How Do You Set Up an Automatic WhatsApp Business Reply

The short version: You set up an automatic WhatsApp Business reply through the app's own Business tools menu, using either the Away Message for when you are unreachable or the Greeting Message for new conversations, both configured with a schedule and an audience in under five minutes with no coding and no third party tool required. WhatsApp Business also supports Quick Replies, saved shortcuts you trigger manually rather than automatically, which is a different feature worth knowing about alongside the two automatic ones.

The three reply tools WhatsApp Business gives you, and how they differ

People often ask for "an automatic reply" as if there is one setting, but WhatsApp Business splits this into three separate tools that do different jobs, and mixing them up is the most common setup mistake I see with clients. The Greeting Message sends automatically to anyone messaging you for the first time, or messaging again after 14 days of inactivity. The Away Message sends automatically outside hours you define, or at all times if you choose. Quick Replies are not automatic at all, they are saved snippets you type a shortcut for and send manually while chatting. Getting the right one set up for the right situation matters more than people expect.

Step by step: setting up the Away Message

1. Open WhatsApp Business and tap the three dots in the top right corner (or the Settings tab at the bottom on iPhone).
2. Tap Business tools.
3. Tap Away message.
4. Toggle it On, then tap into the text box and write your message, WhatsApp gives you up to 640 characters, plenty for a short, clear line about when you will reply.
5. Tap Schedule and choose from Always send, Custom schedule (where you set specific hours and days), or Outside of business hours, which automatically pulls from your business hours setting if you have already filled that in under your business profile.
6. Tap Recipients and choose Everyone, Everyone except a list you specify, or Sent only to a specific list of contacts, useful if you only want the away message going to new customers rather than people you already have an ongoing relationship with.
7. Tap the checkmark or Save in the top right to confirm.

Step by step: setting up the Greeting Message

1. From the same Business tools menu, tap Greeting message instead.
2. Toggle it On.
3. Write your message in the text box, WhatsApp's default text is a generic "Thanks for reaching out" line, and I always replace this default because it says nothing about your business specifically.
4. Tap Recipients and set who receives it, the same Everyone, Everyone except, or Sent only to options as the Away Message.
5. Save your changes with the checkmark in the top right.

The Greeting Message fires the moment someone messages you for the first time or reopens a chat after two weeks of silence, regardless of what time it is, so it works alongside the Away Message rather than replacing it, both can be active at once and WhatsApp sends only one of them depending on the situation, prioritising the Away Message when both conditions are met at the same time.

A real example of getting this wrong, then fixing it

A client running a small bakery through WhatsApp Business had both messages switched on with identical generic text, "Thanks for your message, we'll get back to you soon", which meant every single new customer got the same flat, impersonal line whether it was 2pm on a Tuesday or midnight on a Sunday. We rewrote the Greeting Message to include her real opening hours and a link to her menu photo already pinned in the business profile, and rewrote the Away Message to specifically mention weekend response times since that was her slowest period. Customer complaints about slow replies on the bakery's Google reviews dropped noticeably in the following two months, and she told me directly that people started referencing the menu link in their first message, proof they were reading it rather than ignoring a generic auto reply the way most people do.

What makes a good automatic reply message

• State a specific time, not "soon" or "shortly". "I reply within 24 hours, Monday to Friday" sets a real expectation, a vague promise does not.
• Include one useful link or piece of information if you have one, a menu, a booking page, your opening hours, so the customer gets some value even before a human replies.
• Keep it under three sentences. A long automatic message reads as a wall of text on a small screen and people skip past it exactly the way they skip a long Story caption.
• Sign it with your name or business name rather than leaving it anonymous, it reads warmer and confirms the customer has reached the right business.

Setting up Quick Replies for messages you send often but not automatically

Quick Replies live in the same Business tools menu. Tap Quick replies, then the plus icon, write your message, and assign it a short shortcut starting with a forward slash, something like /price or /hours. While chatting with a customer, type the forward slash and your shortcut list pops up, tap the one you want and it fills the message box instantly, ready to send after a final glance. This is the tool to reach for when a question comes up constantly but you still want a human deciding when to send the reply, rather than it firing automatically the moment someone messages you.

Common mistakes that undo an automatic reply setup

• Forgetting to set Recipients correctly, which can mean an automatic reply never reaches new customers because the setting was accidentally left on a narrow contact list from an earlier test.
• Leaving the schedule on the default without checking it matches your real hours, particularly after your business hours change seasonally.
• Never updating the message text once it is live, a client's away message referencing a phone number they had changed eight months earlier kept sending until we did a full Business tools audit.
• Relying on the Away Message alone for something urgent, since a customer with an emergency question deserves a note that a human will follow up, not just a generic scheduling line.

Checking your setup is working

Once both messages are configured, send a test message to your own WhatsApp Business number from a second phone or from a friend's number, outside your set business hours if you are testing the Away Message. You should see the automatic reply arrive within a few seconds. I recommend doing this test the same day you set it up, and again roughly every three months, since app updates occasionally reset toggles or schedules, and catching that within a day is far better than discovering three weeks of silence went out to new customers.

Writing the message for tone, not just information

The uncomfortable part of automatic replies is that most people write them the way they would write a formal letter rather than the way they really talk, and the mismatch is obvious to whoever reads it. I have rewritten dozens of these for clients, and the pattern is always the same, a first draft that reads "We appreciate you contacting our business and will respond at our earliest convenience" becomes "Thanks for the message, I'll get back to you within a day". Same information, completely different feeling on the receiving end. WhatsApp is a conversational platform, people expect a human voice even from an automated line, and a message that sounds like it came from a legal document undermines the trust you are trying to build with a new customer before you have even spoken to them.

Read your draft out loud before saving it. If it sounds like something you would say to a friend who messaged asking when you are free, keep it. If it sounds like a printed sign in an office window, rewrite it. This single check catches almost every stiff, over formal automatic reply I come across.

Combining automatic replies with your business hours setting

Before setting up either message, fill in your actual opening hours under your business profile, tap the three dots, then Business tools, then Business hours, and set each day accurately, including marking days you are fully closed. Once this is done, the Away Message's "Outside of business hours" schedule option becomes far more useful, because it reads directly from this single source rather than you maintaining two separate schedules that can drift out of sync with each other. I have seen accounts where the business hours listing said one thing and the Away Message's own custom schedule said another, sending a confusing "we're closed" message during hours the business profile itself listed as open. Keeping both pointed at the same underlying schedule avoids this entirely.

I have written more around this on the site: How Do You Set Up an Automatic WhatsApp Business Reply? A Step-by-Step Guide, WhatsApp Help: 43 Guides to Transfers, Backups, Business and Privacy, Does a WhatsApp Business Account Cost Anything to Run? The Real Numbers.

Frequently asked questions

How do I turn on an automatic reply in WhatsApp Business?

Go to the three dots menu, then Business tools, then either Away message or Greeting message, toggle it on, write your text, set the schedule and recipients, then save.

What is the difference between the Away Message and the Greeting Message?

The Away Message sends based on a time schedule you set. The Greeting Message sends to anyone messaging you for the first time or after 14 days of silence, regardless of time.

Can I set different automatic replies for different customers?

Yes, using the Recipients setting under each message, you can choose Everyone, Everyone except a list, or Sent only to a specific list of contacts.

Are Quick Replies automatic?

No. Quick Replies are saved shortcuts you trigger manually by typing a forward slash and a keyword while chatting, they do not send on their own.