Whatsapp business auto reply

WhatsApp Auto Reply is a great business feature of WhatsApp Business! With the “Auto Reply” and “Quick Replies” automation message functions set within the WhatsApp Business account, businesses can efficiently handle customer service inquiries on instant messaging software.

In today’s society where efficiency is highly valued, it’s important for businesses to communicate with customers promptly. Otherwise, potential customers may develop negative perceptions of the business due to long waiting times, and may even stop doing business with the company altogether.

WhatsApp Business is an instant messaging software designed specifically for businesses as a customer communication tool. Even if the customer service team is unable to respond to customer inquiries immediately, the automation message function of the WhatsApp Business account can help businesses respond as quickly as possible. Even during non-business hours, customers can receive pre-set replies. These common replies can solve some of the problems customers raise, and during business hours, customer service personnel can address any remaining inquiries.

Are you interested in experiencing more advanced WhatsApp Auto Reply features? Chatalog’s ChatGPT AI automated chatbot can help! Keep reading this article to learn more about Chatalog’s AI chatbot features.

WhatsApp Auto Reply

WhatsApp auto-reply is an automated message feature of WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API accounts, which is divided into “greeting message” and “away message”. When one of these message functions is enabled for your WhatsApp business account, customers who meet certain conditions and send you a message will receive an automatic response from the system.

Businesses can watch WhatsApp’s official video to understand the functions of these two message features.

WhatsApp Greetings Message

WhatsApp Greeting Messages are automated messages sent by the system to customers. The system automatically sends a pre-set greeting message to customers when they send a message to a business for the first time or if there has been no conversation between the customer and the business for 14 days. The greeting message is a customized sentence chosen by the business. When this feature is enabled in WhatsApp Business, the system will automatically interact with the customer in the conversation.

Setting up a greeting message can increase the friendliness of your brand, make customers feel welcomed by the business, and improve customer satisfaction.

Setting up WhatsApp Greeting Messages

Setting up WhatsApp greeting messages is very simple:

  1. Click “Settings” > “Business Tools” > “Greeting Messages” in the WhatsApp Business App interface.
  2. Enable the “Greeting Messages” feature.
  3. Edit the automatic reply template for the greeting message, and click “Save” when done.
  4. Choose the “Recipients”. In the “Recipient” column, choose:
    1. “Everyone”;
    2. “All contacts not in address book”;
    3. “Everyone except…”;
    4. “Send only to…”.

Chatalog’s tip for merchants is to write greeting messages based on their brand style, as these messages are the first point of contact between customers and the brand. Brands need to establish what initial impression they want to give customers and what value they can bring to them.

For example, if it’s a clothing store, emojis, and website links can be added to the greeting message, making it easier for customers to click on the website and start shopping.

WhatsApp Away Messages

WhatsApp’s Away Messages are automated notifications/messages sent by the system to customers. They are sent during a business’s non-operating hours, when the customer service team is busy, or when the mobile phone is unavailable. The message informs the customers that the business cannot respond at the moment and will reply later. This Away Message is a custom sentence created by the business, and when enabled in WhatsApp Business, the system automatically interacts with customers.

Using Offline Automatic Reply Messages allows you to enjoy your private time without worry while informing customers that you have not ignored their messages through WhatsApp’s offline messages.

Setting up WhatsApp Away Message

Setting up WhatsApp’s away message is also very simple:

  1. Click “Settings” > “Business Tools” > “Away Message” in the WhatsApp Business App interface.
  2. Enable “Away Message”.
  3. Edit the template for automatic replies to away messages and click “Save” when done.
  4. Choose the time to send offline automatic reply messages. Select from “Set Time”:
    1. “Send always”;
    2. “Custom send time”;
    3. “Non-business hours”. If using this option, the business needs to first set “Business Hours” in the “Business Profile”.
  5. Choose the “Recipients”. In the “Recipient” column, select:
    1. “Everyone”;
    2. “All non-contacts”;
    3. “Everyone except…”;
    4. “Send only to…”.

Chatolog’s tip for businesses is to add frequently asked questions (FAQs) and useful links to this away message template, which can respond to most common customer inquiries and increase the chance of customers clicking on the business website.

