D2C ethnic wear · Direct Send · India
WhatsApp Direct Send: how Indian Elegance confirms COD orders after the 24-hour window
Indian Elegance sells ethnic wear, mostly cash on delivery. Its agent sends order updates from the Spur inbox with WhatsApp Direct Send, even after the customer's 24-hour window has closed: a shipping note once an order is confirmed, and a follow-up when the team can't reach a COD customer by phone. From 12 to 22 October 2026 the agent sent 497 of these messages, every one after the window, with no template.
14-day free trial.
Indian Elegance
Ethnic wear, India
497
Order updates sent after the 24-hour window
12 to 22 Oct 2026
- Customers reached
- 452
- Shipping notes on confirmed orders
- 334
- COD customers followed up after a missed call
- 90
Overview
Indian Elegance's agent sends order updates from the Spur inbox with WhatsApp Direct Send, even after the customer's 24-hour window has closed and with no template. From 12 to 22 October 2026 that was 497 messages to 452 customers, every one after the window: mostly shipping notes on confirmed orders, plus follow-ups to COD customers the team couldn't reach by phone.
Ask an AI about this story
- Challenge
- Indian Elegance sells mostly cash on delivery. By the time an order ships or a COD customer misses a call, the customer's last WhatsApp message is often more than a day old, so a normal reply can't be sent.
- Solution
- The agent replies from the Spur inbox as usual. Once the 24-hour window has closed, Spur sends the reply with WhatsApp Direct Send, with no template.
- Results
- 497 order updates sent after the 24-hour window, 12 to 22 October 2026
- 334 shipping notes on confirmed orders
- 18 of 90 COD customers the team couldn't reach by phone wrote back within a day
Swipe sideways to read the diagram. With a keyboard, focus it and use the arrow keys.
Order updates often have to go out after the 24-hour window
By the time a COD order ships, many customers haven't messaged the brand in more than a day.
Indian Elegance's orders grew from 1,843 in July 2026 to 3,895 in September. Spur's COD confirmation workflow ran on 2,951 of September's orders, sending a WhatsApp template with Confirm Order and Cancel Order buttons.
Once an order is confirmed, the team wants to tell the customer it ships today and to keep their phone on for delivery. When a customer doesn't tap either button, which happened on 28% of COD orders from 11 September to 11 October, the team calls them, and some don't pick up.
By then the customer's last WhatsApp message is usually more than a day old. Outside the 24-hour window WhatsApp only delivers an approved template, so every new wording would need a template and Meta's approval first.
What Direct Send is, and what Spur adds
Direct Send is a Meta feature that lets a business send a utility message after the 24-hour window without creating a template. In Spur, an agent just replies in the inbox: if the window has closed, the reply goes out with Direct Send. If Meta hasn't enabled Direct Send for the number, Spur sends the reply as a Magic Message instead, so it goes out either way. Spur also pre-fills Meta's Direct Send access form with the brand's WABA ID and business name. It is for order and account updates only, never offers.
What they set up
A COD template from a Spur workflow, then order updates typed in the Spur inbox and sent with Direct Send once the window has closed.
-
Confirm COD orders with a Spur workflow
Workflow running since September 2025A Spur workflow sends the confirmation template when Shopify creates a COD order. It stops once the order is tagged COD Confirmed or COD Cancelled.
- Runs in September 2026
- 2,951
- No tap within 48 hours
- 28% (11 Sep to 11 Oct)
Swipe sideways to read the diagram. With a keyboard, focus it and use the arrow keys.
How Indian Elegance confirms a COD order, with figures from its Spur workspace as of 22 October 2026. -
Send a shipping note once the order is confirmed
From 12 October 2026Once an order is confirmed, the agent sends a Direct Send from the inbox: the order ships today, delivery takes 6 to 8 working days, keep your phone on, and don't share the OTP before the parcel arrives. 334 of the 497 messages, about two thirds, were this one.
- Messages sent
- 334
- Template needed
- None
-
Follow up when the phone call goes unanswered
From 12 October 2026If a COD customer doesn't pick up, the agent writes: we tried calling you about your order, please reply YES to confirm or NO to cancel. 90 customers got this message, and 18 of them wrote back within a day.
- Customers messaged
- 90
- Wrote back within a day
- 18
Swipe sideways to read the diagram. With a keyboard, focus it and use the arrow keys.
A "we tried calling you" follow-up sent with Direct Send, and a customer's reply. The message text is Indian Elegance's; customer details are blurred and the rest of the inbox is sample data.
