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Dealing with the WhatsApp 24-Hour Response Limit

If you are a business, you have only 24 hours to respond to a customer who has contacted you via WhatsApp. This is a big issue if your company doesn't work 7 days a week, like most people. So, how can you deal with this issue?

The Workflow

The workflow we would like to see would be something like this:

  1. User sends a WhatsApp message out of business hours, for example on Saturday or Sunday
  2. User receives a notification saying no one is available to answer at that moment
  3. Agent checks those conversations on Monday
  4. Agent executes a macro to reopen those conversations
  5. User receives a notification saying that you are ready to continue with the conversation
  6. User responds as usual, and the conversation resumes, but the user feels unsatisfied

The Solution

Using Zendesk and the WhatsApp Connector by Respira, we can achieve an efficient way of 24/7 communication by using this strategy:

  1. Create the templates to be used in Meta for Business
  2. Create a trigger that will be actioned immediately after receiving a message from the customer. The trigger will:
    • Send a WhatsApp notification automatically to the user saying that you cannot respond because you are not on business hours.
    • Set up a tag to mark those conversations
  3. Create a view to show the open conversations to your agents, marked by the tag set up by the trigger above
  4. Create a trigger that will send the "back in business hours" notification. This trigger will:
    • Send a second notification to the user saying that you are available again
    • Remove the tag set up by the first trigger
  5. Create a macro that will enable your agents to send the notifications easily by launching the trigger above for the open conversations.

The Details

Let's go through these steps in detail:

1. Create the WhatsApp Templates

If you do not know how, you can find that information in the WhatsApp Connector documentation.

2. Create the First Trigger

Important: This trigger must notify a Webhook that connects with our server. More information about creating triggers that send WhatsApp messages is available in the documentation.

In your Zendesk Admin Center, search for Triggers, and click on Create.

Conditions:

  • Status is New or Open
  • Channel is WhatsApp
  • Ticket is NOT in Business Hours

Actions:

  • Notify the Webhook that will send the notification
  • Set Status to Pending

3. Create the View

Create a view to manage those open conversations with the following conditions:

  • Contains tag 24_hour_notification_sent
  • Does not contain tag back_in_service
  • Status is less than Solved

4. Create the Second Trigger

Conditions:

  • Status is less than Solved
  • Channel is WhatsApp
  • Ticket IS in Business Hours
  • Contains tag back_in_service

Actions:

  • Notify the Webhook that will send the notification
  • Remove tag back_in_service
  • Remove tag 24_hour_notification_sent

5. Create the Macro

Create a macro that:

  • Adds tag back_in_service (so the 2nd trigger is launched)

Conclusions

With all this set up, you have the workflow explained above ready. Of course, you can make any tweaks you need.

If you need help setting this up, or if you want more information about the WhatsApp Connector, feel free to contact us. We will be glad to help.