Click-to-WhatsApp ads and the free entry point window: how to use it without wasting it

Joseph Thomas sells modular kitchens in Kochi with a team of eleven, and most of his enquiries now come from Meta ads that open a WhatsApp chat. A typical lead taps the ad at 9:40 pm, types “price for L shape kitchen?”, and waits.

What happens in the next 24 hours decides two things: whether Joseph gets a measurement visit, and whether the next week of follow-ups costs him anything at all.

How the free window opens

Meta calls it the free entry point window, and its pricing page sets out the steps:

1. A person messages you from an ad that clicks to WhatsApp, using the WhatsApp app on an Android phone or an iPhone. Messages from WhatsApp on desktop or the web don’t qualify.
2. As with any incoming message, that opens the usual 24-hour customer service window.
3. If you reply within that window, with any type of message, your reply is free and the free entry point window opens, starting from the moment you replied.
4. The window “may remain open for up to 7 days”. While it’s open, “you can send any type of message to the user at no charge”.

The 7 days are new. Meta’s changelog of 28 September 2026 says the window may now stay open for up to 7 days “rather than 72 hours”. Plenty of pages still say three days. (The glossary has short definitions of both windows.)

Two limits on this. The free part is Meta’s message charges only; you still pay for the ad. And if you reply after the 24-hour window has closed, there’s no free window at all.

What’s free inside it

Everything you send the person, according to Meta’s wording. In practice that means:

While the free window is open	Normally, to an Indian number (from 1 Oct 2026, before GST)
Free-form replies	₹0.115 each after 1,000 free per number a month
Utility templates (confirmations, reminders)	₹0.115
Marketing templates (offers, follow-ups)	₹0.8631
Authentication templates (OTPs)	₹0.115

The normal rates are from Meta’s India card effective 1 July 2026, which the 1 October 2026 card left unchanged. Our October cost guide has the full picture.

The two windows run separately

This is the part that trips people up. The free window doesn’t replace the 24-hour customer service window. Meta’s changelog says that window “is unchanged”.

So the rule for what you’re allowed to send stays the same. Free-form messages, like a typed reply or a photo, can only go out while the 24-hour window is open, which means within 24 hours of the lead’s last message to you. Once that closes, you can only send templates. The free window changes the price, not the permission: those templates cost nothing until it ends.

For Joseph, that means a lead who went quiet on day two can still get a template with the measurement slots on day three, and it’s free. What he can’t do is send them a casual “any update?” typed from the inbox. That needs a template.

Why “up to” matters

Meta says the window may stay open for up to 7 days. It doesn’t say what makes a particular window shorter, and we haven’t found a Meta page that does. So don’t plan day six as if it’s guaranteed.

Our approach: put the messages that matter in the first three days, and use days four to seven for anything that’s a bonus. If the window closes early, you lose an extra reminder, not the visit.

A plan for the week

Here’s how Joseph’s team now handles an ad lead. The times are an example; adjust them to how your customers buy. For property enquiries, our real estate playbook applies the same idea to site visits.

AB Ananya Bose talking to Thomas Modular Kitchens

1. Ananya Bose:
   price for L shape kitchen? 9:40 pm
2. Thomas Modular Kitchens:
   Hi Ananya, thanks for asking. L-shaped kitchens depend on wall length and finish. Could you tell us the rough size, or send a photo of the space? 9:41 pm
   • Send a photo
   • Book a free measurement
   • Call me tomorrow
3. Ananya Bose:
   Book a free measurement 9:44 pm
4. Thomas Modular Kitchens:
   Which day suits you for the visit? 9:44 pm
   • This weekend
   • A weekday
   • Not sure yet
5. Day 3, no reply since. The 24-hour window has closed, the free window is still open.
6. Thomas Modular Kitchens:
   Template · Marketing template, free in the window Hi Ananya, we have measurement slots in Kakkanad on Saturday and Sunday. Shall we book one? 11:00 am
   • Saturday
   • Sunday
   • Later

• Hour 0: Reply within minutes. This reply is free and it opens the window, so it’s the one message you can’t afford to send late. Ask one question with buttons rather than sending the whole brochure.

• First 24 hours: Answer questions in free-form, send photos of past work, and try to fix a visit slot while the lead is still talking. Each message the lead sends restarts their 24-hour window.

• Days 2 to 3: If the lead has gone quiet, send one template: the measurement slots, with buttons. It’s a marketing template, and it’s free here.

• Days 3 to 5: When a visit is booked, send the confirmation and the day-before reminder as utility templates. Both are free while the window is open.

• Days 5 to 7: One last nudge at most, and only if there’s something new to say. “Still interested?” isn’t new.

Five ways teams waste the window

Replying the next evening

Ads often run late at night. A lead who messages at 11 pm and hears back at 1 am the following night has missed the 24-hour window, so the free window never opens. If nobody works nights, set up an automatic first reply that asks a real question.

Not knowing which chats came from an ad

If ad leads look like every other chat in the inbox, nobody plans around the window, and the day-three template goes out on day nine at full price.

Using the window to send more, not better

Free doesn’t mean welcome. Five templates in a week to someone who asked one question is how a number gets blocked and reported. The window lowers the cost of the right follow-up; it doesn’t change what the customer is willing to read.

Counting on other entry points

An older Meta page mentioned Facebook Page buttons as an entry point. The current pricing page names only ads that click to WhatsApp, so don’t budget on free windows from anything else.

Assuming every ad click qualifies

Leads who start the chat from WhatsApp on a laptop don’t get a free window. Expect some of your ad chats to be billed at normal rates.

What it’s worth, roughly

Take Joseph’s month as an example: 600 ad leads, and for each one two marketing templates, two utility templates and about 15 free-form replies. Without the window, the templates would cost 600 × (2 × ₹0.8631 + 2 × ₹0.115), about ₹1,174. The 9,000 replies, less the 1,000 free, would cost 8,000 × ₹0.115, or ₹920. That’s roughly ₹2,100 a month before GST.

It won’t pay for the ads. What it does is remove the reason to hold back a follow-up that would have helped, as long as the follow-up goes out while the window is still open.

Before your next campaign goes live, check one thing: who replies to an ad lead that arrives at 11 pm on a Saturday, and how fast. If the answer is “Monday”, fix that before you spend another rupee on the ad.