Have you ever heard of automatic customer service on WhatsApp? A powerful strategy within Digital Marketing, this is an efficient way to respond to customers on the app without having to be online all the time. With scheduled messages, your business keeps communication active, even outside of business hours. This is done through tools or features that send instant responses, ensuring that no one is left without a response.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through all the details about this type of support. Get ready to learn about the benefits of this approach and understand the difference between WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API. We’ll also explore the types of automatic messages you can send and a straightforward step-by-step guide to implementing this support.
So, if you want to optimize your time and still offer efficient support to your customers, come with us and find out how to automate your WhatsApp without complications!
Why offer automatic support on WhatsApp?
Let’s start by explaining why offering automated support on WhatsApp is essential for your customers. Check out the main benefits of this approach below:
- Wide reach: As of February 2025, 2 billion users were accessing WhatsApp monthly, making the platform essential for connecting with a large audience;
- 24/7 availability: responses to customers at any time of the day, even outside office hours, guarantee continuous support;
- Agility in service: automatic messages reduce waiting time and increase customer satisfaction;
- Reduced team workload: automating responses to frequently asked questions allows the team to focus on more complex services;
- Higher conversion rate: quick and personalized messages increase the chances of engagement and closing sales;
- Standardization of communication: ensures that all interactions follow a professional tone that is consistent with the company’s identity;
- Integration with other tools: possibility of connecting WhatsApp to other platforms, such as chatbots, for a more efficient flow.
Difference between WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API
WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API are two tools aimed at companies, but they meet different needs when it comes to message automation.
WhatsApp Business is a simpler version, ideal for small and medium-sized businesses. It allows businesses to create a professional profile with information such as photos, name, address, opening hours, and links to the website and social networks. In addition, it offers features such as labels to organize conversations, product catalogs, and even payment integration.
When it comes to messaging automation, WhatsApp Business allows you to set up quick replies to frequently asked questions and automatic away and greeting messages. These features are perfect for businesses that have direct, small-scale interaction with customers, without needing to integrate with external systems.
The WhatsApp Business API is more advanced and suitable for larger companies or those looking to scale their business.
With the API, it is possible to integrate WhatsApp with messaging automation platforms, such as chatbots , which allow the creation of complete automated conversation flows, enabling more efficient and personalized service. In addition, the API supports the sending of automatic notifications, such as order updates and appointment confirmations.
In short, WhatsApp Business is ideal for start-up businesses, while the API serves companies that need a more robust and scalable solution.
Types of automatic messages to send via WhatsApp
Before we dive into our guide on how to have automated customer service on WhatsApp, let’s introduce the main types of automated messages used by businesses on the app. This will give you ideas for creating effective and engaging conversation flows for your audience. Check out the list below!
- Greeting Message: Send an initial message to welcome customers as soon as they contact your business;
- Answers to frequently asked questions: Set up automatic responses to common questions, such as opening hours, prices, and product features;
- Payment confirmation message: send an automated message confirming that payment was successfully received and provide details of the order or purchase;
- Order status notifications: Keep your customers updated on the progress of their order, such as confirmation, shipping, and delivery;
- Thank You Message: Send an automated message to thank customers for contacting you or making a purchase;
- Away message: automatically inform customers when the company is unavailable for service, with information about when you will be able to get back to them;
- Reminder Message: Send automatic reminders about scheduled appointments, payments or important dates related to customers;
- Promotion and offer message: notify customers about promotions, discounts or special offers, encouraging quick action;
- Launch message: send automatic messages informing customers about the launch of new products or services;
- Satisfaction survey message: Automatically request feedback from customers after an interaction or purchase to assess the experience;
Birthday and anniversary messages: send automatic messages to congratulate customers on special dates, such as birthdays or holidays, creating a more personal connection.
Step-by-step guide to implementing automatic service on WhatsApp
The time has come to reveal the long-awaited step-by-step guide to implementing automatic support on WhatsApp. So, stay with us on this topic and check out a practical and straightforward guide to putting this type of support into action. Let’s go!
