To encourage businesses to respond to customers quickly, Meta has a rule called the 24-hour customer service window. Understanding this rule is essential for managing your conversations effectively within the LeadClose chat interface.
What is the 24-Hour Window?
- A 24-hour messaging window begins whenever a customer sends you a message.
- Within this 24-hour period, you can reply to the customer with free-form messages (any type of content) without needing to use a pre-approved template.
- Each time the customer replies to you, the 24-hour window resets from the time of their latest message.
Visual Indicator in LeadClose
At the top of the chat panel, you will see a "Customer Service Window" timer. This timer indicates how long you have left to send free-form messages to the customer.
Active: When the window is open, the timer will show how much time is remaining (e.g., "closes in 18 hours").
Closed: When the window is closed, the timer will disappear. At this point, the main message input box will be disabled.
What Happens When the Window Closes?
- The main text input box at the bottom of the chat view will become disabled.
- You can no longer send free-form messages (text, media, etc.).
- The only way to continue the conversation is by sending a Message Template. The "Template" button (robot icon) in the composer will remain active.
Practical Example
- Customer messages you: The timer starts and shows "24 hours remaining". The text input is enabled.
- You exchange several messages: Each time the customer replies, the timer resets to 24 hours.
- The conversation pauses: The customer's last message was at 2:00 PM yesterday.
- Today at 2:01 PM: The 24-hour window closes. The timer disappears, and the text input becomes disabled and greyed out.
- To re-engage: You must now click the Template button and send an approved template to start a new conversation.