When a customer's last WhatsApp message is more than 24 hours old, WhatsApp no longer takes a normal message from you. The only way to write to them is an approved template: open the chat and send one from the WhatsApp template box on the right.
Where to find it
Open the chat in Admin › CRM › Inbox › Inbox. The WhatsApp template box shows on WhatsApp chats only. Template messages cost money, so only the Super Admin, the Admin and the Marketing Manager (the WhatsApp marketing tick) can send them, never a seller. A seller asks one of them to send it.
The templates are fetched once, on the WhatsApp campaigns page: Admin › Online store › Marketing channels › WhatsApp marketing (Premium or Custom package).
Step by step
- Make the template at Meta. Templates are written and approved in Meta's WhatsApp Manager, not in the panel. Wait until Meta approves it.
- Fetch the templates. Go to Marketing channels › WhatsApp marketing (the WhatsApp campaigns page). Next to your WhatsApp number, type the WhatsApp Business Account id and press Save. Then press Fetch templates. The panel shows how many it kept and how many are approved.
- Open the chat. A note above the answer box says the customer's last message is more than 24 hours old.
- Pick a template. In the WhatsApp template box, choose one from the list. Its text shows below it.
- Fill the blanks. If the template has {{1}}, {{2}} and so on, a box appears for each one. Fill them all.
- Press Send template.
Good to know
- The 24 hours count from the customer's last message, not from your last answer.
- When the customer writes back, the 24 hours start again and you can answer normally.
- Only approved templates show in the list. If Meta has not approved one yet, it does not appear.
- Fetch again after a change at Meta. New or edited templates come in only when someone presses Fetch templates. Templates deleted at Meta drop off the list.
- Messenger works differently. WhatsApp needs a template, but Messenger can use the Human Agent tag (up to 7 days) if the owner turns it on in Inbox settings. Your Meta app needs Meta's Human Agent permission for this.
Common problems
- The box says "No approved template yet." Nobody has fetched the templates, none is approved yet, or you are a seller (sellers never see templates). Ask the Super Admin, an Admin or the Marketing Manager to press Fetch templates, or to send the template.
- "Fetch templates" cannot be pressed. The WhatsApp Business Account id is not saved for that number. Type it and press Save first.
- "Not sent" after pressing Send template. Meta refused it. The message after "Not sent" gives Meta's reason. Check that the template is still approved and every blank is filled.
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