Your WhatsApp replies to customers on its own, with the right message for new customers, after-hours chats and bookings, and you choose which reply goes first.
Before You Start
- Connect your WhatsApp Business number to EasyBiz first. See Connect and Configure WhatsApp.
- To confirm bookings or add a booking button, you need at least one Mini App (a short form customers fill in inside WhatsApp). See How the Mini App Builder Works.
- You need access to ⚙️ Settings in the Console.
- If you set this up before: Auto Reply Rules moved from Settings › WhatsApp to their own Auto replies page under the CRM section, and Business Hours and Test Group are now on that same page. Your saved replies, hours and test numbers are already there. Disabled is now called Off, and one Save at the top right saves every change on the page.
Choose your setup
| Level | Fits shops like | What you set up | Read these sections |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | One shop that wants every new chat answered with a friendly welcome, whatever the time | One ready-made reply, switched to Live | Where to find it, Adding a reply, Status: Off, Testing and Live, Saving your changes |
| Intermediate | Shops with fixed opening hours that want one reply by day and another at night, checked by staff before customers get them | Business Hours, a Test Group and several replies in the right order | Everything in Easy, plus Choosing when a reply is sent (Conditions), Business Hours, Test Group, Reply order |
| Advanced | Shops taking pickup bookings through Mini Apps, or answering price questions with a link | Keyword replies, booking confirmations with placeholders, and buttons | Everything in Intermediate, plus Writing the message, Adding a button (Action), Send frequency |
With the Easy setup alone, every customer who starts a new chat gets your welcome straight away. You can add hours, testing and buttons later without redoing it.
What are auto replies?
An auto reply is a simple instruction you set once: "When this happens, send this message." For example, when a new customer messages you for the first time, EasyBiz sends them a welcome. When someone messages after closing time, they learn when you will be back. When a customer books a pickup in your Mini App, they get a confirmation with their pickup date and time. Each message gets at most one auto reply, picked from the top of your list.
Where it works
- Console: you and your staff set up and order the replies in ⚙️ Settings › Auto replies.
- WhatsApp: customers get the reply in the same chat, the moment they message you or submit a Mini App.
Why set it up
Your WhatsApp is probably your busiest customer channel, but your team cannot always reply in seconds, especially at peak hours, early mornings or on public holidays.
- A customer who messages at 11 pm gets an answer instead of silence.
- Every booking gets a confirmation the moment it is submitted, so customers stop asking "did you receive my order?".
- Your staff stop typing the same "Hi, thanks for reaching out" many times a day.
If you skip this, every message waits until someone on your team reads it, and customers who message after hours hear nothing until you open.
Where to find it
- Click the ⚙️ Settings icon in the top-right corner.
- Under the CRM section, click Auto replies.
The Auto replies page
The page has two sides:
- Left: under Replies, your replies in the order EasyBiz checks them, with Add reply at the top. Each row shows the reply's name and what starts it, for example "New Conversation + After business hours". Under Settings are Business Hours and Test Group, which every reply shares.
- Right: the preview. Point at a reply in the list to see its message as customers get it on their phone. Click a reply to open and edit it.
A reply in Testing or Off shows that word next to its name. A Live reply shows nothing, and a reply you have added but not saved yet shows Not saved.
To go back to the list from a reply, click Auto replies in the path at the top of the page.
Adding a reply
- Click Add reply. A menu opens with ready-made replies in three groups: Welcome (New Customer Welcome, New Customer After Hours), Operational (After Working Hours) and Confirmation (New Order Confirmation, Schedule Confirmation, Sign Up Confirmation). Blank at the bottom starts an empty reply.
- Click the reply you want. The Add reply window asks for its Name. A ready-made reply fills in its own name, for example "After Working Hours". Change it to something your staff will recognise, such as "Closed tonight notice".
- Click Add. The reply opens with its conditions, message and send frequency already filled in. Check each part using the sections below.
A ready-made reply is a starting point. You can change every part of it. For step-by-step setups of each one, see the articles in What's Next.
Each reply has these parts, from top to bottom: Name and Status, Conditions, Reply Message, Action, Send frequency, and Remove reply at the bottom.
Choosing when a reply is sent (Conditions)
Conditions decide when the reply goes out. Add one by clicking its button, for example + New customer. Remove one with the ✕ on its right.
Conditions
| Condition | The reply goes out when |
|---|---|
| New Conversation | A customer starts a new chat, or a closed chat is opened again. The most common starting point. |
| New customer | The customer has no profile in EasyBiz yet. Once they are saved as a customer, this no longer matches them. |
| Within business hours | The message arrives during the opening hours in Business Hours. |
| After business hours | The message arrives outside those opening hours, on a closed day, or during a break. |
| Keyword match | The customer's message contains a word you choose, such as "price". |
| App submitted | A customer submits one of your Mini Apps, such as a pickup booking form. |
| Mix and match | Add several conditions. All of them must match at the same time, for example New customer + New Conversation + After business hours. |
Every reply needs at least one condition that starts it: New Conversation, Within business hours, After business hours, Keyword match or App submitted. New customer cannot start a reply on its own. Until you add one, the section shows a red line asking for it.
