Sending automation

Overview

The Sending automation page is in the side menu, with the subtitle Billing reminders and list campaigns, at a controlled pace. It has two cards:

In both cases the messages are sent in the background by the server, at the configured pace, and each message is recorded in the customer's conversation. The page refreshes on its own, so you can follow the progress with it open.

Requirements, permission and plan

Plan Plan feature

Sending automation is included in plans from PREMIUM upward (and is available during the free trial). On a plan without the feature, the page shows the unavailable feature notice with the required plan, and the system does not allow creating campaigns or saving or enabling reminder rules. Existing rules and campaigns are not deleted if the plan changes.

Permission

The page and both functions require the Sending automation permission (on the profiles screen: Creates and tracks billing reminders and bulk messaging campaigns.). If the user is restricted to some connections in the agent record, they can only create rules and campaigns on the numbers they work on. See Connections per agent.

What each feature needs

How billing reminders work

Each reminder rule is a rule: a number (official API with an approved template, or QR code with free text), a moment relative to the due date and a sending window. You can have several rules at the same time, for example one 3 days before, one on the due date and another 5 days after the due date.

The daily cycle

1. Scan. At the first moment the rule is inside its window (chosen day of the week and time), ChatISP calculates the target due date for the day (for example, for "3 days before", the invoices due 3 days from now) and queries the management system for open invoices with that due date. The first scan of the day happens at the start of the window; after that the rule rescans the same date every hour while the window is open, to catch invoices issued during the day. Calendar holidays (the national ones turned on and those registered in Flows > Holidays) stay outside the window like an unchecked day, unless the rule has the Holidays chip checked. Days on which the rule did not run (weekend or holiday outside the window, server down) are recovered in the first scan of the next day inside the window, up to 7 days back: pre-due reminders go out while the invoice is still not overdue, and overdue reminders go out on the first checked day. No invoice is charged twice.
2. Selection. Only invoices with an amount and a copyable payment method (Pix or boleto) are included. Each customer's phone comes from the management system record: the reminder goes to every mobile number on file (one line per number, the WhatsApp field first); a landline only comes in when it is the only number on file. A customer without a phone is recorded as Skipped with the detail no phone on file.
3. One reminder per invoice. Each invoice receives at most one reminder per rule. If the same invoice shows up again, it is ignored.
4. Sending. Reminders stay Waiting and go out at the rule's per-minute pace, up to the daily limit, always inside the window.
5. Check at sending time. Before each send the invoice is checked again: if it was paid in the meantime, the reminder is marked as Skipped (invoice paid before sending) and nothing is sent.

Automatic safeguards

• Customers in service wait. If the customer has an open conversation on that number, their reminder waits until the conversation is closed, so it does not interrupt the service.
• 48-hour validity. A reminder that could not go out within 48 hours (customer in service the whole time, window too short, daily limit reached) is discarded as Skipped, with the detail 48 h passed without being able to send.
• Management system offline. If the query fails, the rule tries again every 15 minutes inside the window, and the reason appears in the list as Last error.
• Connection or template unavailable. If the number is disconnected or the template is no longer approved, nothing is sent and the rule shows the reason (connection disconnected or template not approved).
• Account blocked at Meta. If Meta blocks the WhatsApp Business account (for example for lack of a valid payment method), the rule holds the batch and shows sending blocked by Meta. The connection card in Connections explains the reason and leads to the right Meta page. Without this safeguard the API would accept every message and deliver none.
• Try again. Reminders that failed are not final: the Try again (N) button on the rule row sends every failed reminder back to the queue, and they go out in the next round within the window. Fix the cause first, for example the Pix key.

Create a billing reminder rule

In the Billing reminders card, click New reminder rule. The form has three numbered sections, the In practice strip and the Preview for today, Cancel and Save buttons.

1. Message

The official API number and the approved template the customer will receive.

If the number has no approved template, the section shows No approved template on this number: Templates are created and approved in the Meta WhatsApp Manager. Create a utility template, preferably of the order details type (with the copy Pix and boleto buttons), then fetch the templates here.

