Automate WhatsApp Messages: A Reference Guide for Businesses of Today 

Today, Customers need instant replies, and businesses lose prospective buyers to their competitors when they fail to reply fast enough. In actual, around 90% of customers feel that instant replies as vital for an excellent experience.  

For example, have you ever noticed how a quick “Hey, are you open today?” on WhatsApp may make or break a fresh sale? 

So, a sluggish response or missed to follow-up is one kind of lost revenue. 

That’s where WhatsApp automation emerges here as a game changer. Automated WhatsApp messages help businesses to offer instant, round-the-clock support without any more human effort. 

Just imagine reminding customers for abandoned carts, answering their FAQs, responding to their every request round the clock with proper guidance and support to all thousands of users by a human being is simply a Hercules task and completely exhaustive for one. 

WhatsApp is not just a messaging app. In the present time, almost all conversations do happen on WhatsApp platform. It’s basically the digital version of a coffee shop where businesses and customers come together or connects with a casual chat.  

So, availing complete advantage of this conversational feature of WhatsApp, by avoiding long lasting chats and too much follow ups by a human, replacing with fast and real-time conversation giving fruitful result at the end. 

Let’s check out here how you can make automate WhatsApp messages work for your business. Well, technological blend with WhatsApp features shows tremendous outcome for businesses. 

Let us begin with the concept of automate WhatsApp messages. 

About WhatsApp Automated Messages 

It’s a genuine question, right?  

So, here’s the scoop: Automate WhatsApp messages are essentially smart, pre-set messages or replies that pop up when something specific happens. Businesses use them to chat with customers without someone having to type out every single response by hand. Instead of constantly checking messages and re-typing the same things, automation helps you talk to folks quickly and smoothly. 

The numbers really back this up! A huge 68% of users say WhatsApp is the easiest way to get in touch with a business, and even more – 83% – use messaging apps like WhatsApp Business to learn about products. That just goes to show how vital WhatsApp has become for simply talking to your customers. 

Now, not all automation is created equal. The standard WhatsApp Business App is awesome for simple auto-replies, like saying “hello” to new customers or letting them know you’re away. It’s a fantastic starting point for smaller businesses. 

But if you’re looking to really step things up – maybe sending personalized follow-ups, setting up interactive chatbots, or giving automated order updates – that’s when you’ll need the WhatsApp Business API. This is where the magic of real automation happens. It lets businesses handle tons of customer chats without losing that friendly, personal touch.  

Think about it; a customer gets an instant, personalized message about their order, even if it’s 2 AM! That’s the power of the API. 

Simple Guide to Setting Up Automate WhatsApp Messages 

For now, let’s focus on how to set up WhatsApp automated messages with the use of the WhatsApp Business App. It’s most suitable for small and medium-sized businesses who wish to answer instantly without diving deep into complicated technical stuff. 

The WhatsApp Business App offers three handy types of automated messages to help you stay connected, even when you’re not around: 

• Greeting messages: A warm welcome for new folks or those who haven’t chatted in a while. 

• Away messages: Let customers know when you’re not available. 

• Quick replies: Super-fast answers for those common questions. 

Here’s a quick peek at how this compare: 

1. Setting Up Your Automated Greeting Messages 

Imagine a new customer pings you with a question, but you’re swamped. If they don’t hear back quickly, they might just move on to a competitor. That’s where WhatsApp greeting messages come in – they make sure no one feels ignored. 

You can use greeting messages to: 

• Give new customers a warm welcome. 

• Share important details (like your hours or services). 

• Point people to helpful resources (like FAQs or your website). 

Here’s how to set it up: 

–> Just flip on “Send Greeting Message.”

–> Tap “Message” to write your personal greeting. Something like: “Hey there! Thanks for reaching to us. We’ll get back to you soon, in the meantime, please check out our FAQs here: [link].”

–> Then, choose who receives this message:

• Everyone: Sends the greeting to absolutely everyone. 

• Everyone not in the address book: Only sends to new, unknown contacts. 

• Everyone except…: Lets you pick a few people not to send it to. 

• Only send to… Lets you pick specific people to send it to. 

2. Setting Up Automated Away Messages 

Customers don’t just stop messaging when you clock out, do they? If they reach out after hours and get no reply, they might think you’re unreliable. WhatsApp Away messages fix this by automatically letting customers know when you’ll be back online. 

To set up an Away Message in the WhatsApp Business App: 

–> Go to WhatsApp Business App > Business Tools > Away Message.

–> Turn on “Send Away Message.”

