When a customer messages your business on WhatsApp, the first few seconds shape everything that follows. A well-written greeting message reassures, sets expectations and routes the enquiry — before you have even seen the notification. A silent profile, on the other hand, feels like a closed shop. If you use WhatsApp Business as a professional channel, the greeting message is the first lever to configure. This guide covers the mechanics, best practices, 15 industry-specific templates and the limits of the free app versus an automated solution.
What is a WhatsApp Business greeting message
The greeting message is an automatic text sent by WhatsApp Business as soon as a customer opens a conversation with your business number. It triggers in two scenarios:
- First contact — the customer messages you for the very first time.
- Re-engagement after inactivity — the conversation has been silent for more than 14 days (default, configurable).
The greeting message is not the same as an away message. The WhatsApp auto-reply triggers every time a message arrives outside your working hours, or based on keywords. The greeting triggers only once per conversation cycle. The two are complementary: the greeting opens the door, the auto-reply keeps it open.
Why setting up a greeting message changes your results
A customer messaging a business on WhatsApp expects a reply within 5 minutes (HubSpot, 2025). In practice, most small businesses take 2 to 8 hours. The greeting message bridges this gap instantly:
- Perceived wait time ÷ 4 — the customer receives an acknowledgement in under 2 seconds, even if your team won't read the message for 2 hours. Perception shifts from "business is absent" to "business is listening".
- +40% customer reply rate — when the greeting asks a question ("What service are you enquiring about?"), 73% of customers reply, versus 44% when they face an empty screen (WhatsApp Business data, 2025).
- Automatic enquiry filtering — a structured greeting ("Reply 1 for a booking, 2 for a quote, 3 for a question") cuts unnecessary back-and-forth and speeds up handling.
- Stronger professional image — a polished message with opening hours and a link to your Google profile builds trust from the first contact.
- Fewer lost leads — a prospect who receives a greeting is 2.3× more likely to stay in the conversation than one who gets nothing for 30 minutes.
5 rules for a greeting message that converts
The best-performing greeting messages follow five simple principles. Breaking them costs nothing upfront, but customer reply rates reveal the damage quickly.
1. Keep it to 3–5 lines
A greeting message is not a sales page. Beyond 5 lines, read-through rates drop by 60% (internal Meta data, 2024). The formula: one welcome line, one useful line (hours or next step), one call to action. That's it.
2. Ask a closed question
"How can I help?" is too vague. Offer concrete options: "Would you like to book an appointment or ask about our prices?" The customer has a clear path, replies faster, and you save time upstream.
3. Include your response hours
If you're not available 24/7, say so. A customer who knows you reply "Monday to Friday, 9am–6pm" will wait patiently. A customer who doesn't know will assume you're ignoring them.
4. Personalise by trade, not by gimmick
Emojis aren't personalisation. What matters is the language of the trade: a hair salon talks about "appointments" and "colour", a plumber talks about "emergency repairs" and "quotes", a restaurant talks about "reservations" and "the menu". The customer should feel they are talking to a professional in their field, not a generic chatbot.
5. Test and iterate
Your first greeting message is never the best. Change it every 30 days and compare reply rates. The free WhatsApp Business app offers limited analytics — automated WhatsApp messages via the API provide precise measurement.
15 WhatsApp Business greeting message templates by industry
Each template follows the five rules above: short, action-oriented, with hours and a closed question. Adapt the tone to your brand.
Tradespeople (plumber, electrician, locksmith)
Template 1 — Emergency + quote
Hello and thanks for contacting [Business Name]! 🔧
Emergency or quote request? Describe your issue and share your address — we'll get back to you within 30 minutes (Mon–Fri 8am–7pm, Sat 9am–1pm).
Template 2 — Service routing
Welcome to [Business]! You're contacting us about:
1️⃣ An urgent repair
2️⃣ A project quote
3️⃣ An existing job follow-up
Reply with the number and we'll get back to you shortly.
Template 3 — Simple and direct
Thanks for your message! Our team replies within 1 hour during opening hours (Mon–Fri 7:30am–6pm). For emergencies, call [number].
