The 24-hour messaging window
WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram set a rule for every business: you can write freely to a customer for 24 hours after their last message to you. After that, the window is closed until the customer writes again. This is the platforms' rule, not a Bectify setting.
How the window is counted
The 24 hours start from the customer's most recent message in that conversation. Messages from you or from your receptionist do not restart it. Each new message from the customer opens a fresh 24 hours.
Text messages (SMS) and website chat have no 24-hour window.
What you see in the Inbox
When you have taken over a conversation and the window is closed, a notice appears above the message box.
WhatsApp, on a US account with texting turned on
The notice reads "Outside WhatsApp's 24-hour window". On Core, you can still send. Because WhatsApp will not deliver a free-form message, your reply is sent as a text message (SMS) to the same number instead.
On Solo, the reply is not sent: two-way texting is part of Core, so there is no SMS to fall back on.
WhatsApp, with no SMS available
This applies to accounts in Mexico and to any account without texting turned on. The notice warns that the message will fail to send, and it will: there is no SMS to fall back on. If you send anyway, you will see a message that starts "This WhatsApp conversation is outside the 24-hour window".
WhatsApp only allows approved message templates outside the window. The notice links to Manage templates, where you can see the templates on your account.
Messenger and Instagram
The notice reads "Outside Messenger's 24-hour window" or "Outside Instagram's 24-hour window". Here the message box is turned off. These platforms do not permit a free-form reply after the window closes, and there is no other way to send, so the Inbox does not let you try.
What to do when the window is closed
- Wait for the customer to write. Their next message reopens the window and the message box works again.
- Use another way to reach them. If the lead has a phone number, select Call.
If a reply shows "Not delivered"
Under a reply in the thread you may see "Not delivered — WhatsApp's 24-hour window had closed". The window ran out between the customer's last message and your send. The customer did not receive that message.