–> Click on the “Message” to compose your reply, for example: “Hello! We’re closed for now; we’ll be starting again at 9 AM. Send a message, and we’ll get back to you soon!”

–> Set your Schedule:

• Always send: The message always goes out.
• Outside business hours: Send only when the business is closed.
• Custom schedule: Lets you pick specific times for the message to be active.

–> Choose your Recipients (the same options as for Greeting Messages).

3. Setting Up Quick Replies for Instant Answers 

If you find yourself typing the same answers repeatedly—like “Yes, we deliver!” or “Here’s our price list”—then WhatsApp Quick Replies are going to be a huge time-saver. 

Quick Replies help you: 

• Answer common questions in seconds. 

• Send business details without having to type them every time. 

• Share special offers, catalogs, or even pictures instantly. 

How to Set Up Quick Replies in WhatsApp Business

–> Open the WhatsApp Business App and go to Business Tools > Quick Replies.

–> Tap the ‘+’ button to make a new quick reply.

–> Enter a short shortcut phrase (e.g., “/delivery” for delivery info).

–> Type out the full message (e.g., “Yes, we offer delivery within the city. Standard delivery takes [] days, and express delivery takes [*] days. Inform us, if you need more details!”).

–> You can also add images or videos if you like (great for showing off products!).

–> Click “Save.”

How to Use Quick Replies in Chats

When you’re chatting with a customer, just type ‘/’ followed by your shortcut (like “/delivery”), and WhatsApp will instantly pop in your pre-saved message.  

Advanced Automation with WhatsApp Business API Message Templates 

You know those handy automated replies you get on the WhatsApp Business App – like the welcome messages or “we’re away” notes? They’re super useful! But what if you want to send out a bunch of WhatsApp messages at once, share an update about someone’s order, or even send out a cool promotion?

That’s when you’ll need something a bit more powerful: WhatsApp Business API message templates. See, the regular Business App only lets you reply to messages that come to you. By using WhatsApp Business API software, your business may reach out to customers! It’s pretty neat. Just a heads-up though, WhatsApp has some pretty clear rules. So, all those messages you want to send through the API have to get a quick check and thumbs-up from Meta (that’s WhatsApp’s parent company) before they go out.  

So, let us see what these templates are and how they work?  

Let’s start over and know the breakdown. 

WhatsApp Business API Message Templates 

WhatsApp Business API message templates are priorly approved, crafted messages that businesses leverage to automate customers interaction on a bigger size.  

These templates are mostly used for: 

• Sending things – order confirmations, appointment alerts / reminders, and shipping details updates. 

• Customer chats for promotional messages and for reengagement purpose. 

• Triggering automated flows in chatbots or support systems. 

Benefits of Automate WhatsApp Messages  

To optimise use of your automated WhatsApp messages, businesses need to keep a tight watch on how good they’re doing. This means checking up things like customer engagement, how rapidly people reply, and if they’re active.  

Here are five main things to watch out for: 

• Delivery rate: This represents how much percentage of your messages were done it to the recipients’ phones. If it’s low, it could mean bad numbers, people opted out, or other issues. 

• Read rate: Due to WhatsApp blue tick, you can no. of messages opened. A high read rate indicates your messages are getting a good attention, while a low rate might mean you work for the better target. 

• Response rate: This calculates how many customers reply to your messages. If it’s low, your messages might be very much common, not enough personalized, or sent at odd times. 

• Conversion rate: This tells us about no. of customers done the expected action upon sending automated messages to them. That may be booking an appointment slot, buying an online product or link clicking action. Low rate shows improper or weak Call to Action.  

• Customer satisfaction score: You can get direct feedback by asking customers to rate their experience after they interact with an automated message. A simple message- “How would you rate our service? Reply with 1-5” can give you a great sense of how they feel. 

Just think for an example like ITEES, a popular eye hospital. They automated appointment confirmations, reminders, and follow-ups using WhatsApp automation tools.  

The result? A massive 500% jump in patient visits and three times more returning patients! It really shows what smart automation can do. 

Beyond the Basics: Chatting Smarter with AI on WhatsApp 

You know how handy those scheduled messages and quick replies are for your WhatsApp chats? They give you a real solid starting point for talking to customers. But guess what? The whole world of customer conversations is just zooming forward, and a huge part of that speedy change is thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI). We’re honestly moving way past just sending out pre-written notes; now, we’re talking about having full-blown, clever conversations with your customers, all automatically! 

