Blog / Automation & AI

Automated messages on WhatsApp: what to automate and ready-to-copy templates

The questions come in when you’re closed: “are you open tomorrow?” at 10:40 p.m., “how much does it cost?” on a Sunday morning. Answering everything, instantly, by hand, isn’t sustainable — and so many conversations die without a reply, along with the sales they contained. Automated messages are built for this: covering the repetitive and the after-hours without making the customer feel they’re facing a phone menu. In this guide: the four automations that pay off right away, with ready-to-adapt templates.

What automated messages on WhatsApp are

They are replies and sends that go out on their own when a condition is met: a new contact who writes (welcome), a message outside working hours (away), a keyword in the text (preset reply), an approaching date (reminder). The free WhatsApp Business app covers only the first two cases, with a welcome message and an away message. Keywords, scheduled reminders, list subscriptions, and AI require a platform connected to the number through Meta’s official API.

The 4 automations to set up, with ready-to-use templates

1. The welcome for first-time writers

It’s the first contact with your business: it should say who you are, when you reply, and what the customer can do in the meantime. A good welcome: “Hi! 👋 You’ve reached Pasticceria Vergani. We reply the same day, Tuesday to Sunday 8:00 a.m.–7:30 p.m. Feel free to write your request right here: orders, custom cakes, information.” Short, with the real hours and a concrete invitation to leave the request straight away.

2. The after-hours reply

It avoids silence during closed hours and sets an expectation: “Thanks for your message! We’re closed right now: we’re back tomorrow morning at 9:00. Leave the details of your request here and we’ll reply as soon as we’re back.” The detail that changes everything is the time you’re back: “we’ll reply as soon as possible” reassures little, “tomorrow morning at 9:00” does.

3. Keyword replies

These are the next level: the customer writes a word — or includes it in the message — and gets the right answer. They work for recurring questions (prices, hours, menu, price list) and for list subscriptions and unsubscriptions. Example on the MENU trigger: “Here’s the updated menu 👉 [link]. To book a table, reply BOOK with the day and number of people.” And the unsubscribe, mandatory for promotional communications: anyone who writes STOP is removed from the list, automatically, with no manual steps.

4. Reminders for appointments and deadlines

Here you don’t reply: you prevent. A reminder the day before reduces no-shows and frees the calendar from gaps: “Hi Marco, we’re expecting you tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. for the check-up. If you can’t make it, reply to this message and we’ll find another date.” On Meta’s official API these messages use utility-category templates, scheduled from a calendar.

5. The step beyond rules: trained AI

Keywords cover the predictable questions; AI covers the rest. A chatbot trained on your content — website, PDFs, price lists — answers freely phrased questions (“do you also make gluten-free cakes for Saturday?”) in the customer’s language, and passes the conversation to a human when needed. It’s the difference between an auto-responder and an assistant.

On SendApp you get it all: SendApp Agent adds keyword replies, an autoresponder, and reminders to your number on Meta’s official API, plus trainable AI, on WhatsApp as well as Instagram, Telegram, and email. Plans from €19/month, free trial without a card.

What to automate (and what not to): the map

Best practices

• State that it’s automated: an announced automated message doesn’t bother anyone, one disguised as a human does
• Always offer the way out to a person: “reply AGENT to talk to us” saves the delicate conversations
• Keep hours and content up to date: wrong after-hours info is worse than silence
• Turn the bot off when you take over: the double reply — human plus automated — confuses the customer
• For reminders, ask for consent at the time of booking and handle STOP automatically
• Re-read the conversations once a week: the questions left unanswered are the next keywords to add

WhatsApp Business auto-replies: how to set them up in the app

If you use the free WhatsApp Business app, auto-replies live under Settings → Business tools → Messaging. There are three tools, and it’s worth knowing what each one does before switching it on, because two of them are truly automatic and one is not.

• Greeting message: sends itself when a contact writes to you for the first time, or after 14 days of silence. One text, the same for everyone.
• Away message: sends outside the hours you set (or always, or on a custom schedule). Again one text, no conditions.
• Quick replies: shortcuts you trigger yourself by typing “/” in the chat. They save time, but they are not automatic: if nobody replies, the customer gets nothing.
• What’s missing: no keyword replies, no reminders, no handover to a colleague, no way to pause the bot on one chat while you answer.

How to send an automatic message on regular WhatsApp

The personal WhatsApp app has no automation at all: no greeting, no away message, no keyword replies. You have two options. The first is to switch to WhatsApp Business with the same number, for free, keeping chats and contacts: install the Business app, confirm the number and migrate. The second is to connect the number to a platform, which adds everything the app doesn’t do. One common mix-up: scheduling a message for a given time is not an automatic message. You write the first one and it goes out when you say; the second one goes out on its own whenever something happens, without you writing it each time.

WhatsApp autoresponder: free app or platform?

Rule of thumb: if you get fewer than ten messages a day and you always answer yourself, the free app is enough. If the questions repeat, if there is more than one of you, or if you want the customer to get a useful answer at 10:40 pm as well, you need the next level.

Automatic message examples by industry

• Restaurant, BOOK trigger: “Thanks! To confirm your table we need the day, time and number of guests. Reply here and we’ll confirm within 30 minutes during opening hours (12–3 pm, 7–11 pm).”
• Dental practice, day-before reminder: “Good morning Laura, a reminder of your cleaning tomorrow at 10:30 with Dr Neri. If you need to move it, reply to this message.”
• E-commerce, out of hours: “Thanks for writing! Customer service replies Monday to Friday, 9 am–6 pm. If you’ve already ordered, send your order number and we’ll pick it up first thing tomorrow.”
• Estate agency, INFO trigger + listing code: “Here’s the sheet for property 2417 👉 [link]. Want to view it? Reply VIEWING with two days that suit you.”
• Gym, greeting: “Hi! You’re chatting with Fit Club. Hours, prices and free trial: reply HOURS, PRICES or TRIAL. For anything else just write and we’ll answer today.”

Each example says three things: what happens now, what the customer can do right away, and when a person will step in. If your automatic message doesn’t answer those three questions, rewrite it.

Where to start

With the most immediate effect. Welcome and after-hours set up in ten minutes and instantly remove the silence from closed hours. Keyword replies come second, after a week spent noting down the questions that truly repeat. Reminders alone justify the project if you work by appointment. AI last: it pays off more when it already has clean rules and up-to-date content to lean on.