Choose between WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business API
First, decide which version of WhatsApp is best suited for your business. As we saw in previous sections, WhatsApp Business is ideal for small and medium-sized businesses, offering basic automation features. The WhatsApp Business API is aimed at larger companies or those looking to integrate advanced automation, such as chatbots, with greater scalability.
Know your audience and establish a tone of voice
Understanding the profile of your target audience is essential to define how your communication will be carried out. The tone of voice should be adjusted according to the type of customer, sector and company culture. The tone should reflect the brand identity and create a connection with customers, whether it is friendly, formal or relaxed.
Create your messages considering UX writing practices
User experience should be a priority when creating your messages for automated support on WhatsApp. So, consider adopting UX writing practices when creating content.
To do this, use clear, objective and empathetic language, with short and easy-to-understand sentences. Also consider a simple and interactive design that guides the customer without overloading the conversation flow, making the experience fluid and pleasant.
Automation and human service
While automation can bring efficiency, it’s important for customers to know that they can reach out to a human for complex cases when needed . Provide clear options for transitioning to human support, whether through a button or automated message, to ensure that the user feels supported at any point in the journey.
Set up WhatsApp Business with automatic messages and quick replies
If you’ve chosen WhatsApp Business as the ideal solution for your company’s customer service, then you’ll need to download the app and create a business account for your business. With that, you’ll be ready to set up your automatic messages.
To set up a greeting message and automatically interact with your new customers the first time they contact you, follow the steps below:
- Open WhatsApp Business and tap the three dots icon in the top right corner.
- Go to “Business Tools” and select “Greeting Message”.
- Enable the “Send greeting message” option and then click on the pencil icon to write the desired text. Then click “OK”.
- Finally, define who the messages will be sent to by tapping on “Recipients” and selecting the desired option.
Now, to set up an away message, follow these steps:
- From the home menu, select the three dots icon and go to “Trade Tools”.
- Tap “Away Message” and turn on “Send Away Message”.
- Select the pencil icon, type your text, and tap “OK.”
- Set the time to send the message in “Time”.
- Finally, configure who will receive this message by clicking on “Recipients”.
Finally, to set up quick replies, follow these instructions:
- Tap the three dots in the top right corner of the WhatsApp Business home page and select “Business Tools”.
- Now, tap on “Quick Replies” and the “+” icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Type the message you want to configure and associate it with a shortcut, such as “hi” or “how can I help”.
- When you are in a conversation with your customers, simply type “/” in the message field and look for the quick reply related to the topic.
There you go, by following these simple steps, you now know how to have automatic customer service on WhatsApp Business!
Set up WhatsApp Business API and your complete conversation flows
If you’ve decided that WhatsApp Business API is the best solution for your business, then it’s time to set up automated conversation flows through a chatbot platform. With it, you can create message sequences that guide the customer to the desired goal, such as completing a purchase, scheduling, or providing support.
Test before deploying
Conduct internal and customer testing before launching your automated service. Make sure messages are clear, conversation flows work properly, and provide a satisfactory experience. Fix any flaws you identify to ensure the system is efficient and error-free.
Conduct satisfaction surveys
Once implemented, use satisfaction surveys to gather customer feedback on WhatsApp’s automated support. Ask about the clarity and usefulness of messages and other details about the overall experience. This will help you identify areas for improvement and continually improve the engagement process.
Track your results and constantly improve
Monitor automated customer service metrics on WhatsApp, such as response time, satisfaction rate, and engagement. Based on this data, make constant adjustments to messages and conversation flows to optimize the customer experience and increase communication efficiency. Keep in mind that continuous improvement is essential to ensure the evolution of the process.
Get more leads via WhatsApp with automatic service!
After reading this article, you now know everything about automatic customer service on WhatsApp. Here we saw the importance of this approach, the difference between the methods to apply it, the types of messages to send to customers and a practical guide to implementing the strategy.
Remember that this type of service is essential to reach a wide audience, provide 24/7 service, speed up response times, increase lead conversion rates, and many other benefits. Put what you’ve learned into practice and boost your company’s sales with automated and efficient communication!
