Sending Messages & Using Templates

Chatofy supports multiple message types to communicate with your customers. You can send plain text, media files, and pre-approved WhatsApp message templates directly from the inbox.

Sending a Text Message

Type your message in the input box at the bottom of the conversation and press Enter or click the send button. You can use the 24-hour Customer Service window to send free-form messages after receiving a message from the customer.

Using Message Templates

WhatsApp requires pre-approved templates for initiating conversations with customers (outside the 24-hour window). To send a template:

1. Click the template icon in the message input toolbar
2. Select the desired template from the list
3. Fill in any variable placeholders (e.g., customer name, order number)
4. Review the preview and send

In-Browser Voice Notes & Waveform Audio Player

Record and dispatch voice memos directly from your browser without third-party audio software:

• One-Click Mic Activation: Click the microphone icon in the composer toolbar during an active 24-hour customer window to start recording.
• Live Waveform Visualizer: An animated audio frequency visualizer and recording duration timer show microphone activity in real time.
• Pause & Resume: Pause recording at any point to gather thoughts, then resume without creating a new file.
• Review & Audio Preview Scrubber: Click Review to enter inline preview mode. Listen to your recording with a seekable scrubber, delete and discard, or re-record before sending.
• WhatsApp Waveform Playback: Voice notes render in the chat thread with WhatsApp-style animated waveform bars, seek-to-click controls, and 1x / 1.5x / 2x playback speed multipliers.

Sending Media Messages

You can send the following media types:

• Images — JPEG, PNG (up to 5MB)
• Documents — PDF, DOCX, XLSX (up to 100MB)
• Audio — AAC, MP4, AMR (up to 16MB)
• Video — MP4 (up to 16MB)

Media is uploaded to Supabase Storage and sent through the Meta Cloud API. Supported formats and size limits are enforced by Meta.

Interactive Messages (Quick Reply Buttons & CTA URLs)

During an active 24-hour customer service window, agents can compose and send WhatsApp Interactive Messages directly using the Mouse Pointer Click icon in the chat toolbar or the paperclip attachments menu:

• Quick Reply Buttons: Attach up to 3 interactive reply buttons (e.g., "Book Demo", "Talk to Sales", "FAQ") with optional header and footer text. Customers can tap a button to immediately trigger a response.
• Call-to-Action (CTA URL): Direct customers to an external link, checkout page, or documentation portal with customized button text and a destination URL.

A real-time WhatsApp bubble preview in the composer modal allows agents to preview button alignment and text lengths prior to dispatch.

Customer Marketing Opt-Out Protection

To maintain WhatsApp platform policy compliance and prevent customer harassment, Chatofy automatically displays a prominent rose banner at the top of the chat area when a contact has opted out of marketing communications (or unsubscribed via the STOP keyword):

Message Delivery & Retry on Failure

When an outbound message is sent, the bubble displays a real-time status icon:

• Clock: Message is queued or sending to Meta Cloud API.
• Single Check: Message sent successfully by the Meta WhatsApp server.
• Double Check: Message delivered to the customer's device.
• Blue Double Check: Message read by the customer.
• Alert Circle (Red): Message delivery failed (e.g., temporary network interruption, frequency limit, or rate limit). The message text is preserved with a prominent Retry button to instantly re-send without re-typing.