2. When to send

The rule looks at the due date of every open invoice in the management system. Choose one of the three cards:

Only After the due date has the field Include overdue up to (days). With it, on its first scan the rule also charges invoices that were already overdue by up to that many days before the target date, once each; on the following days it looks only at the exact date again. With zero, the rule charges only the exact due date, and customers already overdue when the rule was created never receive it. Raising the value on a rule that has already scanned repeats that first scan.

The Management system field chooses where the invoices come from: All with search by due date (default) or a specific system. Systems without that search appear disabled with the mark no search by due date.

3. Window and pace

Sends only on the chosen days and hours, within the daily cap.

The In practice strip summarizes the rule in one sentence as you fill it in, for example: In practice: sends for each open invoice 3 day(s) before the due date, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, from 08:00 to 18:00, at most 500 per day. With no day selected, it warns on no day (choose at least one).

Preview for today

The Preview for today button runs the real query against the management system without saving or sending anything, and shows how many invoices the rule would pick up today:

Due on 10/10/2026: 1,256 open invoice(s), 1,198 with WhatsApp on file, 58 without phone, 0 already sent by this rule.

If the query fails, you see Could not query the management system right now with the reason. If a field is invalid, you see Check the rule fields.

1. Fill in the three sections.
2. Check the In practice strip and run Preview for today.
3. Click Save. The message Rule saved. confirms it, and the rule enters the list as Enabled.

Reminder templates and variables

Meta templates have numbered variables in the text ({{1}}, {{2}}...). In the rule, each {{n}} in the template receives one invoice field: for each variable there is a Variable N selector with the options below. Check the order: the form suggests an initial sequence, but you are the one who knows what the template text expects in each position.

The values are fetched at sending time, not during the scan, so they reflect the current invoice. Since Meta rejects empty variables, a field that does not exist on the invoice is sent as -.

Text-only template or template with copy buttons

To write a good template: create a utility category template at Meta, with text that identifies the provider, states the amount and the due date and tells the customer to pay or reply if they have questions. Once approved, use Fetch templates from Meta in the form.

Track billing reminders

The table in the Billing reminders card shows one row per rule, enabled rules first:

Disable stops the rule without losing anything: it no longer scans or sends until it is enabled again. Delete asks for the confirmation Delete this rule and its reminder history? and removes the rule along with its reminder history (messages already sent remain in the customers' conversations).

Reminders of a rule

The Reminders button opens the summary (Today, Sent, Replied, Pending, Errors) and the list of the most recent reminders, with customer and phone, invoice and due date, amount, status with its detail, date and the Open conversation link.

Error and status details

Invoice with copy buttons (official API)

Through the official API, the invoice can reach the customer as a payment card: the amount stands out, with the Copy Pix code and Copy boleto code buttons, which copy the code with one tap, ready to paste in the bank app. It is a Meta payments feature for Brazil.

It appears in two places:

• In billing reminders, when the chosen template is the button type (order details).
• In the invoice copy sent in the conversation, by the agent (in the customer's invoices window) or by the AI, when the official API is the channel in use.

Configuration

It is in Settings, Channels and allowance tab, Invoice copy with copy buttons through the official API block. Like the rest of the tab, it saves as soon as you click:

When the card is sent and when the invoice goes as text

In the conversation, the card is attempted when the official API is the first channel for that message: a number with the official API only and an open window; a number with QR and API according to the menu policy in Channels and allowance (by default, while there is free allowance left in the month and the window is open); Official API only mode; or QR offline. In any other case, and also when data is missing (invoice without an amount, without Pix or boleto, Pix without the company key) or Meta rejects the card, the invoice goes in the usual text format, so the customer is never left without the invoice copy.

In the conversation history, the card appears as agent text with the line Payment card sent through the official API with the buttons: ..., so the team knows what the customer received. The Pix QR Code image is not sent along with the card.

Create a list campaign

In the List campaigns card, click New campaign. If there is no connected connection, you see No connected channel to send from.

