Almost every WhatsApp greeting message in India reads roughly like this:
Thank you for contacting us! Our team will get back to you shortly. Our working hours are 10am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday.
It is polite, it is professional, and it tells the customer to stop talking. Nothing in it invites a reply, so the conversation ends there and someone has to restart it later.
What makes a good WhatsApp greeting message?
Three things, and the third is the one almost everyone misses.
- Say who you are. They may have messaged five businesses. If your first line does not name you, they do not know which one replied.
- Set a realistic expectation. "Shortly" means nothing. "Within 10 minutes during the day" is a promise you can keep and they can rely on.
- End with a question they can answer in three words. This is the whole thing. A greeting that ends in a full stop gets no reply. One that ends in an easy question gets a conversation, and on WhatsApp a reply is worth more than it looks: it opens a 24-hour window in which everything you send is free and needs no template.
Greeting message examples
Take these and change the specifics. The structure is the part that matters.
Real estate
Hi, thanks for your interest in Prestige Lakeside. This is Rahul from Kredoo Realty. Are you looking for a 2BHK or a 3BHK?
Education and study abroad
Hi, this is the admissions team at Nova Overseas. Thanks for enquiring. Which intake are you planning for, January or September?
Clinic or dental practice
Hello, this is Dr Mehta's clinic. Thanks for messaging. Would you prefer a weekday or a weekend appointment?
Home services
Hi, this is Sharma Interiors. Thanks for getting in touch. Which room are you looking to do first?
Gym or studio
Hi, thanks for messaging Iron Yard. Are you looking for a monthly plan or a trial class first?
Notice what none of them do. No working hours, no "we will get back to you", no menu of options numbered 1 to 5. One line of identification, one easy question.
Away message examples
An away message has a different job: stop the customer feeling ignored, and be specific enough that they wait rather than message a competitor.
Outside working hours
Thanks for messaging Kredoo Realty. We are closed now and will reply first thing tomorrow, before 10:30am. If it is urgent, reply URGENT and we will call you first.
Weekend
Thanks for getting in touch. Our team is back on Monday morning and you are first in the queue. Meanwhile, which area were you looking at?
During a holiday
Thanks for messaging. We are closed for Diwali and will reply on the 3rd. Your message is saved and nobody has to repeat anything.
The pattern: a specific return time, and where possible still a question, because a reply that arrives overnight is still a reply and still opens the window.
Watch out: Do not promise a response time you cannot keep. An away message saying "we reply within an hour" that goes unanswered until Tuesday is worse than no away message, because now you have broken a stated promise rather than simply been slow.
Do I need the WhatsApp API for greeting messages?
No, and this is worth knowing before anybody sells you something.
The free WhatsApp Business app sends greeting and away messages automatically. Open the app, go to Settings, then Business tools, and you will find both. That covers a business where one or two people answer the phone.
You need the WhatsApp Business Platform when the trigger is not "someone messaged us" but something in your own systems: a lead arrived from a Meta ad, a visit was booked, a payment failed, somebody went quiet for three days. That is a different problem, and it is the one worth paying for.
What about the first message you send them?
Different rules, and this catches people out.
A greeting message is a reply, so it can be any text you like. A message you send first, to someone who has not messaged you, must be an approved template. And Meta decides its category by reading the content, so a first-contact message following up an ad enquiry is billed as marketing whatever you select. That is covered in why your template is billed as marketing.
The good news is that the same principle applies to both. The template with the highest approval rate and the lowest cost per conversation is the one that asks one easy question, because it earns the reply that makes the next 24 hours free.
The one-line test
Before you save any greeting message, read it and ask: could someone reply to this in three words without thinking?
"Thank you for contacting us, our team will get back to you shortly" fails. "Are you looking at 2BHK or 3BHK?" passes.
That is genuinely the whole difference between a greeting message that starts a sale and one that ends a conversation.
At Kredoo we write the first message for real estate, education and services teams across India, because on a channel where a reply makes everything free, the wording of one sentence is worth more than any feature. See how it works.
Questions people ask
What is a good WhatsApp greeting message for business?
One that names the business, sets a realistic response time, and ends with a question the customer can answer in three words. For example: "Hi, thanks for your interest in Prestige Lakeside. This is Rahul from Kredoo Realty. Are you looking for a 2BHK or a 3BHK?" Greetings that end with "we will get back to you shortly" invite no reply and end the conversation.
How do I set up an automatic greeting message on WhatsApp Business?
In the free WhatsApp Business app, open Settings, then Business tools, where both greeting message and away message can be enabled and edited. No API or paid tool is required for this.
What is the difference between a greeting message and an away message?
A greeting message is sent when someone messages you for the first time, or after a period of inactivity, and its job is to start a conversation. An away message is sent outside your working hours, and its job is to stop the customer feeling ignored by giving a specific time you will reply.
What should an away message say?
A specific return time rather than "soon", and ideally still a question. For example: "We are closed now and will reply before 10:30am tomorrow. Meanwhile, which area were you looking at?" Never promise a response time you cannot keep, because an unmet stated promise is worse than no promise.
Do I need the WhatsApp Business API for greeting messages?
No. The free WhatsApp Business app handles greeting and away messages. The API is needed when messages have to be triggered by your own systems, such as a lead arriving from an ad, a booking being made, or a customer going quiet for several days.
Can I send the first WhatsApp message to a customer who has not messaged me?
Only with a template that Meta approved in advance, and only to someone who has opted in. A greeting message is a reply, so it can be any text. A first-contact message is not, and Meta decides its billing category by reading the content, which usually makes an ad follow-up a marketing message.
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