In 2020, a new policy of the Facebook Messenger platform and WhatsApp Business was applied. Everybody who uses these platforms needs to comply with the new policy.
Overview of the new policy
- Only a client can start a new conversation with a company. Companies can only reply to clients' messages.
- Companies have up to 24 hours to respond to a client. This change aligns with people’s expectations of faster responses from businesses.
- If more than 24 hours have passed since the last message from a client, it means that the client has finished the conversation.
How it works in Bitrix24
Some Bitrix24 Open Channels use the Facebook Messenger platform and WhatsApp Business. To comply with the new policy, we have made some changes to WhatsApp, Instagram Direct, and Facebook channels.
If a customer leaves a comment on Instagram, you have seven days to reply. Note that you can send only one message. Any additional messages will not be delivered, and you will see an error in the Bitrix24 chat.
To continue the conversation, the customer must accept your chat request on Instagram.
The 24-hour messaging window starts as soon as a customer contacts you:
- If an agent replies to a client but the client doesn't respond within 24 hours, the agent will see an error when trying to send another message, and the message will not be delivered. In this case, the agent can either close the conversation or wait for the client to respond.
- If the client sends another message to this chat, the agent can continue the conversation within 24 hours since the client's last message.
- Agent replies or Open Channel auto-messages do not affect the 24-hour messaging window. Only client messages reset the timer.
- Message Tags are not supported.
You can increase the messaging time from 24 hours to 7 days in Facebook and Instagram Direct channels, but with some content limits for such messages.
Learn more here.
Learn more here.
