Messages

This overview outlines how messages work on WhatsApp Business accounts.

Messages and Conversations

A conversation is a 24-hour messaging thread initiated by sending messages between you and your customer, which is also the basis for WhatsApp pricing.

Businesses initiate conversations by sending free-form messages or template messages. You can refer to Pricing to understand how conversations are initiated and ended, and how they affect WhatsApp's pricing model.

Outbound Messages

Message Types

When communicating with customers via WhatsApp, you can use two types of messages:

• Message Templates: To initiate a conversation with a customer, you need to use pre-created, pre-approved message templates. These templates can be approved by WhatsApp within an hour and support multiple message types.

• Free-form Messages: These are custom messages that support all media types. You can use free-form messages to communicate with customers within the 24-hour service window, which include:

  • Text Messages - Plain text messages that can contain letters, numbers, and symbols.

  • Media Messages - Messages that include media files such as images, videos, audio, documents, and stickers.

  • Contact Messages - Messages that include contact information such as names and phone numbers.

  • Location Messages - Messages that include the user's geographical location.

  • Interactive Messages - Messages that allow users to interact with the content. For example, list messages display a list of items users can choose from, reply button messages allow users to respond with a set of predefined options, single and multiple product messages allow users to browse and purchase products within the messaging app.

Message Status

For each message you send, notifications about the status of that message will be sent to your webhook callback.

Status	Description
deleted	A message sent by the customer has been deleted by the customer. After receiving this notification, if the message was downloaded from the server, ensure it is deleted from your system.
delivered	The message you sent has been delivered to the customer's device.
failed	The message you sent has failed to send. The failure reason will be included in the callback. Please refer to the error message documentation for help with debugging: Error Codes and Troubleshooting
read	The message you sent has been read by the customer. The read notification is only available for customers who have enabled read receipts. For customers who have not enabled this feature, you will only receive the delivered notification.
sent	The message you sent is in transit within WhatsApp's systems.
warning	The message you sent contains items that are unavailable or non-existent in the catalog.

The order of these notifications in your application may not reflect the actual timing of the message status. If necessary, check the timestamps to determine the timing.

Inbound Messages

Message Types

When using WhatsApp for two-way communication, you will receive inbound messages in real-time. These messages can take various forms, such as:

• Text Messages

• Location Messages

• Media Messages, including images, audio, voice, video, and documents

• Messages sent after clicking quick reply buttons/list buttons

Frequently Asked Questions

Can messages be formatted?

Yes! WhatsApp allows you to format selected text in messages using bold, italic, strikethrough, or monospace fonts.

What should I do if I need to send a customer service reply after 24 hours?

In some cases, you may need more time to process a customer query and may only be able to provide a response after 24 hours. We recommend creating message templates to re-initiate communication with the customer, such as:

• "Hello {{1}}, regarding the issue you reported earlier, we regret to inform you that {{2}}. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."

• "We have updates regarding your ticket. If you wish to continue receiving support, please reply."