Help & Documentation

Navigate to the Bulk Messaging tab and upload a CSV or Excel (.xlsx) file. Phone numbers must be in international format (e.g., +27821234567). Columns:

• Name — required for every channel.
• Phone — required for every channel.
• Email — required for email sending.
• Order Number, ETA — optional, included in the message text if present.
• Driver, Tracking Link, Notes — optional, included in the message text if present.

LeadTime supports three preset message types — Order, Booking, and Appointment — each with their own relevant statuses and detail options. When you select a preset type, the Status and Detail Description dropdowns update automatically to match. You can also choose Custom to write your own message type. Use the Omit button on the Message Type field to remove the type line from the message entirely.

Once your spreadsheet is uploaded, select your message type, status, and any extra detail. LeadTime generates a personalised message for every row in your file. If you have more than one business profile, choose which one you're sending as. Review the preview, then choose your channel — WhatsApp or Email — and choose to send immediately or schedule for later (Standard only), then send.

On the Review & Send step of Bulk Messaging, choose Schedule for later and pick a date and time (at least 5 minutes out, up to 90 days ahead). Your messages are queued and sent automatically at that time — you don't need to keep the page open. Credits are only deducted when a scheduled message actually sends, not when you schedule it. You can view and cancel any pending scheduled messages from the Analytics page. This feature requires an active Standard subscription.

Connect your WhatsApp Business number under Settings → WhatsApp with the one-click “Connect with Facebook” flow — log in with Facebook, pick your WhatsApp number, and you're done. No Phone Number ID or Access Token to copy by hand.

If your business has its own approved WhatsApp templates in Meta, use “Load my approved templates” at the bottom of the Bulk Messaging step 2 screen to pick one and map its variables to your spreadsheet's columns.

Build your own templates from Settings → WhatsApp → My Message Templates. The builder walks you through Meta's own category/name/content flow with a live preview as you type, warns you before submission about things WhatsApp is known to reject (like sharing a password in the message body), and supports an image header plus up to 3 Quick Reply, 2 Visit Website, 1 Call Phone Number, and 1 Copy Offer Code button on a template. You can also create a One-time verification code (Authentication) template — pick Copy Code or one-tap autofill, and choose whether to include a security disclaimer and an expiry warning — for sending OTP-style codes. See Building a WhatsApp Template below for the full walkthrough.

To send a photo (e.g. via the Uploads page) to each recipient in a bulk send, add an Image column to your spreadsheet with each row's image link, then use the “Send Photo via WhatsApp” button. Note: this only delivers to recipients who have messaged your number within the last 24 hours (Meta's rule for non-template messages).

WhatsApp sends never use LeadTime credits. Meta bills you directly for usage on your own number — billed per 24-hour conversation, not per message, with different rates for service, utility, marketing, and authentication conversations. See Settings → WhatsApp for the full breakdown, or check current rates at business.whatsapp.com/products/platform-pricing.

A newly connected number can message up to 250 unique customers per day. That limit rises automatically as your number sends consistent, good-quality messages — through 1,000/2,000, then 10,000, then 100,000, then unlimited — with no action needed on your side. See the notice under Settings → WhatsApp for where your number currently sits.

Learn more about what's coming →

Open Settings → WhatsApp → My Message Templates and click New Template. First pick what the message is about (order update, appointment reminder, one-time verification code, or a welcome/promotional message) — this decides which of Meta's three review categories it's submitted under: Utility, Authentication, or Marketing. Utility and Marketing let you write your own name, language, header, message, and footer; Authentication is a fixed format Meta writes the wording for — you only choose the code-entry method (Copy Code or one-tap autofill) and whether to add a security disclaimer or expiry warning.

For Utility and Marketing templates, add a title at the top as either plain text or an image header (upload a JPEG or PNG — this is the actual image WhatsApp sends, not just an example), write your message using {{1}}, {{2}} and so on for anything personalized per recipient (like a name or order number), and optionally a short line of footer text. You'll be asked for a real-looking example value for each {{n}} — WhatsApp requires one to understand what your message is for, and it's never sent to anyone.

Add up to 10 buttons: 3 Quick Reply, 2 Visit Website (a fixed link, or a personalized one that appends a unique ending per recipient), 1 Call Phone Number, and 1 Copy Offer Code (shows customers a “Copy offer code” button — you supply the actual code when you send the template, either the same for everyone or mapped from a spreadsheet column in Bulk Messaging).

The live preview on the right shows roughly what the customer will receive as you type, and a checklist below the message box flags anything likely to get the template rejected — like a personalized field at the very start or end of the message, or wording that reads as sharing a password — before you ever submit it. Once submitted, a template shows as Being checked, Ready to use, or Not allowed (with a plain-English explanation of why, where Meta gives us one) in the list below the builder. Editing an approved or rejected template sends the update back to Meta for review the same way a new submission does — there's no separate “resubmit” step.