You can add each condition once, except Keyword match. Within business hours and After business hours cannot be in the same reply, because a message can't be both.
Keyword match
Type the word in Enter keyword, then choose how it matches. Capital letters don't matter.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Contains | The reply goes out when the word appears anywhere in the message. "price" matches "what is your price for curtains?". This is the default. |
| Exact match | The reply goes out only when the whole message is that word, such as "price" on its own. |
If you add more than one Keyword match, the message must contain all of the words.
App submitted
Use this only if your customers book or sign up through a Mini App. Leave Any app (leave empty for all) empty to answer every Mini App, or pick one Mini App so the reply goes out only for that form.
A reply with App submitted is checked only when a customer submits a Mini App. Replies without it are checked only when a customer sends a message, so the two kinds never compete with each other.
Writing the message
Type your message in Reply Message. Type @ to insert a placeholder: a word EasyBiz swaps for real details when the message is sent, such as the customer's name.
Placeholders
| Placeholder | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Next Available Time | The next time your shop opens, from your Business Hours |
| Current Date | Today's date |
| Current Time | The time now |
| Customer Name | The customer's name |
| Order Number | The order number of their booking |
| Pickup Date, Pickup Time, Pickup Weekday | The pickup they booked |
| Delivery Date, Delivery Time, Delivery Weekday | The delivery they booked |
The list shows only what your reply can fill in. Every reply has the first three. Customer Name and the order, pickup and delivery placeholders appear only when the reply has an App submitted condition, because those details come from the form the customer just sent.
As you type, the preview on the right shows the message as customers will get it.
Adding a button (Action)
Use this only if you want a button under the message. Choose it in Action type under Action.
Action type
| Option | What customers get |
|---|---|
| None | The message only, with no button. |
| Open Website | One button that opens a web page, such as your price list. |
| Quick Replies | Up to 3 buttons under the message. Tapping one sends its words back to you as the customer's reply. |
| Select options | One button that opens a list of up to 10 choices. |
| Open mini App | One button that opens one of your Mini Apps inside WhatsApp. |
Open Website
Enter the Button text, such as "See our prices", and the URL of the page, starting with https://.
Quick Replies
Click Add button for each button, up to 3. Each button has up to 20 characters, such as "Book pickup" or "Talk to staff". Good for yes or no questions and short menus.
Select options
Enter the Button text customers tap to open the list (up to 20 characters), such as "View services". Under List options, click Add Item, enter a Title (up to 24 characters) and, if you like, a Description (up to 72 characters), then click Save. Use this for a service menu too long for Quick Replies.
Open mini App
Choose the Mini App and enter the Button text, such as "Book a pickup". This works well in a chain: after confirming a pickup booking, send a button that lets the customer schedule their delivery.
Send frequency
Send frequency stops the same reply going out again and again in one chat.
Send frequency
| Option | What it does | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Once per conversation | Sent once per chat. It goes out again only after the chat is closed and opened again. This is the default. | Welcome messages and closing notices |
| Once per 24 hours | Sent at most once every 24 hours to the same customer. | A notice you want repeated the next day, but not every few minutes |
| Every time | Sent every time the conditions match, with no wait. | Booking and order confirmations, where every form needs its own reply |
The ready-made confirmation replies use Every time. The welcome and after-hours replies use Once per conversation.
Status: Off, Testing and Live
Set the status in the Status dropdown at the top of the reply, under its name.
Status
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Live | The reply goes to every customer whose message matches. |
| Testing | The reply goes only to the phone numbers in your Test Group. Customers don't get it. |
| Off | The reply is never sent. Use this to pause a reply without removing it. |
Saving your changes
Every change on this page, to any reply, Business Hours or the Test Group, waits until you click Save at the top right. A small number on the button shows how many items have changes. One click saves them all, and the page shows "Auto replies saved".
Save stays greyed out until every changed reply has a name, at least one condition that starts it (with a word typed for Keyword match) and a message. If you try to leave the page with unsaved changes, it warns you first.
Business Hours
For Intermediate and Advanced setups: Business Hours tells EasyBiz when your shop is open, so replies can answer differently by day and by night. It also fills in the Next Available Time placeholder.
- On the Auto replies page, under Settings, click Business Hours. When it is off, the row says "Off: replies never count a message as after hours".
- Turn on Enable business hours.
- Choose your Timezone, for example Asia/Singapore (SGT, UTC+8).
