What is first response time

First response time (FRT) is the time that passes from when a customer writes to you on WhatsApp until your business replies for the first time. It is a key metric in customer service: the lower it is, the better. A fast FRT builds trust, while a long delay can make the customer go to a competitor.

Why it matters to your SME

On WhatsApp, immediacy is almost an unwritten rule. If someone writes to you, they expect a response in minutes, not hours. A high FRT not only makes you lose sales, but also affects the perception of your brand. Meta's conversation costs vary by country and are detailed in their official documentation; Wando helps you manage those conversations, but Meta's charges are billed separately.

Concrete example

Imagine a clothing store that receives a message at 10:00 asking about a size. If they reply at 11:30, the FRT is 90 minutes. The customer has probably already written to another store. In contrast, if they reply in 5 minutes, the customer feels well attended to and is much more likely to buy.

How to improve your FRT

• Set up an automatic welcome reply to let customers know you've received their message.
• Use a shared inbox so multiple agents can see messages and respond quickly.
• Create reply templates for frequently asked questions (hours, prices, shipping).
• Review your message statistics to identify times with more delays and cover them with more staff.

Common mistakes

• Not having a unified inbox: messages stay on one person's phone and the rest of the team doesn't see them.
• Confusing automatic replies with real replies: an automatic message doesn't count as TPR, it's just a notice.
• Not measuring TPR: what isn't measured, doesn't improve. Use the statistics from your tool or the Meta API.

What it's commonly confused with

TPR is confused with resolution time (the total time until the conversation is closed) and with automatic response time. TPR measures only the first human or supervised response. An automatic response doesn't count, although it helps the customer wait.

It's also confused with the Meta API speed. The API measures delivery times, but TPR is a business metric, not a technical one. Wando calculates it from the moment the message arrives until you send the first approved response.

What happens if you ignore it

If you don't measure TPR, you don't know how long it takes you to respond. The average customer on WhatsApp expects a response in minutes. If you take hours, you lose sales and, worse, the customer doesn't come back. Immediacy is key to not missing opportunities.

How it relates to the official Meta API

Wando uses Meta's official WhatsApp Cloud API. This means your messages are secure, comply with Meta's policies, and you can use templates (HSM) for campaigns. The API gives you delivery metrics, but it does not calculate TPR automatically. Wando does this in its statistics dashboard.

Meta's conversation prices vary by country. Wando helps you manage these conversations, but Meta's costs are charged separately. Consult Meta's official documentation to understand the charges.

When it does NOT apply or is not convenient

TPR is not relevant if your business does not receive inquiries via WhatsApp, for example, if you only use the app for one-way notifications. Nor is it advisable to obsess over a very low TPR if you sell high-value products where the customer expects a thoughtful response.

If your team is very small and you cannot respond quickly, a tool like Wando may not be a priority until the volume justifies the cost. Start by setting up automatic responses and a shared inbox.

How to configure TPR in Wando, step by step

Configuring TPR in Wando takes no more than ten minutes, but it is useful to know where to look. First, go to the message inbox, which is the main screen of the dashboard. There you will see all incoming conversations from WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger.

To ensure that TPR starts measuring correctly, make sure that messages arrive in the inbox and do not remain on anyone's phone. This is achieved by connecting the account with Meta's official API from the settings panel, in the channels section.

After that, enable AI suggestions. In the inbox, each conversation will show you a suggested response that your team approves with one click. That click is what marks the first response. If you don't see the suggestion, check that AI is enabled in the settings menu.

Finally, if you want no one to be left unanswered outside business hours, set up scheduled auto-responses in the automations section. This doesn't lower the TPR, but it prevents the customer from leaving while you wait.

• Message inbox: connect channels from settings.
• AI suggestions: enable them in settings so they appear in each conversation.
• Scheduled auto-responses: schedule them in automations to cover hours without staff.

How to know if it worked and what to check when it fails

The clearest sign that the TPR is well configured is that the dashboard statistics show coherent numbers. If you see a TPR of 5 minutes on a normal day, perfect. If you see 0 minutes on all messages, something is wrong: probably the first response is being marked with an auto-response, not a real one.

When the TPR is not calculated or gives odd data, the first thing to look at is whether messages are reaching the inbox. If a message stays on an agent's phone and doesn't sync, it doesn't count. Check that all agents are using the same inbox and that there are no unassigned messages.

Another thing to look at: the timestamp column. Wando uses the message arrival time according to Meta, not the time it was imported into the database. If you see that all messages have the same time, it's because the history import wasn't done properly and the data is corrupted.

If none of this works, write to local support. Wando has support in Spanish, which isn't always the case with other tools.

What changes depending on the size of the business

For a one-person business, TPR depends on that person having the phone at hand. In that case, AI suggestions are key: they let you reply in seconds without typing everything. But be careful: if you're on your own, you shouldn't enable the multi-agent feature, because you won't use it.

For a fifteen-person business, the problem is different: who answers each message. That's where Wando's multi-agent lets you assign conversations and have everyone see the same inbox. TPR becomes a matter of organization, not typing speed.

In a small business, TPR is improved with an automatic response and good will. In a large one, you need clear rules: who covers each shift, how messages are prioritized, and what happens when someone is on vacation.

What doesn't change: the metric is the same, and the tool is the same. What changes is how you use it.

What Meta's official documentation says and what it doesn't

Meta defines message delivery times and conversation prices, but it doesn't define what a good TPR is. That's a business metric that each platform calculates in its own way. Wando calculates it from when the message arrives until you send the first approved response.

In Meta's official documentation, you'll find account quality thresholds that can affect your message volume if you don't respond quickly. But those thresholds vary by country and change over time, so don't rely on a number you read once.

What Meta doesn't say: how to measure TPR in your panel. That's left to each platform's discretion. That's why, if you compare Wando's TPR with that of another tool, they may not match exactly. The important thing is to always use the same one to measure your progress.

For conversation pricing and thresholds, go to Meta's official documentation. Don't rely on what a blog says.

Questions that remain after understanding TPR

Once you understand what TPR is, more specific questions come up. For example: does the first response count if it's from a bot? With Wando, no. It only counts if it's a response approved by a human, even if the AI suggested it.

Another one: what about messages outside business hours? If you've set up an auto-response, the customer receives a notice, but TPR is still measured from when the message arrived until you actually respond. If you don't respond until the next day, the TPR will be high, and that's fine if your business doesn't operate at night.

Also: does TPR include Instagram and Messenger messages? Yes, if you have them connected. Each channel has its own TPR, but Wando shows you the average.

And the most practical question: how do I lower TPR without hiring more people? With AI suggestions and templates for frequently asked questions. That lets you respond in seconds, without writing everything from scratch.