Customer conversations
Reach someone before the reply is late
Marketplaces time how fast a seller replies and surface it to buyers, which is why an unanswered message costs more than the message. A shared inbox watched by a person does not hold; a timer does. What the timer may then send is set by WhatsApp's rules, not by you.
- Triggers
- Two
- Runs
- Every 5 minutes
- Stack
- 4 tools
- Durable execution
- Not required
The flow
Two triggers and one decision. The left track records conversations; the right track inspects them. They meet at the same table.
Message arrives
WhatsApp Cloud API
Update the conversation
n8n · Make
Write the SLA row
Sheets · Airtable
Every 5 minutes
n8n schedule
List the unanswered
n8n
Past your target?
n8n IF
Alert whoever is on
Slack · WhatsApp
Leave it alone
—
Step by step
- 01
Message arrives
WhatsApp Cloud APIA webhook fires the moment a customer writes, which is also the moment the 24-hour service window opens.
- 02
Update the conversation
n8n · MakeNote who wrote, when, and whether anyone has answered since.
- 03
Write the SLA row
Sheets · AirtableOne row per conversation. The table is the week's SLA record, so no separate report is needed.
- 04
Every 5 minutes
n8n scheduleRuns on its own, rather than when somebody remembers to look.
- 05
List the unanswered
n8nPull every conversation nobody has replied to yet.
- 06
Past your target?
n8n IFCompared against the response target you set — fifteen minutes, or whatever you actually promise.
- 07
Alert whoever is on
Slack · WhatsAppName the conversation and the person responsible. An alert nobody owns is not an escalation.
What the platform will not allow
How far this can be automated is set by WhatsApp's rules. That boundary is the part most write-ups leave out.
The 24-hour customer service window starts when the customer contacts you, and resets if they message or call again before it expires.
WhatsApp Cloud API — Send messagesWhile the window is open you may send any service message, with no pre-approval.
WhatsApp Cloud API — Send messagesOnce it closes you may send only pre-approved template messages — so a chaser the next morning cannot be free text.
WhatsApp Cloud API — Send messages
When this is not worth building
Three cases where the upkeep costs more than the misses.
Fewer than about twenty conversations a day. One person holds that in their head, and the workflow becomes another thing nobody watches and nobody notices breaking.
No duty roster. An alert that lands on someone who is not on shift is a message, not an escalation.
You have never measured your current median response time. Without that baseline you cannot tell afterwards whether anything improved, and you keep it running on faith.