Glossary · messaging-automation
What is 24-hour customer service window?
The customer service window is the 24-hour period that opens on the WhatsApp Business Platform each time a customer sends a business a message. Inside it, the business can reply with any free-form message — text, images, voice notes, documents — without a pre-approved template. Each new message from the customer resets the clock. Once 24 hours pass without one, the business can only reach that customer again with an approved template. The window shapes how teams work: a fast, complete answer while the window is open is cheaper and simpler than chasing the customer later, and leaving a chat unanswered overnight can mean the next reply needs a template.
What does 24-hour customer service window mean for a business in Pakistan?
Late-night enquiries are normal in Pakistan, especially in Ramadan when people shop after taraweeh. A business that only checks WhatsApp at 10am may find the window from a 1am message still open, but one left until the next afternoon will have closed.
A worked example
Say a customer messages a furniture store on the API at 11pm asking for a dining-table price. The team replies at 10am with photos and a quote, inside the window. The customer goes quiet; two days later the store can follow up only with an approved template such as 'Still thinking about the dining set? Reply to see the delivery options.'
Terms that go with this one
These come up in the same conversations and are worth reading together.
- WhatsApp Business APIWhatsApp APIThe WhatsApp Business API, now officially called the WhatsApp Business Platform, is Meta's version of WhatsApp for businesses that need more than one…
- Template messagetemplate messageA template message is a pre-written WhatsApp message that Meta has approved for a business to send through the WhatsApp Business Platform, mainly to…
- Quick repliesquick replyQuick replies are saved message shortcuts in the WhatsApp Business app (and in most shared inboxes) that let you insert a full prepared answer by…
- Chatbot handoverbot se insaan takChatbot handover, also called human handoff, is the moment a chatbot stops answering and passes the conversation to a person, ideally with the full…
- Opt-inijazat lenaAn opt-in is a customer's clear permission to receive messages from a business on a particular channel — WhatsApp, email or SMS. It should be…
24-hour customer service window — quick answers
What does 24-hour customer service window mean?
The customer service window is the 24-hour period that opens on the WhatsApp Business Platform each time a customer sends a business a message. Inside it, the business can reply with any free-form message — text, images, voice notes, documents — without a pre-approved template.
24-hour customer service window ko Urdu mein kya kehte hain?
چوبیس گھنٹے کی سروس ونڈو — though in practice almost everyone in Pakistan says "24 ghante wali window". Late-night enquiries are normal in Pakistan, especially in Ramadan when people shop after taraweeh.
Why does 24-hour customer service window matter for a business in Pakistan?
Late-night enquiries are normal in Pakistan, especially in Ramadan when people shop after taraweeh. A business that only checks WhatsApp at 10am may find the window from a 1am message still open, but one left until the next afternoon will have closed.
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