Automatic greeting in WhatsApp: How does it work?

If your company has already successfully launched customer communication via WhatsApp Business or the WhatsApp API, you have probably already noticed the message templates. Especially the automatic greeting feature, often known as "WhatsApp greeting message", opens up the possibility for you to optimize customer interaction right from the start. With this feature of the WhatsApp Business API and WhatsApp Business App, you can standardize your customer communications, save time, and unify the customer experience. But what exactly is behind WhatsApp message templates and automatic greeting?

Message templates are standardized, WhatsApp-reviewed text templates that allow you to efficiently handle common customer concerns. But the automatic greeting goes one step further. It allows you to not only passively serve customers, but actively greet them and convey important information. This is especially invaluable for initial customer contact or initiating interactions.

Unlike individual responses, automatic greetings allow you to address your customers directly without the customer having to send a message first. Individual messages, on the other hand, can only be sent in a 24-hour window after receiving the customer's first message, according to WhatsApp 's business messaging policy. Automatic greeting thus stands out as a powerful tool to boost customer engagement and communication.

In this post, we will not only introduce you to the basics of WhatsApp message templates, but also how you can use automatic greeting to instantly welcome customers and initiate valuable interactions. We'll also present 15 cross-industry WhatsApp business templates to help you get started. Here, the {{text modules}} in curly brackets are customizable variables that allow you to seamlessly integrate customer-specific details into the message templates.
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What are automatic messages in WhatsApp Business?

Automatic WhatsApp business messages or autoresponders are chat messages that - once predefined - are automatically sent to the respective customer when certain events occur. This can be, for example, an automatic reply to an incoming message from the customer or an automatically sent order confirmation. The message itself can be freely defined by the company. Automatic reply messages can have several functions. The most classic is probably the greeting of the customer. This way, the customer knows directly that his inquiry has reached the company and will be processed. After all, almost nothing frustrates customers more than communication that you don't know will actually arrive and be processed. Automatic reply messages are available to users of both the WhatsApp Business app and the WhatsApp Business API. This company-specific feature is not available for private WhatsApp accounts.
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What is a WhatsApp welcome message and when is it sent?

In WhatsApp App Business, greeting messages are a category of automatic replies. The feature is built right into the app. With welcome messages, you automatically send a pre-written response to an incoming customer request when customers send a message to your business for the first time or when customers haven't chatted with your business for at least 14 days.
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WhatsApp welcome message features — WhatsApp has specially implemented a feature for welcome messages that meets all requirements

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Are you currently still using a private WhatsApp account for your company? Find out here why it's worth switching to the WhatsApp Business API..

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Use cases for automatic replies in WhatsApp Business

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Reasons for WhatsApp Autoresponder — WhatsApp's autoresponder is an extremely useful feature with multiple use cases!

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Greeting the customers

The most classic and common use case for auto-reply messages is greeting customers. Just like the "hello" when entering a store, an automatic greeting message in your WhatsApp chat channel lets customers know that they are welcome and that their request will be taken care of as soon as possible. If there are currently longer response times, you could point this out to customers directly and create the right expectation of when to expect a response. If you are contacted by a customer outside of business hours, you can also use an automatic out-of-office message to inform the customer that they cannot be answered personally at the moment and ask them to contact you again during regular business hours.

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WhatsApp customer support

Automatic replies play a crucial role in the field of customer support via WhatsApp. Nowadays, customers expect fast and reliable responses to their queries. This is where automatic replies come into play to meet these demands. When customers submit a request, the system can automatically send a reply confirming that the message has been received and that the support team will get back to them soon with a solution. This interim confirmation alone can boost customer confidence and alleviate frustration caused by long wait times. In cases where the response time might be a bit longer, the auto-reply can inform the customer of the estimated timeframe and potentially offer alternative sources of information. This makes customer support more efficient and increases customer satisfaction.

WhatsApp out of office messages

Absenteeism is inevitable in any business - be it due to holidays, vacations and scheduled or unscheduled closures. This is where automated responses are extremely useful. Imagine a customer sends you a message while your business is closed. Instead of the customer being left in the dark as to when they can expect a response, an automated out-of-office message can let them know that you are temporarily unavailable and when they can expect a response. This creates transparency and reduces customer frustration. At the same time, you can provide alternative contact information or resources that could help customers in your absence. This kind of automatic response not only increases your company's professionalism, but also shows that you take your customers' needs seriously.

‍Learn morein our case studyhow the Dokos Veterinary Practice was able to automate 30% of all appointment requests using Mateo and automatic response messages.

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How to create automatic welcome messages?

If you use the WhatsApp Business API via Mateo, automatic welcome messages are of course available as a feature. But users of the WhatsApp Business app also have access to the feature. The setup is as follows:

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Auto-reply in the WhatsApp Business app:

Open the WhatsApp Business app.
Open the settings via the "Three dots".
Navigate to "Company tools" - "Welcome message".
Activate the welcome message and enter the content of the message. Here you can insert the templates from this article.
Replace the {{placeholder}} with your information.
Finally, you can decide whether all or only certain contacts should receive the welcome message. It makes sense to select "all", since the message is also addressed to new contact requests.