Hair salons and beauty
Template 4 — Appointment booking
Hello! Welcome to [Salon]. ✂️
To book a slot, let us know the service you'd like and your preferred times. We'll confirm within the hour (Tue–Sat 9am–7pm).
Template 5 — Returning client
Great to hear from you! 💇 Need an appointment, colour advice or a question about pricing? Let us know and we'll reply promptly.
Template 6 — Beauty salon
Welcome to [Beauty Studio]! Facial, manicure, waxing or massage — tell us what you'd enjoy and we'll suggest a time. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am–7pm.
Restaurants and caterers
Template 7 — Reservation
Welcome to [Restaurant]! 🍽️
Reservation: share the date, time and party size.
Menu / allergen question: we reply within 15 min (10am–11pm daily).
Template 8 — Click & collect
Thanks for messaging us! 🥡 Send your order or ask for today's specials. Collection available within 30 min during service hours (12–2:30pm / 7–10pm).
Template 9 — Event catering
Hello and thanks for reaching out to [Caterer]! Planning an event? Share the date, guest count and type of service — we'll send a proposal within 24 hours.
Health and wellness (physio, osteopath, coach)
Template 10 — Appointment booking
Hello! [Practitioner]'s clinic is open Monday to Friday, 8am–7pm. To book an appointment, share your availability and reason for the visit. We'll confirm within 2 hours.
Template 11 — Personal trainer
Hey! 💪 Want to book a session, change a time or ask about the programme? Let me know — I reply between 8am and 8pm.
Property and professional services
Template 12 — Estate agent
Welcome to [Agency]! 🏠 Looking for a property, need a valuation or have a question about an existing file? Share the details — we'll be in touch within 1 hour (Mon–Sat 9am–7pm).
Template 13 — Photographer
Thanks for your message! 📸 Portrait, event or product shoot — let us know the type and preferred date. We'll send availability and pricing within 24 hours.
Advanced greetings (WhatsApp Business API)
Template 14 — Personalised by first name
Hello ! Thanks for contacting [Business]. How can we help you today? A team member will reply within 5 minutes.
Available via the WhatsApp Business API only — the first name is dynamically injected from the contact profile.
Template 15 — After-hours with AI agent
Good evening! Our team is currently offline (hours: Mon–Fri 9am–6pm). But our AI assistant can help right now — describe what you need and it will point you to the right solution.
This is the model used by solutions like Reepli: the AI agent takes over immediately, qualifies the enquiry and can even book an appointment.
How to set up the greeting message in WhatsApp Business
Setup takes under 2 minutes on the free app:
- Open WhatsApp Business → Settings → Business tools → Greeting message.
- Toggle on "Send greeting message" — the switch should turn green.
- Write your message — 1,024 characters maximum. Use one of the 15 templates above as a starting point.
- Choose recipients — "Everyone", "Everyone not in address book" or "Everyone except…". The recommended setting for a small business: "Everyone not in address book" (existing customers don't need the greeting every time).
- Set the re-trigger delay — 14 days by default. If you receive high message volumes, shorten to 1 day.
- Save — the message goes live immediately.
Key limitation: the free app only supports one static greeting, identical for every contact. No personalisation by name, time of day or enquiry type. To go further, you need the WhatsApp Business API — via a WhatsApp Business chatbot or an AI agent that handles dynamic messaging.
What the free app cannot do
The free app's greeting message is a solid start, but its limitations surface quickly:
| Feature | Free app | WhatsApp Business API |
|---|---|---|
| Number of greetings | 1 only | Unlimited (by scenario, time, segment) |
| First-name personalisation | No | Yes (dynamic variables) |
| Time-aware adaptation (day/night/weekend) | No | Yes |
| Routing to the right team member | No | Yes (automatic assignment) |
| Conversation tracking (CRM) | No | Yes |
| AI response after greeting | No | Yes |
| Analytics (open rate, reply rate) | Basic | Full |
For a business receiving fewer than 10 messages a day, the free app is enough. Beyond that — or if you want the greeting to trigger an intelligent conversation — the API becomes essential.
5 common mistakes that undermine your greeting
1. Writing an essay
A 15-line message covering company history, values, mission statement and three paragraphs of pleasantries. Nobody reads that on a phone. The customer closes the chat and contacts a competitor.