- For each Weekday, turn the day on if you open, then set its Opening hours and, if you close for lunch, its Break. A day switched off counts as closed all day.
- Click Save at the top right.
If you leave Business Hours off, After business hours never matches, so replies that need it are never sent. Within business hours then matches at any time of day.
Test Group
For Intermediate and Advanced setups: the Test Group is a list of your team's phone numbers. Replies in Testing go only to these numbers, so you can try a reply on your own phone before customers get it.
- On the Auto replies page, under Settings, click Test Group. The row shows how many numbers it has.
- Choose the country, type the Phone Number, then click Add. Repeat for each number.
- To take a number out, click the ✕ on its chip.
- Click Save at the top right.
To test a reply, keep it in Testing, send your shop's WhatsApp a message from a Test Group number that matches its conditions, and check the message and placeholders. Then switch it to Live and save.
Reply order
For Intermediate and Advanced setups: each new WhatsApp message is checked against your replies from the top of the list, and only the first one that fits is sent. A customer never gets two auto replies for one message.
- Drag a reply up or down by the handle on the left of its row.
- Click Save at the top right. The new order applies from then on.
If the first reply that fits is still waiting out its send frequency, EasyBiz checks the next one down. So a customer's second message in the same chat may get a different reply.
Example setup
CleanFast Laundry opens Monday to Saturday, 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, and is closed on Sunday. Business Hours is on with timezone Asia/Singapore, and the owner's and the Tampines manager's phones are in the Test Group. The Replies list, from the top:
- Price list: Keyword match "price" (Contains), Open Website button "See our prices", Once per 24 hours, Live.
- New customer after hours: New customer + New Conversation + After business hours, Once per conversation, Live.
- After hours notice: After business hours, message "Hi, thanks for reaching out! We're closed now and will reply when we open at @Next Available Time.", Once per conversation, Live.
- New customer welcome: New customer + New Conversation + Within business hours, Once per conversation, Testing.
A separate Pickup confirmed reply uses App submitted with the "Book a Pickup" Mini App, the message "Hi @Customer Name, your pickup is booked for @Pickup Weekday, @Pickup Date at @Pickup Time.", and Every time.
What customers get:
- A new customer messages "Hi" at 10:30 pm on Tuesday. Reply 1 doesn't fit (no "price"), reply 2 fits, so they get the after-hours welcome, and only that one.
- A regular customer messages "What's the price for curtains?" at 11 am. Reply 1 fits, so they get the price list button.
- Anyone who books a pickup in the Mini App gets the pickup confirmation with their own name, day, date and time, every time they book.
- New customers messaging during the day get nothing automatic yet, because reply 4 is still in Testing. Only the two Test Group phones get it until the owner switches it to Live.
Removing a reply
- Open the reply and click Remove reply at the bottom.
- In Remove this reply?, click Remove reply.
A saved reply is removed straight away, without clicking Save, and customers stop getting it. This can't be undone, so set the reply to Off instead if you may want it back. A reply you added but never saved goes without asking.
FAQs
What happens if a customer's message fits two replies?
Only the first one in your list is sent. Drag your replies to change the order, then click Save. If that reply is waiting out its send frequency, the next one that fits is sent instead.
I made a new reply, but customers aren't getting it. Why?
New replies start in Testing, which only answers your Test Group. Open the reply, set Status to Live: replies to every customer, and click Save.
Why is my after-hours reply not being sent?
Check that Business Hours is turned on, with the right timezone and opening hours. Without them, EasyBiz can't tell when you are closed, so After business hours never matches.
My welcome for new customers is going to regular customers too. Why?
The reply is probably missing the New customer condition. Without it, anyone starting a new chat gets the welcome. Add New customer and click Save.
Can I use @Customer Name in my welcome message?
Only in replies with an App submitted condition, where the name comes from the form the customer just sent. Type @ in Reply Message to see what your reply can use.
My old rules were Disabled. What are they now?
They show as Off and are still never sent. Switch one to Live or Testing and click Save to use it again.
Do I still need the WhatsApp General Settings page?
No. Business Hours and the Test Group are now under Settings on the Auto replies page, and your saved hours and numbers are already there.
What's Next
You now know how auto replies work: conditions decide when a reply is sent, and actions decide what the customer can do next. Before you add your first reply, set your business hours and add your team's test numbers so you can check each reply safely: WhatsApp General Settings.
Then set up each ready-made reply:
- New Customer Welcome: greets first-time customers during business hours
- New Customer After Hours: welcomes new customers outside business hours
- After Hours Notice: tells anyone who messages after hours when you'll be back
- New Order Confirmation: confirms orders straight away
- Schedule Confirmation: confirms pickups and deliveries
- Sign Up Confirmation: welcomes new sign-ups