The messaging window, and what we hold back.

What starts the messaging window

An inbound DM starts it. A story reply starts it. A comment can open one private reply.

A scheduled send up to 7 days out still has to land inside the messaging window. If it does not, DripDM does not send it. The inbox can show messaging window no longer available.

Reminders

A follow-up nudge waits from 30 minutes to 20 hours. It is cancelled if they reply or tap. It also will not send once the window has lapsed.

Use the last inbound message as your clock

The relevant time is when the person last messaged your business, not when you created a rule, connected Instagram, or scheduled a send. Your own replies do not extend that clock. A comment allows one eligible private reply; sending that reply does not open the general messaging window. A response from the recipient does. This matters especially when a campaign starts in comments and you want to continue with product information, a reminder, or a later answer.

A workflow to try

For a booking campaign, the opening comment reply can contain the booking URL and invite a question about the service. If the person responds asking about preparation, answer that question in the active conversation. If you queue another message, check whether its intended time falls within the window measured from their latest inbound message. Do not schedule next-week promotional DMs merely because the interface allows a future date. Scheduling is a convenience for eligible messages, not a reservation of future permission.

Checks before you change the setup

A held send can be the correct result. WINDOW_LAPSED indicates that DripDM cannot establish an active standard window at dispatch. Reconnecting, editing the message, or upgrading does not create new inbound contact. Review whether the person ever replied after the comment-led private message, and distinguish a tracked web-link click from a message sent back to the business. Use public content to invite a new conversation instead of repeatedly retrying the old one.

Review a scheduled message at dispatch

Keep the intended dispatch time, latest inbound time, and message purpose visible when reviewing a schedule. If the only earlier event was a comment, confirm a later recipient response before treating the conversation as open. For a held message, preserve the hold reason and do not delete it merely to create an apparently clean campaign report. A genuine new inbound question should be answered in its current context, not used as an excuse to revive an unrelated stale promotion. Permission is checked for the send that actually happens, rather than frozen when the business first wrote its copy.