# Answer customers in Conversations: WhatsApp and website chat > Connect a WhatsApp number, then answer website chats and WhatsApp messages from one inbox, including what to do when the 24-hour window closes. Source: https://enydea.com/en/documentation/tutorial-answer-customers-in-conversations ยท Last updated 2026-11-09 ## Goal You connect a WhatsApp Business number, find a customer message in **Conversations**, answer it, and know what to do when a message is not delivered, the 24-hour window has closed, or a customer replied STOP. This takes about 15 minutes. ## What you need - A relation selected in **Current Account** in the sidebar. WhatsApp and templates belong to that relation. - A Meta (Facebook) Business account, and a phone number you can verify for WhatsApp Business. - Optional: a website chat, if you also want visitors in the same inbox ([Put a chat widget on your website](https://enydea.com/en/documentation/tutorial-chat-widget-on-your-site.md)). > **Note:** The labels on the Conversations screen are in English in every language of the app. ## Steps ### Connect WhatsApp 1. Click **Conversations** in the sidebar, then the **WhatsApp setup** tab. 2. Click **Connect WhatsApp Business**, then **Connect with Meta**. Enydea opens Meta's own sign-up window. 3. In the Meta window, log in to your Meta or Facebook Business account, select or create a WhatsApp Business Account, and add or verify your phone number. 4. Back in Enydea, the number appears under **Connected Phone Numbers** with the chip **Sends from here**. 5. If a box titled **Setup is not finished** appears, read what it lists and click **Finish setup**. **Two-step PIN (optional)** is only for a number that already has a PIN. ![The WhatsApp setup tab on Conversations with one connected phone number and a Manage templates button](https://enydea.com/seo-assets/screens/conversations-setup.webp) *The WhatsApp setup tab. **Manage templates** opens the template manager, where you create and track your message templates.* ### Read the list 1. Click the **Inbox** tab. Website chats and WhatsApp messages are in one list, newest first. 2. Use **All**, **WhatsApp** and **Website** to filter, or type a name, number or message in the search box. 3. Read the tags under each name. **Needs reply** means the customer wrote last. A WhatsApp row also shows **Replies open for** and the time left, **Template needed**, or **Replied STOP**. A website chat shows **Website chat**. ![The Conversations inbox with a list of website chats and WhatsApp conversations and one conversation open](https://enydea.com/seo-assets/screens/conversations-list.webp) *The Inbox tab. The list is on the left and the open conversation on the right.* ### Answer inside the 24-hour window 1. Click a conversation. A green banner says how long you can reply freely. 2. Type your answer under **Write a reply...** and click the send button. Enter also sends it. 3. Watch the tick under your message: **Sending**, **Sent**, **Delivered** or **Read**. Hover over the tick to see its name. ![A WhatsApp conversation with the green window banner, a customer question and two replies marked as read](https://enydea.com/seo-assets/screens/conversations-thread.webp) *An open conversation. The double blue tick under a reply means the customer has read it.* ### When the window is closed WhatsApp delivers a free-text message only for 24 hours after the customer last wrote. After that the banner says **The 24-hour reply window is closed** and the box for typing is replaced by a template picker. 1. Choose an approved template under **Template**. 2. Fill in the **Value for** fields. The **Preview** shows the message as it will be sent. 3. Click **Send template**. If there is no approved template yet, Enydea says so and offers **Create a template**, which opens the **WhatsApp setup** tab. A marketing template is refused for a person who has not agreed to marketing messages; the screen shows the reason. ### When a message is not delivered A message that WhatsApp could not deliver shows a red tick named **Not delivered** and a line underneath that starts with **Not delivered.** and gives the reason. The usual reason is that the window had closed. Send an approved template, as above. ![A WhatsApp conversation whose last reply shows Not delivered with the reason, and the template picker below](https://enydea.com/seo-assets/screens/conversations-window-closed.webp) *A reply that could not be delivered because the window had closed, with the template picker open.* ### A customer who replied STOP The row shows **Replied STOP** and the conversation shows a red banner. The composer says that replies are switched off for this customer. Do not look for a way around it: they can write to you again whenever they want. ### Website chats A website chat opens in the same screen. Your reply goes to the visitor in the chat window on your website. There is no 24-hour window, tick or template for these. If the chat has AI auto-reply on, the AI's messages carry the tag **AI assistant**. Chat settings, embed code and office hours are on the **Website chat** tab of **Conversations** ([Website chat](https://enydea.com/en/documentation/chat-widget.md)). ## Check your work - Your number appears under **Connected Phone Numbers** on the **WhatsApp setup** tab. - Send a WhatsApp message to your number from your own phone. A row for it appears in the **Inbox** tab, tagged **Needs reply**. - Your answer shows a tick under it, and after a short time **Delivered**. - To test the closed window, open a conversation whose last customer message is more than 24 hours old: the template picker should appear instead of the text box. ## Next steps - Create and track templates ([Social media and WhatsApp](https://enydea.com/en/documentation/social-media-and-whatsapp.md)). - Turn on AI auto-reply or office hours for your website chat ([Website chat](https://enydea.com/en/documentation/chat-widget.md)). - Disconnect a WhatsApp account with **Disconnect** on the **WhatsApp setup** tab. Messages and templates already stored stay.