How WhatsApp messaging works
The WhatsApp rules every business works within, including the 24-hour window, template categories, who charges what, quality rating, messaging limits, and opt-outs.
WhatsApp sets a few rules for every business. Knowing them explains most failed messages.
The 24-hour customer service window
The customer opens the window by messaging you. It stays open for 24 hours after their last message.
Open for 24 hours
Text, photos, documents, voice notes, buttons
Closed
Approved templates only
- 1The customer writes: the window opens.
- 2They write again: the 24 hours start over.
- 324 hours after their last message: it closes until they write again.
| Inside the window | Outside the window | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can start | The customer already wrote to you | Only you, with a template |
| What you and the agent can send | Anything: text, photos, documents, voice notes, buttons | Only an approved template |
| What happens to a free-form message | It is sent | It fails with error 131047 |
So every new chat and every broadcast starts with a template. The chat inbox shows how long the window has left.
Templates and their categories
A template is a message Meta approves before you can send it. Each has one category:
- Marketing: offers, announcements, and re-engagement.
- Utility: updates about something the customer asked for, like orders, bookings, or reminders.
- Authentication: one-time codes that confirm who the customer is.
Examples: Template categories.
Who charges what
Two separate charges:
- Meta charges your WhatsApp Business account for each template it delivers, by category and country. Replies inside the 24-hour window are free from Meta. On Twilio or Interakt, that provider bills you for it instead.
- OmniDimension charges a small flat amount from your wallet for each message you send: agent replies, team replies, templates and broadcasts. Messages you receive are free. Voice note replies are an add-on, charged by length.
Rates: our pricing and Meta's pricing.
Quality rating and messaging limits
Each number has a quality rating (High, Medium or Low) based on how customers react to your messages. Blocks and reports lower it.
The messaging limit is how many customers you can start chats with in 24 hours. Replies to customers who wrote first don't count. Meta raises it after business verification and steady sending, and can pause a number whose rating stays low.
You can see both on a number's Insights page.
Opt-outs
A customer stops your messages in one of two ways:
- They reply STOP (or UNSUBSCRIBE, or OPT OUT). They get one short confirmation, and templates and broadcasts skip them from then on. Their next message to you, an hour or more later, opts them back in. You can turn this off per number under Customers who opted out, which also lists who opted out.
- They turn off marketing in WhatsApp. Marketing templates to them fail with 131050. Utility and authentication messages still go through.
In a broadcast, both show as Opted out. You can still reply if they message you, but you can't start a new chat with them.
WhatsApp overview
Connect a WhatsApp number to OmniDimension so an AI agent answers your customers, and your team can chat, send templates, and run broadcasts from one place.
Meta credentials
Find the WhatsApp Business account ID and the permanent access token you need to connect a WhatsApp Business number, and set up your Meta account from scratch.