2. Promising a response time you can't keep
"We'll reply within 5 minutes!" when you actually take 3 hours. Better to write "within 2 hours" and reply in 30 minutes than the other way round. Broken expectations drive more drop-off than honest wait times.
3. Forgetting your hours
A customer who messages at 10pm and receives only "Hi, how can I help?" with no mention of hours will think you're ignoring them until morning. Always state your availability.
4. Never updating the message
The greeting that still mentions "our 2024 prices" or the "Christmas menu" in March. Set a monthly reminder to check that your greeting is current.
5. Ignoring the away message
The greeting triggers on first conversation. The away message (auto-reply) triggers outside working hours or when you're busy. They're complementary: setting up one without the other leaves a gap in the customer experience.
What the best greetings change, industry by industry
Hair salons and beauty
A hair salon's greeting should contain the word "appointment" in the first two lines. 68% of messages received by salons concern booking (Treatwell study, 2025). When the greeting routes directly to booking, the salon saves 15 minutes of back-and-forth per client. Salons using an AI agent for greeting and booking see a 35% lower no-show rate, because confirmation and reminders go out automatically.
Plumbers and tradespeople
For a plumber, the key question is urgency. The greeting must distinguish "emergency" from "planned quote" in the first line. Without this split, emergency calls (leaks, boiler breakdowns) mix with 3-week scheduling requests, and the plumber wastes time sorting. A good greeting eliminates this triage entirely.
Restaurants
A restaurant receives two types of messages: reservations and menu questions (allergens, daily specials, click & collect). The greeting should separate the two immediately. Restaurants offering "Reply 1 to book, 2 for the menu" reduce average handling time by 40% and avoid incomplete bookings (missing date or party size).
Going further: from static greeting to AI agent
The free app's greeting is a good starting point. But it remains static: same text for everyone, no automatic follow-up, no data collection. For a business receiving more than 10 messages a day, the limits show quickly.
The next step is moving from a static greeting to an AI agent that handles the entire first interaction:
- Dynamic greeting — adapted to the time, day and contact type (new vs returning customer).
- Automatic qualification — the AI agent asks the right questions and classifies the enquiry (emergency, quote, appointment, information).
- Direct appointment booking — the customer picks a slot within the conversation, without leaving WhatsApp.
- CRM history — every exchange is recorded, every customer is identified, nothing gets lost between conversations.
- 24/7 availability — the greeting is no longer a waiting screen; it's the start of a real conversation, even at 11pm on a Sunday.
Reepli works exactly this way: the AI agent connected to your WhatsApp Business account greets the customer, understands their need, suggests a time slot or answers a common question — all in under 5 seconds. The base plan (€79/month) includes the WhatsApp Conversation agent + CRM; each additional agent (Sales, Appointments, Follow-up, Instagram, Google Reviews) costs €40/month.
Frequently asked questions
Does the WhatsApp greeting message appear in groups?
No. The greeting message only triggers in individual (one-to-one) conversations. It does not activate in WhatsApp groups or broadcast lists. If you use broadcast lists to communicate with customers, the greeting will not be sent.
What is the difference between a greeting message and an away message?
The greeting message triggers on first contact or after 14 days of inactivity — regardless of the time. The away message triggers only outside your working hours. Both can coexist: the greeting for new contacts, the away message for evenings and weekends. Configure both to cover every scenario.
Can you send images or videos in the greeting message?
Not with the free WhatsApp Business app. The greeting is limited to text (1,024 characters including emojis). The WhatsApp Business API, however, allows rich messages (images, videos, buttons, interactive lists) as the first welcome message.
Does the greeting message work on WhatsApp Business Web?
The greeting message can only be configured in the WhatsApp Business mobile app (Android or iOS). Once set up, however, it triggers regardless of the connected device — including WhatsApp Business Web. The customer receives it even if you're only logged in on desktop.
Does an AI agent replace or complement the greeting message?
It replaces and goes far beyond. With the free app, the greeting is a static text sent once — the conversation stops there until you intervene manually. An AI agent sends a dynamic greeting then continues the conversation: qualifying the enquiry, answering common questions and booking appointments, all automatically and around the clock.