Benefits of WhatsApp Auto Reply

Through the automatic reply message function on WhatsApp business accounts, businesses can enjoy many benefits.

Stay Connected

When you are busy or temporarily away from work, the automatic reply message feature can send a custom message to your customers, letting them know that the business has received their message and that the customer service team will respond to them as soon as possible. This helps maintain good communication between the business and customers and makes customers feel that the business values their needs and issues.

Save Time

Using the automatic reply message feature can save you time responding to customer messages. You can pre-set the content of your WhatsApp reply messages to trigger automatic replies for different situations. This way, you can spend time on more important matters while ensuring your customers receive timely responses.

Enhance Customer Experience

Using WhatsApp’s automatic reply message feature allows customers to receive immediate responses. This can enhance customer trust, loyalty, experience, and overall satisfaction.

Limitations of WhatsApp's Auto Reply Function

Although WhatsApp Business’s auto-reply message function has many benefits, there are still some limitations in automated message processing that prevent businesses from fully enjoying automation.

Delivery Time Limit

The delivery time of WhatsApp’s automatic reply messages is one-time only. This means that the system will send a “greeting message” or “farewell message” to the customer once under certain specified conditions, and there will be no follow-up automatic chat function. This feature cannot meet the needs of businesses that require an immediate response to messages.

Conversation Limitations

The automatic reply message function only applies to one-on-one conversations and cannot be used for group chats or broadcast messages.

Message Frequency Limitations

To avoid being seen as harassment or advertising, WhatsApp Business has a message frequency limit, which means that a person can only receive a certain number of automatic reply messages per day. If this limit is exceeded, it may be marked as spam.

System Stability

The automatic reply message function requires stable network and system support. If the network or system is unstable, it may cause message delays or prevent normal delivery.

Chatalog's WhatsApp Auto Reply: ChatGPT AI Integration

Chatalog’s WhatsApp auto-reply feature can be used in conjunction with Chatalog’s own AI chatbot to achieve automated handling of customer service messages.

Chatalog has integrated ChatGPT to create a ChatGPT-powered AI chatbot. Chatalog users can enjoy AI marketing and customer service functions, allowing ChatGPT to help users write marketing copy, make 24/7 automatic replies through AI customer service functions, automate chatbot processes, and push broadcast messages through AI.

Although WhatsApp auto-reply can only make one-time replies, businesses can continue conversations with customers through AI chatbots using Chatalog’s automation message feature. Businesses can upload files or website content to Chatalog’s ChatGPT in advance, allowing ChatGPT to learn relevant business information and automatically reply with appropriate content when detecting keywords in customer messages. Customers can also switch to talking to human customer service at any time, allowing the human customer service team to continue communicating with customers and resolving their queries.

WhatsApp Scheduled Message

WhatsApp Scheduled Message is the feature of sending messages through WhatsApp on a schedule. Unfortunately, WhatsApp Business does not yet support this feature, and businesses can only use it on WhatsApp Business API accounts.

Chatalog is an official provider of WhatsApp Business API, allowing businesses to use WhatsApp Business API in a simple and easy-to-use interface without further development. Chatalog’s one-stop business communication platform also has more advanced business communication features for business users, including scheduled broadcasts, payment links, team inboxes, etc.

Now, business users can send WhatsApp pre-messages through Chatalog by pre-setting the broadcast message template and selecting the specified sending time, and the system will automatically send the scheduled message. This way, businesses can better use their resources and time, and more efficiently handle the delivery of marketing messages, thereby achieving better marketing results.

Chatalog's WhatsApp Business API Features

Chatalog integrates with WhatsApp Business API, allowing businesses to use WhatsApp Business API directly on the Chatalog platform. The advanced message processing features “WhatsApp Auto Reply” and “WhatsApp Scheduled Message” allow customer service and sales teams to achieve marketing and customer service goals without requiring a large number of personnel.

In addition, Chatalog also connects to instant messaging software such as Facebook Messenger, Instagram, etc., allowing businesses to manage multiple platforms in one-stop and enjoy Chatalog’s message processing functions while saving time.

Learn how Chatalog can help improve your business’s work efficiency now!

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