Reply after 24 hours with a normal WhatsApp message
Once Meta turns on Direct Send for your WhatsApp account, replies your team types after the 24-hour window can go out as normal text messages.
When a customer last messaged you more than 24 hours ago, WhatsApp doesn’t allow a normal reply. Until now, you had two options: send an approved template, or use Spur’s Magic Message, which puts your reply into an image inside a template.
Now, if Meta has turned on Direct Send for your WhatsApp account, you just type your reply in the Spur inbox as usual. The customer gets it as plain text, like any other chat, and there is no template to approve. It costs the same as a Magic Message: Meta bills both at the utility rate.
Meta is turning Direct Send on one WhatsApp account at a time, so not every account has it yet. If yours doesn’t, your replies work as before, as a Magic Message if you have one set up, and Spur gives you a link to request access from Meta with your business details filled in.
Use it to confirm a COD order, reply to a question your team couldn’t get to in time, or update a customer on a complaint, even days after they last messaged you. In the first two days, 29 brands on Spur sent about 590 replies this way: 99% were delivered and 68% were read.
Good to know
- It’s for replies your team types in the inbox. Text only, up to 1,024 characters. Messages from AI agents, workflows, broadcasts and the API don’t go through Direct Send.
- Not on every connection. It isn’t available on numbers connected through AiSensy, Infobip or 360dialog.
- Replies and updates only. Don’t send offers or discounts this way. Meta can pause or remove Direct Send for accounts that use it for marketing.
Read more in our guide to how WhatsApp Direct Send works.