WhatsApp Business auto reply: how to set up greeting and away messages, examples, and where they fall short

The WhatsApp Business app comes with three free tools so nobody goes unanswered: the greeting message, the away message and quick replies. Set up well, they tell the customer they wrote to the right place and when they’ll hear back. Here is how to turn them on, what to write in each one for your kind of business, and the part almost nobody mentions: what they don’t solve.

The three messages the app includes

The first two go out without anyone touching the phone. Quick replies aren’t automatic: they save typing, but someone still has to send them.

How to set them up, step by step

All three live in the Tools tab of the WhatsApp Business app, on Android and on iPhone. In older versions of the app the same options are under Settings → Business tools.

Greeting message

1. Tools → Greeting message.
2. Turn on Send greeting message.
3. Tap the message, write yours and save.
4. Under Recipients, choose who gets it: everyone, everyone not in your address book, everyone except some contacts, or only some contacts.

Away message

1. Tools → Away message.
2. Turn on Send away message and edit the message.
3. Under Schedule, choose when: Always send, a Custom schedule (a holiday, an inventory day) or Outside of business hours.
4. Choose the recipients, the same way as for the greeting, and save.

If you use “Outside of business hours”, first set your hours in your business profile: without them the app doesn’t know when you’re closed and the option isn’t available. And note that the app sends these messages from your phone, so if the phone has no internet connection, they don’t go out.

Quick replies

1. Tools → Quick replies → the add button.
2. Write the reply and give it a short shortcut, such as “prices” or “address”.
3. In any chat, type “/” and pick the reply; you can edit it before sending.

Examples to copy, by type of business

A good auto reply does two things: it says when you’ll answer, and it asks the customer for what you’ll need, so tomorrow’s reply solves it in one message instead of five.

Home service business (cleaning, repairs, pest control)

Greeting: Hi! Thanks for messaging [your business]. To quote you quickly, send us a photo of what needs doing, the size or number of pieces, and your zip code.

Away: We’re closed for today; we’ll answer tomorrow from 8 a.m. If you leave us the photo, the size and your zip code, in the morning you’ll get a price and two times we can come.

Staffing agency

Greeting: Hi! Thanks for messaging [your agency]. Tell us which job you’re writing about (or send a screenshot of the ad), your name and the area where you live.

Away: Our hours are Monday to Friday, 8 to 6. Leave us the job, your name and your area, and first thing tomorrow we’ll send you the requirements and the interview times.

Office with appointments (clinic, law firm, notary office)

Greeting: Good day, and thank you for contacting [your office]. Please tell us what you need help with and, if you already have a case or appointment with us, the name of the person handling it.

Away: Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 9 to 6. Leave us your name and what you need; when we open we’ll send you the requirements and offer you an appointment.

What to avoid in any business: promising “we’ll be right with you” at 11 p.m., putting prices that change in the message (they go stale and nobody remembers to update them), and long messages the customer won’t read.

Where they fall short

An auto reply is fixed text. It doesn’t read what the customer wrote, so it can’t answer it. Whoever wrote “how much for a three-seat sofa?” or “is the warehouse job still open?” at 11 p.m. gets “we’ll answer tomorrow” and keeps the phone in hand, writing to someone else. The guide to answering after hours tells what happened when we messaged real businesses as customers: the one that sent an auto reply lost the customer just like the one that sent nothing.

• It doesn’t answer the question. It says nobody is there; the question is still open.
• It knows nothing about your business beyond the text you gave it: not your calendar, not today’s prices, not whether that job was already filled.
• It doesn’t follow up. If the customer replies with the photo or their name, the auto reply does nothing more; that waits until morning.
• It depends on your phone. No internet or no battery, no message.

Your options after the auto reply

Signs the auto reply is no longer enough

• In the morning you have more chats from the night than from the whole previous day.
• Your team answers the same thing ten times a day: prices, requirements, address.
• You pay for ads that send people to WhatsApp: every hour without an answer is money already spent.
• Several people answer the same number and nobody knows who served whom.

If two or more sound familiar, the next step isn’t a better-written auto reply: it is something that answers the question. Before you pick a provider, read what the WhatsApp Business API really costs.