aideago"Automatic replies on WhatsApp: a greeting message or an assistant?"
Most messages a business receives come through WhatsApp, and most of them are the same question: what's the price, how late are you open, is it in stock, can I book? When nobody looks at a message that arrives at 2 a.m. or on a Sunday, the customer writes to the next business. There are two ways to deal with it: WhatsApp Business's own automatic messages, and an AI-powered WhatsApp assistant (commonly called a WhatsApp bot).
What does the WhatsApp Business app do?
The WhatsApp Business app page says businesses can greet people as soon as a conversation starts and reply to messages when they are away. In short, two tools:
- Greeting message: a fixed text sent when someone writes to you for the first time. "Hello, your message has reached us."
- Away message: a fixed text sent outside working hours. "We're closed right now, back tomorrow at 9:00."
Both help as a first step. A caution, though: where the settings are and how they work can change with the app version, so check WhatsApp's help pages for the current steps.
Where a fixed message is not enough
A fixed message does not answer the customer's question; it only says "we saw it". If the customer wrote "Do you have a table for two on Friday evening?" and the answer waits until tomorrow, a greeting message does not solve the problem. We covered the link between fast replies and sales, with sources, in How does replying fast to customers increase sales?
What does a WhatsApp assistant do?
aideago's WhatsApp assistant understands the question and answers from the information on your website: prices, opening hours, product details, bookings. It works at night and on weekends. You decide what it says. This service is only in the Hep Açık package.
Which one fits you?
- You get a few messages a day, most questions are the same and someone is there to greet people: a greeting plus an away message may be enough.
- You miss messages at night and on weekends and write the same answers by hand every day: an assistant saves you time.
Whichever you choose, note for a week how long it takes you to answer a customer who writes on WhatsApp; that number often makes the decision clear. You can find the prices on the packages page.