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To set up an automatic WhatsApp message for the first customer contact, use the greeting and away-message tools in the WhatsApp Business app. A greeting introduces the business when someone starts a conversation; an away message explains when the team is unavailable under the schedule you choose. For a small business, the goal is to tell the customer what to do next and when a real reply can be expected. A simple automatic message should not pretend to be a complete support system.
Choose the message for the situation
Separate three needs before enabling a feature. A new contact needs a short introduction. A message outside business hours needs an accurate schedule and response expectation. Repeated questions about address, payment methods, or required documents need text an employee can select when it fits the conversation.
That third case uses quick replies: shortcuts the employee chooses and sends. Saving a quick reply does not make it an automatic response. The WhatsApp quick-replies guide describes how a person selects and may edit one before sending. Design the workflow around that human step.
This guide covers the WhatsApp Business app. The WhatsApp Business Platform is a separate integration route with different setup, rules, and potential charges. Identify which product you mean before buying a tool or planning a message sequence.
| Need | App tool | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome a new contact | Greeting message | Sends an introduction under the app’s recipient rules |
| Explain unavailability | Away message | Sends the notice according to its schedule and recipients |
| Answer a repeated question | Quick reply | Lets an employee choose and send a saved answer |
Prepare the business profile and opening hours
Open WhatsApp Business and find Tools or Business tools, depending on the app version and operating system. Review the business profile and opening hours. The schedule should match when a person or team actually answers, rather than a time that merely looks convenient on the profile.
Account for lunch breaks, limited-service days, and closures. A message promising a reply “in a few minutes” during a day without coverage creates an expectation no one can meet. Give a response window the operation can support and an alternative contact route only if that route is actually monitored.
Check the hours on your website and the profiles that advertise the number. A customer should not see one schedule on a landing page and another in the app. If the business has multiple locations, clarify which address and team the number represents.
Set up a greeting message
In Business tools, open Greeting message, turn on sending, edit the copy, choose recipients, and save. The official WhatsApp greeting guide explains the recipient choices and when a conversation can trigger the greeting. Check the current rule in your app instead of assuming it sends on every customer message.
A useful first message names the business, acknowledges the contact, and asks for one detail that helps the team start. Avoid asking for a long list of data before understanding the need. If the conversation comes from an ad for a specific service, the greeting should not sound as though the team has no idea why the person contacted them.
For example: “Hi, you’ve reached Example Repair. Tell us which service you need and which city you’re in. Our team will review your message during business hours.” Replace the fictional name and details with the real business and information your team actually uses.
Review the recipient setting carefully. Depending on the version, the app may offer everyone, people outside the address book, or selected exclusions. A correct message sent to the wrong audience can still disrupt the customer relationship.
Schedule an away message
Open Away message in Business tools, enable it, and write the notice. Choose the available schedule: always, a custom interval, or outside business hours. That last option depends on accurate hours in the business profile. WhatsApp’s away-message instructions describe the schedule and recipient controls.
Select recipients, save, then check the dates and time zone. For a holiday or planned closure, a custom interval may be better than changing the normal profile schedule. When the pause ends, confirm that the notice is no longer active and that its text still reflects reality.
A practical example is: “We received your message. Our team responds Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. We’ll continue the conversation during the next business period. If helpful, tell us the service and your city.” Replace the hours with yours. Do not promise a response deadline unless someone owns the queue.
For temporary reduced hours, say so explicitly and remove the message afterward. An obsolete automatic reply can misdirect the customer even when the technical setup works.
Test with an authorized contact
Before promoting the number, arrange a test with a colleague or someone who has agreed to help. Check one first-contact conversation and one outside the configured hours. Note which message appears, whether the notices repeat, and whether the recipient understands the next step. Do not send tests to a customer list.
Read the result on a phone. A greeting made of several paragraphs, a catalog of services, links, and rules can bury the customer’s question. Keep the first orientation brief. Put additional details in a quick reply for an employee to send when relevant.
If behavior differs from expectations, check the phone’s time, internet connection, recipient rules, and app version. Revisit the schedule before declaring the feature broken. If an agent or external integration also uses the same contact route, verify compatibility and limits in that product.
Use quick replies with human judgment
Create shortcuts for relatively stable information: address, hours, initial documents, and how to request a quote. Give each shortcut a name the team can recognize. Avoid a generic block that employees send without reading the customer’s question. The value lies in consistency with context, not repeating identical copy everywhere.
A quote reply could start: “To prepare a proposal, please tell us the service, your city, and the timing you have in mind. After reviewing the request, we’ll tell you if anything else is needed.” Do not request personal documents or other sensitive information merely because a saved message has room for them.
Assign someone to review shortcuts that contain changeable details. Prices, appointment slots, and availability should not be promised by forgotten text. Separate stable guidance from information that requires a system lookup or a responsible person.
Know what these basic tools cannot do
Greeting and away messages do not independently check stock, confirm appointments, or follow order status. Those tasks require another process and sometimes an integration. First draw the route: incoming question, necessary information, responsible person, and the condition that closes the request.
If requests arrive through the website, a form, and WhatsApp, use an identifier or routine that lets the team recognize the same case. This can begin as a disciplined manual process. Automate handoffs only after defining how to prevent duplicate records, lost messages, and assignment to the wrong employee.
Keep a way to speak to a person. A customer with an unusual question should not be trapped in a sequence that repeats the same instruction. A larger workflow needs failure handling, unexpected-message paths, and human handover.
Decide when an integration is worth evaluating
The app can serve an operation where the team can read and distribute chats manually. When several people need to share a queue, retrieve system data, or track stages consistently, evaluate a suitable platform. Compare permissions, history, access rules, full cost, and the actual automation features.
Do not buy an integration merely to reproduce a greeting the app already provides. Start with the problem that remains after basic setup: slow triage, missed requests, contradictory answers, or no follow-up. An integration should solve that specific problem and allow a responsible person to review outcomes.
Check the process before calling it complete
The final message should identify the business, match real hours, and suggest a simple next action. An authorized test contact should receive the expected text and be able to continue the conversation. The team must know who reviews the schedule and who takes ownership of messages received outside working hours.
For a small business, this is usually more useful than a long reply that sounds like a robot. Enable the right app tool, write a direct message, test a real scenario, and connect the automatic response to a service routine the team can keep.