Picture this: You message a business, and instead of a bot just spitting out a standard answer, it genuinely gets what you’re asking, no matter how you phrase it. That’s the magic of WhatsApp AI chatbots. These aren’t those old-school systems that force you to “press 1 for sales” or follow a confusing menu.  

Nope! They use something truly cool called Natural Language Processing (NLP). Think of NLP as teaching the bot to understand human language, just like you and I do – the way we naturally talk, type, and even when we accidentally mess up a word or two. 

So, when someone types, “Hey, where’s my stuff?” or “Can I bump my delivery date a bit?” an AI chatbot can process that, figure out exactly what they mean, and then seamlessly check their order details right then and there. It can then give a spot-on, personalized answer or guide them perfectly to the next step. It makes the whole chat feel surprisingly real and super helpful. That’s a giant leap from a basic bot that might just coldly demand, “Please type your order number.” 

Why Are AI Chatbots a Game-Changer for WhatsApp? 

These clever digital helpers are completely changing how businesses connect with people.  

Here’s why they’re such a big deal: 

• Always Open, Always There: Your customers don’t just ask questions from 9 to 5, right? Whether it’s a late-night query from someone across the world or an early morning thought, an AI chatbot is on standby, ready to answer instantly. This means happier customers getting immediate help, and your business never missing out on an opportunity, because you’re literally open for business 24/7, every single day of the year. 
• Chats That Just Get You: This is where things get cool. Beyond simply saying the customer’s name, AI chatbots can remember past chats, understand what someone likes, and even anticipate what they might need next. Imagine a customer who always buys that special dark roast from your coffee shop. An AI bot could proactively reach out to them on WhatsApp with a personalized discount just for that blend or send a little nudge when it seems like they’re running low. This kind of super-smart, relevant conversation makes the automated chat feel incredibly personal and genuinely useful, building up serious customer loyalty. 
• Smooth Hand-Offs to a Real Person: Look, no bot are perfect, and sometimes a question is just too tricky or delicate for AI alone. The brilliant part of these advanced systems is they know when they’re out of their depth. If the chatbot gets stuck or the customer hints they’d really prefer to talk to a human, it can smoothly pass the conversation over to a live team member. Crucially, its hands over all the chat history and context, so the human agent doesn’t have to ask, “So, what can I help you with?” all over again.  
• Growing Without Breaking a Sweat: For any business that wants to expand, trying to handle a huge number of customer chats can be a massive headache. AI-powered WhatsApp chatbots fix this by letting businesses scale their customer support dramatically without needing to hire a huge new team. You can handle thousands of conversations all at once, super efficiently. This makes your business growing much smoother and very much budget friendly. 
• Learning from Every Chat: The beautiful thing about AI is it learns! Every single interaction an AI chatbot has is like a little lesson. Thes kind of bots catches what customers want mostly, where customers hamper and what they expect exactly to be done. This detail can be analysed for helping to take smart and data-driven business decisions – whether improving your services, refining of your products or fine-tuning your marketing strategy. It’s just like having a continuous, real-time focussed resources giving you feedback consistently. 
• Talking Any Language, easily: In today’s much connected world, your customers could be from any part of the globe! Many AI chatbot platforms can seamlessly handle multiple languages. This means your bot can understand and reply in different tongues, automatically sensing what language the user prefers. This ability expands your reach and makes your service available to many more people, instantly breaking down language barriers. 

Consider a real-life situation: A customer messages your furniture shop on WhatsApp at 11 PM, interested about the assembly guidelines for a specific bed frame. Instead of waiting till the morning, an AI chatbot instantly grasps what they’re asking, collects the right guide to send, and even provides a link to a video tutorial. That kind of immediate, spot-on help is exactly what today’s customers expect.  

It’s what advanced WhatsApp automation, supercharged by AI, truly delivers. It turns a simple message into a genuinely happy customer experience. 

Make Customer Chats Smooth with Automate WhatsApp Messages 

Think of WhatsApp automation as your secret superpower. It keeps those conversations flowing and your business running smoothly without you having to be glued to your phone.  

The option is regularly watch what’s working and improving things as per need, either you’re using easy quick replies or running full-fledged campaigns with WhatsApp Business API. 

Ready to Make Your WhatsApp Messages Work Smarter? 

Looking for a simpler way to automate your WhatsApp messages?  

Find a platform that makes it easy! Schedule messages, personalize your broadcasts, automatically handle chats, and even build cool chatbots without needing any code. 

Why not try it out for free? Get started with a free trial and see how effortless WhatsApp automation can be! Regarding queries and requirements about Automated WhatsApp messaging, send us an email on: info@webmaxy.co.

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