Types of Automated Replies on WhatsApp

Effective communication is the cornerstone of successful businesses. WhatsApp, one of the most popular messaging platforms, has revolutionized how we connect with customers, enabling instant and convenient interactions. Among its features, the auto-reply functionality stands out as a powerful tool for streamlining communication processes. 

Whether you're a small business owner, a customer support representative, or a marketing professional, harnessing the potential of auto-reply messages on WhatsApp can significantly enhance your efficiency, customer experience, and overall business growth.

This article will help you understand the impact of automated messages on your business and guide you through the steps to set them up. 

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Benefits of auto-reply messages

• Better Customer Experience: By giving quick and accurate responses with auto-replies, you make sure your customers have an incredible experience, which keeps them happy and loyal.
• Boosted Customer Engagement: Auto-reply messages open up opportunities to share valuable content, exciting promotions, and updates, fostering greater interaction with customers and propelling growth. 
• Positive Initial Impressions: With automated greeting messages and personalized auto-replies, you establish an inviting atmosphere for new customers, leaving them with a favorable first impression of your business.
• Manage Customer Expectations: Keep your customers informed about your availability through auto-replies, ensuring they have clear expectations regarding response times.

WhatsApp business auto-reply messages

Auto replies on the WhatsApp Business app represent one of the best features added to support small business owners. Two types of replies can be programmed.

Welcome Message

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Customers will surely appreciate a welcoming message from the business they are reaching out to for the first time. However, you may not be able to respond to all new messages immediately. To assist you, WhatsApp has added the Welcome Message feature.

To set up a welcome message on the WhatsApp business app, do the following:

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• Log in to your WhatsApp account
• Go to "Business Tools" 

• Choose "Greeting Message" from the messaging tools 

• Add the desired message

• Choose who receives the message, for example, only those not saved in the address book, everyone, or select specific individuals.

• Save the message

Away Message

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If you receive a lot of questions outside of working hours, you need to program an auto-reply to inform your customers that you are unavailable. 

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To program a personalized message, follow these steps:

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•  Log in to your WhatsApp account
• Choose "Business Tools” 

• Choose "Away Message" 

• Write the message, and save it. 

• Choose the recipients of the away message

• Choose when to send it

This auto-reply will be sent to all callers outside of the specified working hours, which you can predefine in your business profile on your WhatsApp Business account.

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Despite the importance and effectiveness of these automated replies, they remain limited to performing simple tasks and do not meet the needs of medium and large businesses that deal with thousands of customers daily. 

To leverage the power of true automation and offer a better customer experience, you have to shift to the WhatsApp Business platform. 

Auto-reply messages on Kartly

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Companies that only communicate with their customers eight hours a day will likely lose two-thirds of their profits. The WhatsApp Business platform is designed to help businesses deal with multiple potential customers and provide seamless and continuous customer service.

Using WhatsApp API is only possible through marketing automation platforms. You can use a chatbot to automate your conversations and allow your customers to communicate with your brand around the clock, seven days a week. Chatbots can handle approximately 80% of customer inquiries.

 Let’s see what types of auto-replies you can use on Kartly. 

Auto-replies use cases

Routing idle bot messages to teams

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People might go cold and stop answering bot messages. To deal with this promptly, you can program your bot to assign idle conversations to a team automatically, preferably after one hour of inactivity. 

Routing conversations to agents

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Whenever a customer asks to talk to an agent, you can reassure him that his request is underway by sending a message informing him an agent will be with him shortly. 

Out of working hours message

When a customer messages you outside of working hours and especially if he wants to talk to an agent instead of the bot, send him a message notifying him of official working hours and assure him when you will be available to reply. 

Messages after being routed to an agent

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Customers can be impatient, or your teams cannot reply quickly due to long queues. Either way, if a customer messages you again after being routed to an agent, send him a message letting him know that an agent will reach out soon. 

Handling of wrong entry

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Guided chatbots cannot understand written replies. A customer has to choose from the menu for the bot to offer the correct answer. If a customer writes a wrong entry, you can program a message informing him of the wrong entry and asking for another option. 

When a conversation is closed

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If an agent closes the conversation before the 24-hour window ends, your customers should receive a message informing them of closing the conversation. Better yet, you can send them a message asking for feedback or a rating. 

Customize catalog-related conversations

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Adding the catalog icon to your home screen will allow users to navigate through your products and walk the funnel to ordering. To better assist your customers during the shopping experience, you can customize replies to users’ questions. 

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Overall, the chatbot offers perfect self-service, guiding customers through most of their journey with your brand. The quick reply buttons can be customized to provide vital information such as locations, business hours, etc. 

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How to set up auto-replies on WhatsApp API

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To set up auto-replies on Kartly with your WhatsApp API account, follow these steps:

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• Log in to your Kartly dashboard
• Click on the chatbot icon from the sidebar
• Choose the operator
• Click on the use case you would like to program
• Fill in the necessary information, including a template message in all the language of your bot and custom fields. 

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WhatsApp API also offers advanced automation options to facilitate your customer experience better and drive growth. 

Automated marketing messages

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By leveraging automated marketing messages, businesses can deliver personalized and timely content, such as product updates, promotional offers, or event notifications, to engage customers and nurture leads. 

These automated messages allow for precise targeting and segmentation, enabling businesses to tailor their marketing efforts based on user preferences and behaviors. 

These automated messages include:

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• Cart abandonment notifications
• Order status notifications
• Welcome series
• Win back messages

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With the ability to automate repetitive tasks, WhatsApp's automated marketing messages empower businesses to scale their marketing efforts, save time, and drive conversions and business growth.

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