Greet people automatically

Three things you can set on a number, from Automation, that shape what a customer sees when they first open the chat with you.

This is not a keyword autoresponder

A common assumption, and wrong. These do not watch incoming messages and reply to them. They are prompts WhatsApp displays for you. If you want something that actually reads and answers messages, that is an AI Assistant.

Ice-breakers

Tappable suggested questions, shown the first time a customer opens the chat with you. They tap one, it is sent as their message, and you have a conversation with a clear subject line.

Good ice-breakers are the questions you get most:

What are your opening hours?
Do you deliver to my area?
I'd like to book a table
Where is my order?

They matter more than they look. Faced with an empty chat, most people type nothing. Faced with four buttons, they tap one — and a conversation the customer starts opens a 24-hour window you can answer in for nothing, instead of costing you a template to begin.

Commands

Shortcuts a customer sees when they type / in the chat. Each has a name and a description of what it does.

Useful where people return repeatedly and want the same thing quickly — /track, /hours, /menu. Less useful for a business someone contacts once. If in doubt, do ice-breakers properly and leave commands empty.

Welcome message

A greeting shown when a customer opens the chat for the first time. This is your shop window: say who you are and what you can do.

Hi! Welcome to Anand Textiles. Ask us about fabrics, orders or delivery — we usually reply within an hour.

Keep it short. It is read on a phone by someone deciding whether to bother.

Steps

Open Automation.
Pick the WhatsApp number — these are set per number, so each can behave differently.
Fill in the ice-breakers, commands and welcome message.
Use the preview to see how each one looks in the chat.
Save.

Changes take effect on new conversations. Someone already in a chat with you does not see them.

Getting it right

Four ice-breakers is plenty. They compete for one small area of screen.
Write them in the customer's words, not yours. "Where is my order?", not "Order status enquiry".
Cover the thing you most want to stop answering by hand, then pair it with a saved reply so answering is one tap on your side too.
Review them once a quarter. The questions you get change.

If something goes wrong

Nothing appears for the customer. These show on first contact. Test with a number that has never messaged you.
The changes did not take. Check you saved against the right number, and that you are looking at the same number in WhatsApp.
You expected an automatic reply and got none. Nothing here replies. See AI Assistants.