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Automatic reply messages via WhatsApp Business API and Mateo:

Open the Mateo webapp.
Click on the gear in the upper right corner to enter the settings.
Navigate to "Message channels" and select your WhatsApp channel.
Activate the "Autoresponder" option.
Now they can each store an automatic message that will be sent to their customers during and outside their opening hours. For this you can choose from the templates above.
Click on "Confirm" to save your entries.

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5 WhatsApp Greeting Message Templates

1. welcome message within opening time

Suggested name: autoreply_opened

Textbeispiel: Hallo {{Kunde}}, vielen Dank für Ihre Nachricht. Ein Mitarbeiter wird sich in Kürze bei Ihnen melden. Wenn es um eine Bestellung geht, halten Sie bitte Ihre Bestellnummer bereit.

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2. welcome message out of opening time

Proposed name: autoreply_closed

Textbeispiel: Hallo {{Kunde}}, vielen Dank für Ihre Nachricht. Leider erreichen Sie uns außerhalb unserer Öffnungszeiten. Sobald wir wieder geöffnet haben, werden wir uns bei Ihnen melden.

3. opt-in request

Proposed name: optin_request

Textbeispiel: Hallo {{Kunde}}. Für eine einfache Kommunikation mit Ihnen würden wir Sie gerne per WhatsApp anschreiben. Um die Unterhaltung zu beginnen, antworten Sie bitte mit “Ja”.

4. forwarding to the responsible department or person

Proposed name: responsible_department_info

Text example: For the best possible processing of your request, the message has been passed on to the relevant department. An employee will contact you here shortly.

5. complaint receipt

Proposed name: claim_received

Textbeispiel: Hallo {{Kunde}}. Es tut uns Leid zu hören, dass Sie auf ein Problem gestoßen sind. Wir sind stets bemüht, unseren Kunden in solchen Fällen bestens zur Seite zu stehen. Wir werden uns sofort um ihr Anliegen kümmern.
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Message Templates for Automatic Greetings in WhatsApp — You can find many more message templates and in our WhatsApp message templates gallery and in our blog article "15 message templates for automatic replies in WhatsApp Business".

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By the way: With the WhatsApp API, in contrast to the normal WhatsApp Business version, you can even send WhatsApp newsletters and thus conduct extremely effective existing customer marketing and increase your sales. All information about the WhatsApp newsletter can be found here!

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Revolutionize your customer communication with Mateo!

At Mateo, we are your messaging experts when it comes to customer communication. Hundreds of companies already use Mateo and are enthusiastic about it. Our customers particularly appreciate the following advantages of Mateo:

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Central user interface

In addition to WhatsApp Business API, Mateo bundles many other communication channels such as email, Instagram, Google Business Chat, SMS or Facebook Messenger in a central inbox. On the intuitive and clear user interface, you will find various helpful tools for particularly efficient customer communication. For your customers, a web widget with the message channels you support is available for particularly easy contact.

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Custom Message Templates

Thanks to various message templates that can be created individually, the amount of paperwork is minimized and the efficiency of customer communication is increased. This means that personnel resources in the service area can be deployed elsewhere.

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WhatsApp & SMS Marketing Newsletter

With Mateo's WhatsApp API solution, newsletters can be sent in a GDPR-compliant manner. Due to the first-class open rate of 98% for WhatsApp messages, marketing can thus be done much better than via email or other channels. With Mateo, you can also send your marketing newsletters automatically via SMS.

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More positive Google reviews

With Mateo, you create an outstanding customer experience. Mateo can automatically request online reviews from your customers. The more reviews you have, the better you will be found on Google, for example. Reviews also create trust in your company.

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Privacy

Mateo's messaging tool is compatible with all German and European legally binding data protection requirements. If the law changes, the software will be revised accordingly. For absolutely secure customer communication, all messages are encrypted end-to-end. You can read all the info about the GDPR when using WhatsApp in our article"WhatsApp Business and GDPR". This will help you avoid the warnings, severe penalties and expensive legal costs that often occur in the event of non-compliance with the GDPR (= use of the standard WhatsApp Business app).

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‍Scalabilityfor all company sizes

The scalability of the messaging tool has been confirmed by the large number of companies already using Mateo with great satisfaction. Whether customers have just a few employees or many hundreds, the software works smoothly and, depending on the package, with an unlimited number of end devices, users and phone numbers. The fact that Mateo significantly reduces the workload in the customer service area opens up new growth opportunities for many companies.

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Low cost provider for WhatsApp Business API

With an entry-level price of just 79 euros per month, Mateo is a cost-effective provider for WhatsApp Business API solutions on the German market. Combined with the integration of additional communication channels and various helpful tools, Mateo offers excellent value for money. Mateo's personal customer support assists companies with every step of the integration, ensuring very low barriers to entry.

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Automatic greeting in WhatsApp - All info & 5 message templates [August 2023].