Missed enquiries after hours: how to reply on WhatsApp and Instagram without being online all the time

Customers message in the evening, at weekends, while you're in meetings. Three levels of reply, from the away message to an AI system, and how to pick the right one.

Enquiries don't arrive during office hours. They arrive in the evening, when the customer finally has time to write. They arrive on Sunday, from the sofa. They arrive while you're in a meeting with your phone face down on the table. The message itself isn't the problem. The problem is that whoever writes to you is often writing to other suppliers as well. And they choose the one who replies first, and replies usefully.

The good news: you don't need to be online all the time. You need to decide, in advance, what happens when nobody can reply.

Level 1: the automatic message

WhatsApp Business, even the free app, lets you set an away message outside business hours, a greeting message for people writing for the first time, and quick replies you can call up with a shortcut. Instagram offers similar tools for direct messages.

When it's enough: few enquiries, all different, customers who aren't in a hurry.

The limit: the message says "we'll get back to you tomorrow". The customer hasn't got anything. They've only been told they have to wait.

How to do it well: skip the generic pleasantries. Say when you'll actually reply and what you need to help: "We'll reply by 10am tomorrow. In the meantime, tell us what kind of project you have in mind and when you'd need it." That way, the next morning the conversation is already under way.

Level 2: the guided menu

One step up is the menu of options: "Reply 1 for a quote, 2 to book an appointment, 3 to talk to us". You build it with the tools of WhatsApp Business's official providers or with Instagram's automations.

When it's enough: very repetitive enquiries, always the same three or four.

The limit: people don't talk in menus. Someone who writes "I'd like to know if you also do websites and how long it takes" doesn't want to press 1. A rigid menu copes with the questions you expected and fails on all the others.

Level 3: the AI system

The third level is a system that understands a request written in plain words, knows the company's services and rules, and does something concrete:

answers frequent questions with the right information, in the brand's tone of voice;
asks the two or three questions needed to understand the project;
offers a free slot in the calendar and books the appointment;
creates the contact in the CRM with a summary of the enquiry;
alerts a person when the enquiry is sensitive, important or outside its remit.

When you need it: lots of enquiries, customers who compare several suppliers, a high cost for every enquiry you lose.

The limit: it has to be designed properly. It must know what it doesn't know, say clearly that it's an AI assistant, as EU rules also require, and always leave a way to talk to a person.

How to choose the right level

Three questions, in this order:

How many enquiries arrive after hours in a normal week? Look at the messages from the last four weeks and count them. Don't estimate. Count.
How many were similar to each other? If they're almost all the same, level 2 may be enough. If they're all different, you need level 3, or, if there are only a few, level 1 done well.
What is a new customer worth? If one extra project a year pays for the system, the answer writes itself.

The most common mistake

Automating the reply and forgetting what comes after. An appointment booked at 11pm by an assistant is useless if, the next morning, nobody knows who that customer is or what they asked. The value isn't in the automatic reply. It's in the clean handover between the machine and the person who then looks after the customer.

In short

Level 1: a well-written away message, free and ready to switch on today.
Level 2: a menu of options, useful if enquiries are all similar.
Level 3: an AI system that understands, acts and hands over to a person.
You choose by counting real enquiries, not on gut feeling.

If you want to know how many enquiries you're losing and which level you need, tell us how you work today.