Once a template is Ready to use, send it from Bulk Messaging via “Load my approved templates,” or through the API if you have that add-on — both map spreadsheet columns (or, for the API, values you supply) to the template's variables, image header, and any personalized button automatically.

The Inbox page lists every inbound WhatsApp conversation for a connected business, with unread counts and each conversation's open/closed status. Open a conversation to see the full thread and reply directly — replies you send here go out immediately over WhatsApp, with no draft or review step. If you run more than one business profile, switch which one you're viewing from the dropdown at the top.

A conversation stays Open for 24 hours after the customer's last message — free-form replies only work inside that window (Meta's rule, not ours). Once it closes, send an approved WhatsApp template to reach that customer again and reopen the window (see WhatsApp Sending above).

Click the bell icon in the top navigation to enable browser push notifications for new inbound messages — you'll get an alert the moment one arrives, even with the tab in the background or closed. A Team Member sees this option too, as long as they've been granted the Inbox page.

Click Select above the conversation list to tick one or more conversations and delete them in bulk — each one's full message history goes with it, so use it for conversations you're sure you no longer need.

Meet Nala — LeadTime's AI Assistant add-on. Nala drafts replies to your incoming WhatsApp messages using AI, so you can review and send with a click instead of typing from scratch — replies it sends show up as black bubbles in your Inbox so you can tell at a glance which ones weren't typed by a person. Upload reference documents (PDF, text, or Markdown) to its Knowledge Base under Settings → AI Assistant and Nala's drafts are grounded in that content — your pricing, policies, FAQs, whatever you provide.

By default, drafts wait in the Inbox for you to review and send. If you turn on Auto-send, replies go out automatically without review — you're responsible for what gets sent either way. Every auto-sent reply gets a 🤖 reaction on the message, visible to the customer in WhatsApp itself, so it's clear the reply wasn't written by a person; a draft you review and send yourself doesn't get this reaction, since it's your message at that point.

A conversation gets flagged for your attention (and your team gets notified) when it matches one of your escalation phrases, or when Nala itself doesn't know the answer and says someone will follow up. Once that happens — or as soon as anyone on your team sends a manual reply in that conversation — Nala stops replying there for a set amount of time, so it doesn't talk over whoever's already handling it. Set how long under Pause the AI after a conversation is escalated to a human in Settings → AI Assistant.

It's $20/month, fixed on top of your current subscription tier, and not self-serve — it's enabled per account on request. See Settings → AI Assistant for how to request access.

Navigate to Settings, select the business profile you want to configure, and scroll to the Email Sending block. Enter your Mailgun subdomain (e.g., mail.yourdomain.co.za), add the DNS records shown to your domain registrar (Cloudflare, GoDaddy, etc.), then set your sender name and email address. Each business profile has its own email configuration.

Use the Uploads page to send a photo (JPEG, PNG, or WebP, up to 5MB) — for example, an ID document a client needs to collect an order. Upload it there and copy the link it gives you back (valid for 24 hours) into a message, or use it in the Bulk Messaging Image column for a WhatsApp photo send. Only upload images you have the right and any necessary consent to share — see our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for details. Uploaded images are permanently deleted if you delete your account.

Invoicing is an optional add-on (+$10/month) — request access from Settings → Invoices and we'll enable it for your account. Once enabled, the Invoices page gives you: Overview (at-a-glance totals plus account-wide invoicing settings), Quotes, Invoices, Clients (saved client details, reused across documents), Recurring (auto-generates a draft invoice on a schedule — weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually), Reports (revenue, outstanding receivables, and VAT collected for a date range, exportable as CSV or Excel), History (every invoice, quote, and credit note ever created, searchable and filterable by status), and Presets (save line items, notes, and terms you reuse often).

Send a Quote first if a client needs to approve pricing before you invoice them — once sent, mark it Accepted or Declined, and an accepted quote can be converted straight into a draft invoice with its line items already filled in.

A new invoice or quote starts as a Draft. By default you type in your own invoice/quote number before it can be saved; if you'd rather the system assign one automatically, turn on Auto invoice and quote numbering on the Overview tab. Click Finalize & Issue (or just email it) to lock in that number — once assigned, the number itself is permanent, but you can still edit everything else on an invoice or quote after it's been sent (line items, amounts, client details) if something needs correcting. For a change that should leave a paper trail instead, use a Credit Note. Turn on VAT registered for a business in Settings to charge 15% VAT and mark invoices “Tax Invoice” with your VAT number; toggle Prices entered include VAT per invoice depending on how you're pricing the job. If you don't use discounts, turn Allow discounts off on the Overview tab to hide the discount option and column entirely. Record full or partial payments from an invoice's page — the balance due updates automatically, and the status moves from Sent → Partially Paid → Paid (or Overdue if the due date passes unpaid).

