
- Step 1: estimate baseline monthly messages
Use your recent months' actual usage from the dashboard.
- Step 2: plan your seasonal campaign sends
Count how many full-list broadcasts you expect and their audience size.
- Step 3: add baseline and campaign estimates
This gives your projected total for the busy month.
- Step 4: compare against your plan's allowance
5,000 (Growth) or unlimited (Premium).
- Step 5: budget the top-up cost in advance
5, 10, or 20 SAR depending on the projected overage size.
Why this rarely matters for a smaller salon
A single-branch salon under 500 enrolled clients will struggle to exceed Growth's 5,000-message allowance even during an aggressive seasonal push, based on the math above — top-ups become a real planning question mainly for larger, multi-branch operations closer to Premium-scale messaging volume. See the salon loyalty program guide for the full messaging playbook this budgeting fits into.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to top up wallet messages for a busy salon month?
Waya's top-up tiers are 500 messages for 5 SAR, 1,000 for 10 SAR, or unlimited for that month at 20 SAR — a 1,000-message overage during a busy Ramadan month, for example, costs 10 SAR.
What typically causes a salon to exceed its message allowance?
Seasonal campaigns sent to a full client list — Ramadan evening-hours announcements, Eid promotions, or bridal-season broadcasts — rather than routine welcome, stamp, reward, and win-back trigger volume, which usually stays well inside the standard allowance.
When does the 20 SAR unlimited top-up make more sense than smaller ones?
Once a projected overage exceeds roughly 2,000 messages, stacking multiple 1,000-message top-ups (10 SAR each) costs more than the flat 20 SAR unlimited-for-the-month option.
Can geofence messaging reduce how often I need to top up?
Yes, for location-relevant campaigns — geofence notifications cost zero message quota and work independently of your monthly balance, since they're Apple Wallet lock-screen pushes triggered by proximity, not broadcast sends.
How large does a salon need to be before top-ups become a regular occurrence?
Based on the math above, a single-branch salon under roughly 500 enrolled clients rarely exceeds Growth's 5,000-message allowance even with an aggressive seasonal campaign — top-ups matter more for larger, multi-branch operations.