How to Set Up Automatic Replies in WhatsApp Business (Step-by-Step Guide)

If you have a business and handle WhatsApp, you already know what it's like to open your phone and find fifteen unanswered messages from when you were sleeping, having lunch, or attending to another customer. WhatsApp Business automatic replies are the first tool to ensure no one is left waiting in silence. In this guide, we show you how to activate them step by step, what they can and cannot do, and how far they get you before you need something more powerful.

What WhatsApp Business automatic replies are (and what they are not)

The free WhatsApp Business app includes two types of automatic messages: the away message and the greeting message. The away message is sent when you can't reply (at night, on weekends, when you're closed). The greeting message is sent the first time someone writes to you, to show you're there and start the conversation.

The important thing to understand from the start: they are fixed texts. You write a message and the app sends it as is, always the same, no matter what the person asked. They are perfect for letting people know 'we'll get back to you' or 'we're closed,' but they don't read, understand, or answer what the customer really wants to know. We'll go deeper into that below.

How to set up the away message (step by step)

The away message is the most commonly used: it lets the customer know you're not available at that moment. Here's how to activate it:

1. 1Open the WhatsApp Business app and tap the three dots (top right on Android) or the Settings tab (on iPhone).
2. 2Go to Settings.
3. 3Tap Business tools.
4. 4Select Away message.
5. 5Turn on the Send away message option using the switch at the top.
6. 6Tap the message text to edit it and write your own. For example: 'Hello! Thank you for writing to us. We're currently outside business hours, but we'll get back to you as soon as we open, Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 18:00.'
7. 7Choose when to send it under Schedule: Always send, Custom schedule (you choose the range), or Outside business hours (uses the hours you set in your profile).
8. 8Under Recipients, define who to send it to: everyone, everyone except some contacts, or only specific contacts.
9. 9Save by tapping the checkmark or Save. Done: it's now active.

How to set up the welcome message (step by step)

The welcome message gives a first impression to someone who has just discovered you. It is sent automatically when someone writes to you for the first time or after 14 days of inactivity. The path is almost identical:

1. 1In the WhatsApp Business app, go to Settings.
2. 2Tap Business tools.
3. 3Select Welcome message.
4. 4Turn on Send welcome message with the toggle.
5. 5Edit the text. For example: «Hello! Welcome to [your business]. Tell us what you need and we'll help you right away.»
6. 6Under Recipients, choose who to send it to (everyone is usually the most practical).
7. 7Save. From now on, every new customer automatically receives that greeting.

Bonus: quick replies so you don't always type the same thing

Under Business tools, there's also Quick replies. They're not automatic, but they save you a lot: you save texts you repeat often (the price list, the address, payment methods) and insert them by typing a slash «/» followed by a shortcut. You choose when to send them, but you don't have to type everything again.

The limits: this is how far free automatic replies take you

The app's automatic replies are a great first step, but it's worth being clear about where they fall short, so you don't frustrate yourself or the customer:

• They are fixed texts: they always send the same thing, no matter what you ask them. If the customer wants to know the price of a specific product, they still get "we'll get back to you."
• They don't understand the message: they don't read or interpret what the person writes. They don't distinguish between "do you deliver?" and "how much does a dozen cost?"
• They don't take orders or schedule appointments: they can't close a sale, note an order, or book a time slot on their own.
• They depend on the phone: the app needs the phone on, with the app active and with signal. If it turns off or runs out of battery, it doesn't respond at all.
• Only two types of messages: absence and welcome. There's no way to build real conversations with the free app.
• The welcome message doesn't repeat: if someone has already written to you before, they don't receive it again even if weeks pass.

In short: automatic responses cover the silence, but they don't resolve the query. The customer still waits for a person to appear. For many small businesses, that's enough at first. But when messages grow, answering everything by hand becomes impossible and sales start to be lost due to delays.

The next level: an AI that truly responds

Here's the key difference. An automatic response sends a fixed text; an AI reads what the customer wrote and responds based on that. If they ask the price of a large pizza, it answers the price of the large pizza. If they ask if you deliver to a neighborhood, it answers about deliveries to that neighborhood. It's not a "we'll get back to you" sign: it's a real conversation.

Wando is an Argentine tool that does exactly that: it connects an AI to your WhatsApp Business so it responds to your customers in Rioplatense Spanish, takes orders, and schedules appointments, 24 hours a day. It plugs into your current number through Meta's official API, so you don't have to change your number or notify anyone. The AI learns from your business: your prices, your menu, your hours, your way of speaking.

Another important difference: because Wando works on Meta's official API and not on the phone app, it doesn't depend on you having your phone on. It responds even if you're sleeping or without signal. And you can choose the level of control: have the AI suggest the response for you to approve with a tap, or have it respond fully on its own. You start in suggestion mode and, once you gain confidence, switch to automatic.

So, what's best for you?

If you're just starting out and receiving few messages, set up the app's away message and welcome message: they're free, they activate in five minutes, and they prevent a customer from feeling ignored. It's the first step and we recommend it to everyone.

If queries are already piling up, you're losing sales because you can't reply in time, or you want someone to handle messages while you sleep, then fixed replies fall short and it makes sense to move to an AI like Wando, which actually responds based on what each person asks. The nice thing is that it's not one or the other from the start: you can begin free with the app and, when WhatsApp starts to overwhelm you, make the leap without losing your number or your conversations.