Every issued invoice or quote gets a shareable, no-login link your client can open to view and download it — include it when you email the document, or copy it manually from its page; the link stays live and reflects any later edits. Overdue invoices get an automatic reminder email, at most once every 3 days, until they're paid or cancelled.

Access to Bulk Messaging requires an active subscription or an active free trial (7 days). LeadTime offers three tiers: Basic ($10/month, ≈R185) for bulk message generation and sending with a single business profile, Standard ($15/month, ≈R278) which includes everything in Basic plus message scheduling and support for multiple business profiles, and Premium ($30/month, ≈R555) which includes everything in Standard plus Team management — inviting other people to use your account and choosing exactly which pages each person can access, without them needing a subscription of their own. Invoicing is a separate optional add-on (+$10/month) available on any tier. Each tier can be billed monthly or yearly — paying yearly saves 25% compared to twelve months at the monthly rate. Use the Monthly/Yearly toggle at the top of the Subscribe page to compare, and subscribe via PayPal. Your subscription status, billing history, and the option to upgrade, downgrade, or cancel are all available under Settings → Billing.

When cancelling, you can choose Cancel at end of billing period (no further charges, but you keep access until the period you already paid for ends) or Cancel immediately (access ends right away). Either way, cancellation stops all future billing.

Premium subscribers can invite other people to use their LeadTime account from Settings → Team. Enter their name and email, choose which pages they can access (every page except Settings — Home, Bulk Messaging, Inbox, Invoices, Analytics, Uploads, and Add Credits), and send the invite. They accept it, set their own password, and log in with their own email — they never need a subscription, credits, or a WhatsApp/email connection of their own for any page you grant.

Bulk Messaging and Invoices work a little differently: granting either one only actually works while you (the owner) currently qualify yourself — an active subscription or trial for Bulk Messaging, and the Invoicing add-on for Invoices. If your own access lapses, so does anything you'd granted through it.

A team member's Analytics shows the same shared history as yours — everything sent under your business by anyone with access, not just their own sends — and follows your plan's retention window, not a Basic default. Edit or revoke anyone's access at any time from the same Team page; changes take effect on their next page load.

Run more than one business from a single LeadTime account. Add a new profile from Settings — each profile has its own name, phone number, WhatsApp connection, and email sending domain. When sending bulk messages, pick which profile you're sending as from the dropdown on the Configure Message step; this determines the signature on generated messages and which profile's WhatsApp/email credentials are used to send. Adding more than one business profile requires an active Standard subscription.

In Settings you can manage all your business profiles (add, switch between, or delete), configure email sending (Mailgun) and WhatsApp per profile, and view your subscription tier and billing history.

Add a phone number or email under Settings → Blocked contacts to stop it ever receiving another message — from a bulk send, a scheduled send, or an automated reminder — regardless of channel, unless you scope the block to just one (WhatsApp or email). Anyone who replies “stop” to a WhatsApp message is added here automatically.

The Analytics page keeps a KPI summary (Total Sent, Delivered, Read, Replied, and Failed) and a sends-over-time line chart plus a by-channel pie chart pinned at the top, with your full message log and those same charts below — logs on the left, charts on the right.

Each log row shows the recipient's name, channel, the WhatsApp template used (where applicable), and current status. For WhatsApp messages, click the chevron next to a row's status to expand its full timeline — Sent, Delivered, Read, and Replied — each with its own timestamp.

Use the filter bar to narrow both the log table and the charts at once — by date range, recipient, channel, template, or status — then click Apply. The filters carry through to whatever you export, so an export always matches what's on screen. Clear resets everything back to the default view.

Use the Export button to download your (filtered) message log as CSV or Excel. A separate Export as PDF link next to the charts downloads just the KPI summary and both charts as a standalone report — the PDF doesn't include the raw log table. Any pending scheduled messages are listed further down the page, with the option to cancel. How long your logs are kept depends on your plan: 1 month on Basic, 12 months on Standard, and 24 months on Premium — logs are automatically deleted once they age past that window.

API Access is an optional add-on that lets your own systems connect to LeadTime programmatically — for example, pulling in WhatsApp Inbox conversations, sending replies, or sending one of your approved WhatsApp templates from your own website or backend, using an API key issued to your account.

Sending a template through the API works outside the normal 24-hour reply window, so you can reach a contact who hasn't messaged you recently — the same way an approved template send works anywhere else in LeadTime. Fetch your business's approved templates (with their variable names) from the API first, so your own system knows what to fill in.

A message sent through the API shows up in your Inbox as an orange bubble tagged 🔌 API, and template sends also show the template name above the message — so you can tell at a glance which messages came from your own integration rather than a person typing. The same messages are flagged with an API badge in the Analytics log too. These tags are for your own account's view only — the customer receiving the message never sees them.

Like the AI Assistant, it's enabled per account on request rather than self-serve. Request access and manage your keys from Settings → API Access once approved. Keep your API key confidential — anyone with it can act on your account's behalf.