A new lead was answered and then went quiet. When does WACO follow up automatically, how many times, and when does it stop?

WACO has two guards for chats left hanging, aimed at different people:

• The 10-minute alert — a new customer wrote and your team has not replied → the owner is notified on WhatsApp. It nudges the team, not the customer. See new customer alerts.
• Follow-up for quiet leads — the team did reply, but the customer went quiet. This guide covers the second one.

Who counts as a "quiet lead"

All of the following must be true at the same time:

1. A new customer: the number contacted you for the first time and was not in your Contacts when that first chat arrived. Known customers are never followed up automatically.
2. Your team already replied — from the team inbox, the API, or the WhatsApp app on the phone for a coexistence number. Replies by the AI Operator count too.
3. It is the customer's turn and they are silent: the last message in the conversation is from your team, and 24 hours have passed since that reply with nothing from the customer.
4. The conversation is still fresh: their first chat arrived at most 7 days ago.
5. Never followed up before: that number has not received a WACO follow-up yet.

When and how many times

• WACO checks for candidates every 30 minutes. The message goes out on the first check after the 24-hour window passes, so in practice 24 to 24.5 hours after the team's last reply.
• Exactly once per customer. There is no second or third follow-up. If the customer stays quiet after it, WACO stops; reaching out again is the team's call.
• Sent from your own number using the waco_follow_up template, UTILITY category, so it is allowed even outside the 24-hour window. The text is fixed (Indonesian): "Halo {name}, terima kasih sudah menghubungi kami. Sepertinya percakapan kita belum tuntas — masih ada yang bisa kami bantu? Balas pesan ini kapan saja ya 🙏", with the footer "Balas STOP bila tidak ingin dihubungi lagi". The name comes from the customer's WhatsApp profile; "Kak" is used when it is empty.
• Each message is billed at WhatsApp's template rate for your number. The feature itself is free.

When a follow-up is NOT sent, or stops

• The customer replies before 24 hours pass → it is the team's turn again; the clock restarts after the team replies. While still within 7 days of the first chat and never followed up, they can become a candidate again if they go quiet again.
• More than 7 days since the first chat → expired, never sent.
• The switch is off, or your WACO account is suspended.
• The waco_follow_up template is not yet approved by Meta. WACO waits and retries every 30 minutes; if approval arrives after the 7-day window, that lead is missed.
• No WhatsApp number is connected to WACO.
• Sending fails (for example the customer blocked your number, or the number is inactive). WACO deliberately does not retry: one lead without a follow-up is better than one customer receiving the same message twice.

The customer's reply to the follow-up, including "STOP", lands in the team inbox like any message. Since WACO only ever sends once, there is nothing further to cancel.

Turning it on

1. Open Operator AI → the Follow-up for quiet leads card.
2. Tick Send an automatic follow-up to quiet leads, then Save.
3. The first time it is switched on, WACO submits the follow-up template to WhatsApp on behalf of your number. Sending starts once the template is approved, usually within minutes. Its status is visible in the Templates menu.

What this feature does not cover

• Existing customers left hanging are not followed up automatically. For them, use a blast to a segment, or scheduled reminder rules.
• Team-side handling — for example closing or reassigning chats unanswered for 24 hours — is done with the team inbox automation rules, see inbox reports & automation. Those rules act on conversations; they do not message customers on WhatsApp outside the 24-hour window.