WhatsApp auto replies and the 24-hour window, explained

The 24-hour customer service window

Every WhatsApp chat between a business and a customer has a customer service window. It opens when the customer sends you a message, and it resets with each new message they send. While it is open, you can send any normal message: text, photos, voice notes, documents, prices and product links. Meta calls these service messages.

The window lasts 24 hours from the customer's last message, not from yours. If a customer writes at 3 pm on Monday and you reply at 5 pm, the window still closes at 3 pm on Tuesday. Your own replies do not extend it. Only a new message from the customer does.

Once the window has closed, you can only send an approved message template, which is covered in the next section. In Karobar, every WhatsApp chat shows how much time is left in the 24-hour window, and the message box locks as soon as it closes, so a reply never fails without you noticing.

One special case: if you move a number over from the WhatsApp Business app, the older chats come across, but messages sent before you linked the number do not open a window. You need a new message from the customer, or a template.

Templates: the only way to message outside the window

A message template is a message you write in advance and send to Meta for approval. Only approved templates can be sent outside the 24-hour window. They are meant for things like order updates, payment reminders and, with the right category, offers. Each one is reviewed by Meta before it can be used.

In Karobar you work with templates in two places:

1. Create the template. Write it in the app and submit it. It goes to Meta for review and starts as pending. You can also sync templates you already made elsewhere from Meta.
2. Wait for approval. A pending template cannot be sent yet. Write your templates days before you need them, not on the day.
3. Send it from the chat. When the window has closed, open the chat, tap the + menu in the message box and choose a Meta template. The message box stays locked until you pick one.
4. Watch the status. If Meta pauses or rejects a template, Karobar refuses to send it, and you need to pick or write a different one.

Templates are also what WhatsApp marketing broadcasts are built on, so time spent writing a clear, approved set pays off twice.

Keyword auto replies

Most WhatsApp questions repeat: price, delivery time, cash on delivery, your address. A keyword auto reply answers them with text you wrote once. Because the customer has just messaged you, the window is open, so these replies are always allowed.

In Karobar, a keyword rule works like this:

• Match type. A rule fires when the message contains a keyword, starts with it, or matches it exactly.
• Keywords and reply. Each rule can have up to 30 keywords, so you can cover spellings and languages, such as "price", "rate" and "kitne ka". The reply can be up to 1,000 characters.
• Order. Rules are checked in the order you set, and the first match wins. Put narrow rules above broad ones.
• Cooldown. Each rule answers the same chat at most once per cooldown. The default is 24 hours, and you can set it as long as 30 days, so a customer is not sent the same text again and again.
• Your own words. The reply is exactly the text you wrote. No AI is involved, and it uses no AI credits.
• Polite timing. No reply goes out if a person or the chatbot has already answered the latest message.

The same rules can run on Instagram, Messenger and TikTok as well, or you can limit a rule to WhatsApp only. See inbox auto replies.

Keyword replies run first. If no rule matched, Karobar AI can write a reply draft from your products, prices, variants, business info and knowledge, and a person reads it and sends it. AI replies from your product catalogue explains how to make those drafts accurate.

Conversation starters

Conversation starters are up to four questions shown as buttons when someone opens a chat with you, such as "Do you deliver to my city?" or "Is cash on delivery available?". When the customer taps one, they get the answer you wrote in advance.

Starters work on WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. Use them for the questions you answer most often, and keep the wording short enough to read on a phone at a glance.

Chatbot flows

A chatbot flow is a guided conversation built from steps. In Karobar, flows run on WhatsApp only. A step can send:

• Text, an image, a video, a document or an audio clip.
• An interactive message with buttons or a list for the customer to tap.
• Values filled in from an outside system's reply, when a step calls an API.

The next step depends on what the customer sends, such as the button or list item they tapped. Any other message follows an "other message" path, so you can send people somewhere sensible when they type freely. Action steps can assign the chat to a teammate, pause the bot until a date and time you choose, or call an outside API and reply with its data.

Flows follow taps and replies. They do not branch on stored data, save answers to questions, or use AI. They suit menus such as "Track my order / Prices / Talk to a person". See chatbots and flows.

Opt-out words are handled for you

Customers who do not want to hear from you any more usually say so in one word. On WhatsApp, Karobar applies these automatically:

• Opt out: stop, unsubscribe, cancel, quit, end, opt out.
• Opt back in: start, unstop, subscribe, opt in.

You do not need to write keyword rules for these words. Respecting opt-outs matters: customers who keep receiving messages after asking to stop tend to block or report the number, which hurts your standing with WhatsApp.

What can I send right now?

Use this table whenever you are unsure. Start from the customer's last message, not yours.

Instagram, Messenger and TikTok follow different clocks. One inbox for Instagram, WhatsApp and TikTok puts all four side by side.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Counting from your own reply. The window is 24 hours from the customer's last message. Replying late does not buy you more time.
• Writing templates on the day you need them. New templates start as pending. Prepare order update and reminder templates in advance.
• Overlapping keyword rules. A broad rule like "price" placed above a narrow one like "price list" will always win, because the first match wins. Put specific rules first.
• A cooldown that is too short. If customers say "price" several times in one chat, a short cooldown sends them the same block of text each time. The 24-hour default suits most shops.
• Expecting a flow on Instagram. Chatbot flows run on WhatsApp only. On other channels, use keyword replies and conversation starters.
• Forgetting templates for order updates. In Karobar, automatic order updates for WhatsApp orders are off until you switch them on. Once on, an update due after the window has closed only goes out if you set a template for that update. Without one it is skipped.
• Treating an AI draft as sent. A Karobar AI draft is a suggestion. Nothing goes to the customer until a person reads it and presses send.