Recipient list format

One line per customer: phone; name; extra columns. Repeated or invalid phones are ignored.

5544999990000;Maria;R$ 99,90
5544988887777;João Pereira;R$ 129,90
5511977776666;Ana

• Phone with country code and area code (for Brazil, starting with 55). Punctuation, spaces and parentheses are ignored. After cleanup, the number must have 10 to 15 digits.
• Separator: semicolon, tab (paste directly from a spreadsheet) or comma. When the line has a semicolon or tab, the comma is treated as part of the value, so R$ 89,90 arrives intact.
• Name is the second column (optional). The following columns are extras.
• A repeated phone keeps only its first occurrence. Invalid lines are counted and reported when saving.
• Up to 20,000 recipients per campaign.

Variables

When you click Save, the campaign is created as a Draft and the message reports the result, for example Campaign created with 1,250 recipients (3 lines ignored). Nothing is sent until you click Start. If no line is valid, you see No valid recipient in the list.

Send and track a campaign

The table in the List campaigns card shows the most recent campaigns with Name (and the template, when there is one), Connection, Status, Progress (bar with done over total and the errors), Replied, Created at (with who created it) and Actions.

Statuses and actions

The system pauses the campaign on its own when its connection becomes disconnected or is deleted, or when the chosen template no longer exists. Fix the cause and use Resume: sending continues where it stopped, without repeating anyone who already received it. Delete asks for the confirmation Delete this campaign and its recipient history?; messages already sent remain in the conversations.

Details

The Details button opens the Sent, Delivered, Read, Replied, Errors and Pending indicators, the campaign text (on QR) and the table of the first 500 recipients with phone, name, status and sending time.

Statuses only move forward (Sent, Delivered, Read, Replied): a late receipt never moves a recipient back. In the indicators, Delivered includes those who have already read and those who replied, and Read includes those who replied.

When the customer replies

Each campaign or reminder send is recorded in the customer's conversation, with an event that identifies the source (the campaign name, or Automatic reminder followed by the rule name), so whoever handles the customer later knows what they received.

• A new conversation stays closed. If the send opened a conversation that did not exist, it does not enter the service queue: it stays closed until the customer replies. This way a campaign to a thousand contacts does not flood the team's queue.
• The reply opens a normal service conversation. When the customer replies, the conversation follows the usual path: flows, AI, queue, departments and distribution to agents.
• Conversation already open. In a campaign, if the customer was already in service on that number, the message goes into the open conversation. In billing reminders, the send waits for the conversation to be closed (up to 48 hours).
• Reply count. The customer's reply within 7 days after the send marks the recipient as Replied (campaign) or the reminder as Replied (billing reminders).

Official API costs

Messages sent through QR have no per-message cost. On the official API, Meta charges per message, and templates are always paid, outside the monthly allowance of service messages. That is why the billing reminders card warns: Each reminder goes out as an official API template: Meta charges per message and it counts against the number allowance.

The month's usage appears on the card of each official API number, on the Connections screen, including the Templates sent (always paid) count. See Official API allowance and costs.

Best practices

• Build your reminders in steps. A friendly rule a few days before the due date, one on the due date and one after usually cover the cycle well. Adjust the template tone for each moment.
• Use a template with copy buttons in billing reminders and configure the company Pix key: paying takes one tap and the customer does not need to select the code in the middle of the text.
• Choose the window with the customer in mind: business hours and weekdays avoid billing messages at inappropriate times and make replies arrive while the team is working.
• Keep the WhatsApp field in the management system up to date. Billing reminders use the phone on file; the preview shows how many customers have no phone.
• Test with a small list before a large campaign: create a campaign with two or three team numbers, start it and check the text, the variables and the delivery.
• Prefer a calm pace and a daily limit compatible with the team's capacity to reply.
• Send only to people who expect to receive it, with text that identifies the provider and clearly says what it is about.
• Watch the errors in the details: phones without WhatsApp, templates paused by Meta and integration failures show up there first.

Common problems