Requests: messages to the customer
Reply from the request, tell the customer about every change in their language, see whether each message was sent, delivered, read or failed, and what WhatsApp’s 24-hour window allows.
Every request made in a chat keeps its conversation. You answer the customer from the request's drawer; the message goes through the same inbox channel, with the same author, limits and delivery states as a reply from the Inbox.
Reply
- Open the request.
- Under Conversation, pick one of your Saved replies or type in Write your reply… (saved replies).
- Press Send. You see Reply sent., and the message appears with its state: Sending, Sent, Delivered, Read, or Not delivered with why, in words (for a disconnected channel: Not sent: this channel is disconnected. Reconnect it on Accounts, then send the message again from the Inbox. and a Reconnect link to Accounts; otherwise Not sent: the platform did not accept it. Open the conversation in the Inbox to try again.).
Open the full chat opens the conversation in the Inbox.
Tell the customer about a change
Every action in What to do has Tell the customer (on by default when the request has a chat). The customer gets a short message in their own language (the one they used with the bot; English when unknown), for example:
- booking confirmed, declined (with your reason), moved, cancelled, reminder, not confirmed in time;
- order received (when you add one by hand), confirmed, preparing, on its way, ready for pickup, done, cancelled, payment link;
- ticket resolved (with its number only: the subject is your team's words, so it is not sent).
Filipino customers get these messages in Filipino.
The line under the buttons tells you what happened: The customer was told., The customer was told with your approved WhatsApp template., or why not, with what to do. The timeline keeps it either way.
WhatsApp's 24-hour window
WhatsApp allows a normal message only within 24 hours of the customer's last message.
- Inside the window: "The customer wrote in the last 24 hours: you can reply freely."
- Outside it, the reply box is closed. Updates and reminders go out with the approved Utility template you chose in Requests settings. With no template the drawer says Can't message: outside 24 h and no approved template. — choose one in Requests → Settings, or wait until the customer writes again. To send any other approved template, press Open the chat to send a template.
- Messenger and Instagram have the same 24-hour rule but no templates for this: you can message again after the customer writes.
Costs
OmniBrand never charges for these messages. WhatsApp bills your business directly for templates sent outside the 24-hour window (Meta's pricing).