---
title: "Messages"
description: "Send an SMS or WhatsApp message to one customer, and reply to what customers send you."
url: "https://docs.goomzo.africa/docs/help/messages"
docs_index: /llms.txt
lastUpdated: 2026-11-12
section: "Engagement"
related:
  - /docs/help/broadcasts
  - /docs/help/templates
  - /docs/help/placeholders
  - /docs/help/sender-ids
  - /docs/help/sms-bundles
---

> For an index of all documentation, see [/llms.txt](https://docs.goomzo.africa/llms.txt). Any page is also available as Markdown by adding .md to its URL.

# Messages

> Send an SMS or WhatsApp message to one customer, and reply to what customers send you.

A message goes to one customer, by SMS or WhatsApp. To reach many customers with the same message, send a
[broadcast](https://docs.goomzo.africa/docs/help/broadcasts?utm_source=llms&utm_medium=ai) instead.

<Callout title="Before you start">
  SMS need SMS on your account; [buy an SMS bundle](https://docs.goomzo.africa/docs/help/sms-bundles?utm_source=llms&utm_medium=ai) first. WhatsApp needs your own number
  connected in **Integrations → WhatsApp**; Meta bills your business for it directly.
</Callout>

## Send a message

1. In **Engagement → Messages**, select **Compose**.
2. Choose who it's **To**, and the **Channel**: SMS or WhatsApp.
3. Choose who it's **From**. For SMS, that's one of your [sender IDs](https://docs.goomzo.africa/docs/help/sender-ids?utm_source=llms&utm_medium=ai). For WhatsApp, it's
   your connected number.
4. Write your message, or start from a saved [template](https://docs.goomzo.africa/docs/help/templates?utm_source=llms&utm_medium=ai). For WhatsApp, choose **Send as** a [template](#whatsapp-templates), or as text to someone
   who wrote to you in the last 24 hours.
5. Choose **Now**, or **Later** with a day and time, up to a year ahead. WhatsApp text always goes now.
6. Send.

## Track a message

Each message shows its status:

| Status    | What it means                                                  |
| --------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Scheduled | Waiting for the time you chose.                                |
| Sending   | On its way to the network.                                     |
| Sent      | The network accepted it.                                       |
| Delivered | It reached the customer's phone.                               |
| Read      | The customer read it. WhatsApp only.                           |
| Failed    | It couldn't be sent or delivered.                              |
| Canceled  | You canceled it before it went.                                |

To cancel a scheduled message, open it and select **Cancel message**. To send any other message again, now,
select **Resend**.

## WhatsApp

When a customer messages your WhatsApp number, Goomzo keeps the message and records it as their activity. If
they aren't a customer yet, they're added, named as they are on WhatsApp.

Everything they send shows: text, photos, voice notes and other audio, videos, documents, stickers, locations and
contact cards. Goomzo keeps a copy of each file up to 25 MB; a larger one is listed but not kept. You can reply
with text, or with a [template](#whatsapp-templates).

Open the customer to see your WhatsApp messages with them, newest at the bottom, and reply from there. To answer
one message in particular, select **Reply** under it: your reply quotes it in WhatsApp. When a customer answers one
of yours, their message shows the one it answers.

<Callout title="The 24-hour rule">
  WhatsApp lets you write freely only within 24 hours of the customer's last message. After that, Goomzo sends them
  a short message on your behalf, "Hi Amina, we have replied to the message you sent us on 6 Nov 2026. Tap below to
  read our reply.", and your reply goes as
  soon as they tap **Read reply**. Until then it shows as waiting; after 7 days unopened, it fails. To anyone who
  never wrote, send an approved template instead. WhatsApp text goes straight away; a template can be scheduled.
</Callout>

Goomzo makes this reply template on your WhatsApp account when you connect it, in English and Kiswahili (English unless you choose otherwise), and Meta
reviews it, usually within minutes. Choose its language in **Integrations → WhatsApp → Reply template**.

We let you know, in Goomzo and by email, when your number is connected, when Meta disconnects it and why, and when
its health changes: Meta's quality rating, how many conversations you can start a day, or a restriction Meta puts
on the account or lifts.

## WhatsApp templates

A template is a message Meta approved in advance, with blanks you fill for each customer. It's how you reach a
customer outside the 24-hour window, and how WhatsApp [broadcasts](https://docs.goomzo.africa/docs/help/broadcasts?utm_source=llms&utm_medium=ai) go.

1. Make the template in [WhatsApp Manager](https://business.facebook.com/wa/manage/message-templates/). Meta
   usually reviews it within minutes, sometimes up to a day.
2. In **Integrations → WhatsApp**, see it under **Templates**. Goomzo syncs your templates when Meta reviews
   them; select **Sync** to read them now. We let you know, in Goomzo and by email, when Meta approves, rejects,
   pauses or disables a template, or moves it to another category.
3. Once it's approved, send it: with **Compose**, using **Send as** template, or from a conversation in the
   **Inbox** with the **+** button.
4. Fill each blank with text, or with the customer's details: `{{name}}` for their name, `{{attributes.plan}}` for
   a detail, and a fallback for anyone without it, as in `{{name|there}}`.

Meta charges your business for each template message delivered, by its category: marketing costs more than
utility. Goomzo shows roughly what Meta will charge before you send. Templates with a photo, video or document
header, and carousels can't be sent from Goomzo yet.

## How SMS are counted

One SMS holds 160 characters. A longer text is split into parts of 153 characters, and each part uses one SMS.

A text with a character outside the standard SMS alphabet, such as an emoji or `ē`, holds 70 characters, or 67
per part. A few standard characters, such as `€`, `[` and `]`, count as two.

A text can be up to 6 parts. As you write, the message box shows how many parts it takes and how many SMS you
have left.

<Callout>
  SMS are only used when the network takes your message. If a message never leaves, its SMS are returned.
</Callout>

## Analytics

**Engagement → Analytics** shows how many messages you sent, how many were delivered, and why any failed.

---

For an index of all available documentation, see [/llms.txt](https://docs.goomzo.africa/llms.txt)