WhatsApp Templates and the 24-Hour Window: What Can You Send, and When?

If you message a customer first on WhatsApp, it has to be a template Meta has approved. If they message you, a 24-hour window opens and you can reply however you like until 24 hours after their last message. Get those two rules straight and most of WhatsApp for business starts to make sense.

This is the bit that confuses people more than anything else when they move from the WhatsApp app to the WhatsApp Business API. So here it is in plain English: what the window is, what a template is, what each costs, and how to make the rules work for you instead of against you.

What is the 24-hour window?

When a customer sends you a message (or calls you on WhatsApp), Meta opens what it calls a customer service window. It lasts 24 hours, and every new message from the customer resets the timer back to 24 hours. That's straight from Meta's pricing documentation.

While the window is open, you can reply freely: normal text, voice notes, images, documents, whatever the conversation needs. Once it closes, you can only send a template.

The window is there to protect customers. WhatsApp is where people talk to their family and friends. Meta doesn't want businesses turning up in that space uninvited, so the rules reward conversations the customer started.

What is a WhatsApp template?

A template is a message you write in advance and submit to Meta for approval. Once it's approved, you can use it to start a conversation or to pick one back up after the window has closed.

Templates can include personal details like the customer's first name, a header image, a footer and buttons. Buttons matter more than people think. One tap to reply is a lot easier than typing.

Every template has a category, and Meta checks the category when you submit it. Pick the wrong one and it can be rejected. In my experience approval usually takes anything from a few minutes to a day.

Which category is my message?

There are three:

• Utility: about something the customer has already done or asked for. Booking confirmations, appointment reminders, order updates.
• Marketing: anything promotional. Offers, new products, "we haven't seen you in a while" messages.
• Authentication: one-time passcodes for logging in.

A simple test: if the message would still make sense even if you weren't trying to sell anything, it's probably utility. If it's there to get a sale, it's marketing. Don't try to dress a marketing message up as utility. Meta checks, and it's not worth the hassle.

What does it cost?

Meta charges per delivered template message. The price depends on the category and the country of the person you're messaging, so check Meta's current rates for your market. The platform you use WhatsApp through will usually have its own subscription on top.

Worth knowing: Meta's pricing page says that from 1 October 2026, replies inside an open window are no longer automatically free. Each business number gets a free tier of 1,000 service messages a month, and after that they're charged. For most small businesses that free tier covers a lot of conversations, but if you're handling high volumes, look at the numbers before you plan around "replies are free".

There's one more exception. If someone messages you from a Click to WhatsApp ad on Facebook or Instagram and you reply within the window, Meta opens a free entry point window that can stay open for up to seven days, and messages in it aren't charged.

How to make the window work for you

The best WhatsApp setups get the customer to send the first message, or to reply quickly to yours. Then you're in the window and you can have a proper conversation.

• Give people a way to message you first. A "Message us on WhatsApp" button on your website, a QR code on your stand or in your talk, a click-to-chat link in your emails.
• End every template with a question. When they reply, the window opens. A template that's just an announcement gets read and forgotten.
• Reply fast. The window is 24 hours, but the attention span is minutes. I've written about why the first five minutes matter.
• Use your voice once you're in. Inside the window you can send voice notes, and they build trust in a way text can't. That's a big part of why WhatsApp isn't SMS.

Templates that get replies

Write a template the way you'd talk to someone face to face. Short. First name. One question. Buttons.

Something like: "Hi {{first name}}, thanks for your enquiry about {{service}}. Is now a good time for a quick chat, or would later today suit you better?" with two buttons: Now's good and Later today.

If you're starting from scratch, three templates will cover most of what you need: a first reply to new enquiries, an appointment reminder, and a follow-up for people who've gone quiet.

What happens if people block or report you?

Every template has a quality rating based on how people react to it. If a template drops to the lowest rating, Meta pauses it: three hours the first time, six hours the second, and the third time it's disabled.

So the rules are simple. Only message people who've opted in. Send things they actually want. And if a template keeps getting ignored, rewrite it rather than sending it to more people.

Setting this up in HighLevel

In HighLevel, you create your templates in the WhatsApp settings, wait for approval, then use them in workflows so the right one goes out at the right moment. When a customer replies, the conversation lands in your HighLevel inbox and your team can reply freely while the window is open. I've covered the full process in how to set up WhatsApp in HighLevel.

Quick answers

Can I send a normal WhatsApp message to a customer who hasn't messaged me?

Not through the WhatsApp Business API. To start the conversation, you need an approved template. Once they reply, you can message them freely for 24 hours.

Does a customer replying to my template open the 24-hour window?

Yes. Their reply is a message from them, so the window opens, and every message they send after that resets it to 24 hours.

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Chris Dillon, known as The WhatsApp Guy, helps businesses turn WhatsApp into a sales channel that runs on autopilot. He created HighLevel's official WhatsApp Skills Badge course, has spoken about WhatsApp for business on stages in Dallas, India and Manila, and is the Amazon bestselling author of No One Gives A Shit About Your Business. He is the founder of The Marketing Autopilots.

Want WhatsApp doing this for your business? Book a discovery call or message me on WhatsApp.