Campaigns, templates, and automated messages explained

There are three ways a message from your business reaches a customer on WhatsApp through tkana. Knowing the difference saves you from messages that never arrive and from paying for messages you did not need.

The 24-hour window

WhatsApp gives every business a 24-hour window that starts each time a customer sends you a message. Inside that window, your AI agent and your team can reply with any text, image, or file. Once 24 hours pass without a new message from the customer, the window closes, and WhatsApp only accepts a template: a message Meta approved in advance. The same rule applies when your business writes first, for example to announce an offer.

When the customer replies to a template, a new 24-hour window opens and the conversation continues normally.

Three ways to message customers

	Normal reply	Campaign	Automated message
Who sends it	Your AI agent or a teammate	You, from the Marketing page	tkana, when something happens (a booking, a ticket, an order)
Who receives it	One customer, in a conversation	Many customers at once	One customer or your team, per event
When it works	Inside the 24-hour window	Any time	Any time
What it needs	Nothing extra	An approved template and an audience	A skill that includes the message, and a connected WhatsApp number
Who pays	Your agent’s replies use tkana credits	Meta, on your Meta account	Meta, on your Meta account (WhatsApp)

Use a normal reply when

A customer has written to you in the last 24 hours. Your agent answers on its own, and a teammate can step in from Conversations. If the window has closed on one customer, you can send a single approved template from the conversation. See Send templates, files, and internal notes.

Use a campaign when

You want to reach a group of customers with the same message: a seasonal offer, a new branch opening, a reminder to renew. You write a template once, Meta approves it, and you send it to a group or a list of customers. See Send a WhatsApp campaign.

Use an automated message when

The message belongs to an event that happens again and again: a booking is confirmed, a ticket is resolved, an order ships. These messages come ready-made with skills and go out on their own. See Understand automated messages.

What you need before you start

A connected WhatsApp number. Templates, campaigns, and WhatsApp automated messages all go out from your own WhatsApp Business number. See Connect your WhatsApp Business number.
A payment method on your Meta account. Meta bills template messages directly. See Who pays for WhatsApp template messages.
Customers with a WhatsApp number. Anonymous chat widget visitors and Telegram customers cannot receive WhatsApp templates.

Where to find everything

Marketing in the sidebar has four tabs: Templates (create and track your templates), Campaigns (launch and follow campaigns), Click to WhatsApp Ads (follow the conversations your Facebook and Instagram ads start, see Track your Click-to-WhatsApp ads), and Gallery (your image library for template headers). The WhatsApp Health card at the top shows your number’s quality and how many templates are approved.
Settings > Notifications holds the automated booking and ticket messages.
CRM > Groups is where you build the audiences for your campaigns.