What it returned
From Spur's message records, 12 to 22 October 2026 (IST).
One agent sent 497 Direct Send messages to 452 customers in 11 days, every one after the 24-hour window.
334 were shipping notes on confirmed orders and 99 were "we tried calling you" follow-ups to 90 COD customers. The other 64 were one-off replies, such as tracking links, out-for-delivery notes, stock updates and the return policy.
18 of the 90 customers the team couldn't reach by phone wrote back on WhatsApp within a day. 490 messages were delivered and 345 were read, as of 24 October.
Indian Elegance's Direct Send messages, 12 to 22 October 2026
| Indian Elegance | |
|---|---|
| Messages sent after the 24-hour window | 497 of 497 |
| Customers reached | 452 |
| Shipping notes on confirmed orders | 334 |
| "We tried calling you" follow-ups | 99, to 90 customers |
| Of those 90, wrote back within a day | 18 |
| Other one-off replies | 64 |
| Delivered | 490 |
| Read | 345 |
From Spur's message records, days in IST. Wrote back = a text or photo from the customer within 24 hours; link clicks are not counted.
Swipe sideways to read the diagram. With a keyboard, focus it and use the arrow keys.
Why it works through Spur
Three things make Direct Send practical for a busy inbox.
Every message went after the window
None went inside the window: for 319, the customer's last message was more than a day old, and the other 178 customers had never written in, so no window was open. Spur uses Direct Send only once the window has closed; inside it, a reply goes out as a normal message. None of these needed a template.
The reply goes out either way
If Meta hasn't enabled Direct Send for a number, or a reply runs past 1,024 characters, Spur sends it as a Magic Message instead. Getting access is one form, which Spur pre-fills with the brand's WABA ID and business name.
Kept to people's own replies, to protect the number
Spur uses Direct Send for an agent's own replies, never for AI agents, workflows or broadcasts, because Meta restricts accounts that send non-utility content this way. Developers can send single messages through Spur's Direct Send API, but only to customers who have messaged the number before and haven't opted out.
How to set this up for your store
For a Shopify store that sends order updates on WhatsApp.
-
Connect your number through Cloud API
Direct Send works on WhatsApp numbers connected to Spur through Cloud API, not AiSensy, 360dialog or Infobip.
-
Request Direct Send from Meta
Spur pre-fills Meta's access form with your WABA ID and business name. Until Meta turns it on, replies after the window go out as Magic Messages.
-
Reply from the inbox as usual
If the customer's 24-hour window has closed, Spur sends the reply with Direct Send. No template needed.
-
Keep it to order updates
Direct Send is for utility messages only. Offers or discount codes can get your WhatsApp account restricted by Meta.
-
Keep replies short and in text
In Spur, Direct Send replies are plain text up to 1,024 characters. A longer reply goes out as a Magic Message instead.
Questions about WhatsApp Direct Send
A Meta feature that lets a business send a utility message after the 24-hour window without creating a template first. In Spur, it's how an agent's reply goes out once the window has closed.
Outside the window, WhatsApp only delivers an approved template or, for utility messages, a Direct Send. In Spur, reply from the inbox as usual: it goes out with Direct Send if Meta has enabled it for your number, and as a Magic Message if not.
Yes, with Direct Send, if Meta has enabled it for your WhatsApp account and the message is about the order. In Spur, you send it from the inbox.
A utility message is an update about something the customer has already bought or asked for, such as an order confirmation, a shipping update or a payment reminder. Meta charges for each one at its utility rate for the customer's country. In India that is about a fifth of the price of a marketing message, going by the rates in Spur's WhatsApp pricing calculator. Direct Send messages are billed as utility messages.
Meta restricts WhatsApp accounts that send marketing or other non-utility content through Direct Send. Spur keeps it to messages a person writes, such as an agent's reply from the inbox, so automated sends can't put your number at risk. Spur's Direct Send API sends one message at a time, only to customers who have messaged your number before and haven't opted out.
Was this page useful?
More customer stories
Other brands running the same channels, with the numbers they reported.
You can send order updates on WhatsApp after the 24-hour window
Indian Elegance's agent sent 497 Direct Send messages in 11 days, every one after the window, with no template.
14-day free trial, no credit card needed
- Meta Business Partner
- Shopify Partner
- 14-day free trial
- No credit card needed
- Connects to Shopify in minutes
- WhatsApp billed per delivered message
- Meta Business Partner
- Shopify Partner