Quick Start
What is respond.io?
Setting Up an Account
Connecting Channels
Inviting Your Teammates
Getting Contacts to Message You
Automated Welcome and Away Messages
Responding to Messages
Glossary of Terms
Channels
WhatsApp Business Platform (API) Quick Start
Getting Ready for Inbound Conversations
Getting Ready for Promotional Messaging
WhatsApp Official Business Account (Blue Tick)
Grow your WhatsApp Audience by Maximizing Entry Points
Get WhatsApp API Account for Government Agencies
WhatsApp Business Calling API
Meta Business Verification
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WhatsApp Messaging Limits
Meta Product Catalog
Change Your WhatsApp Business Display Name
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Turn-off WhatsApp Number Two-Step Verification
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Phone Number Migration to WhatsApp Cloud API
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Facebook Messenger Overview
Facebook Messenger Quick Start
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Website Chat Widget Overview
Website Chat Widget Quick Start
Install Website Chat Widget on WordPress
Install Website Chat Widget on Shopify
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Install Website Chat Widget on Squarespace
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Reports: Conversations
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Reports: Users
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Inbox Overview
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Broadcasts Module
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Workflows Overview
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Workflow Steps Overview
Step: AI Agent
Step: Send a Message
Step: Ask a Question
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Step: Close Conversation
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Step: Send TikTok Lower Funnel Event
Step: Send Conversions API Event
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Organization Overview
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Organization Settings: Users
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Help Menu
Conversation Led Growth
Capture Leads
How to Collect Contacts’ Emails and Phone Numbers
How to Route Contacts from CTC Ads to Agents
How to Send Outbound Sales Messages
How to Track Conversation Source from Multiple Websites
How to Enrich Customer Data from a CRM or other Business Software
Convert Leads
How to Automate Product Info Sharing in Conversations Initiated via CTC Ads
How to Automatically Qualify Contacts Based on Budget Using AI Agent
Assignment Strategy: How to Automate Contact Distribution & Load Balancing
How to Maximize Customer Service Potential with AI Agent
How to Automate Contact Information Collection with AI
How to Block Contacts and Manage Spam
How to Create Automated Welcome and Away Messages
How to Create Automated Chat Menus
How to Route Contacts to Preferred AI Agent
How to Route Contacts by their Preferred Language
How to Route Contacts by Team Functions
How to Route Contacts by Shifts
Assignment Strategy: How to Unassign Agents after Conversations Closed
How to Get Contacts’ Consent for Personal Data Collection
How to Promptly Transfer Conversation Between Agents
How to Guide Customers from Exploration to Purchase with Engaging Menus
How to Optimize Customer Onboarding with Automated & Customized Welcome Messages
How to Streamline Meeting Scheduling via CTC Ads
How to Get a Complete View of the Customers
How to Simplify Customer Escalation with Automation
How to Transfer Contacts to the Next Shift Automatically
How to Optimize Agents’ Productivity in the Inbox Module
How to Write an Optimal AI Persona (Best Practices)
How to Write the Best Knowledge Sources for AI Agents
How to Align AI Conversations with Your Brand Voice
How to Draft Customer Replies with AI
How to Convert Image to Text Using AI
How to Automate Calculations Using AI
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How to Route New and Returning Contacts
How to Route VIP Contacts
How to Send CSAT to Customer and Save Data in Google Sheets or CRMs
How to Send Outbound Support Messages
Reporting and Analytics
Broadcasts Use Cases
How to Send a Simple Broadcast
How to Start a Workflow Based on Broadcast Response
How to Import to Broadcast via WhatsApp
How to Troubleshoot a Failed Broadcast
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Dialogflow
Dialogflow Overview
Dialogflow: Connecting to Dialogflow
Dialogflow: Creating a Chatbot
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Dialogflow: Parameters
Dialogflow: Events
Dialogflow: Response Templates
Dialogflow: Custom Payloads
Dialogflow: Fulfillment Webhook Request
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Table of Contents
- Home
- Conversation Led Growth
- Convert Leads
- How to Create Automated Welcome and Away Messages
How to Create Automated Welcome and Away Messages
When customers starts messaging your business, you can automate a welcome and an away message to ensure they receive an immediate response even when no agent is available to attend to their inquiries. This can help reduce customer wait time and set customers’ expectations on business hours and response times.
Benefits of Automated Welcome and Away Messages
Use automated welcome and away messages to:
- improve customer experience by providing a prompt response 24/7.
- provide assurance to customers that their messages are received, which can prevent them from sending the same messages multiple times.
- manage customers’ expectations by providing information such as business hours and response times.
Methods for Sending Automated Welcome and Away Messages
- Send a welcome or an away message when a Contact opens a conversation.
- Send welcome and away messages based on business hours.
Send a welcome or an away message when a Contact opens a conversation
In the Workflows module, click + Add Workflow and choose your template:
- To send a welcome message, click Welcome Message > Click Use Template.
- To send an away message, click Away Message > Click Use Template.
The Workflow template is set up with a Trigger and Send a Message step. You can configure the messages as needed.
- Trigger: The Workflow starts when a conversation is opened by a Contact.
- Welcome Message or Away Message: Sends a message to greet your Contact, or inform your Contact that you’re currently not available and when they can expect a reply.
Send welcome and away messages based on business hours
In the Workflows module, click + Add Workflow > Click Away Message with Business Hours > Click Use Template.
The Workflow template is set up with a Trigger, Business Hours step and Send a Message step.
- Trigger: The Workflow starts when a conversation is opened by a Contact.
- Business Hours: Set up your business hours. Once configured, this step will route Contacts based on the date and time conditions.
- Welcome Message or Away Message: If the conversation is opened within the business hours, a welcome message will be sent. If the conversation is opened outside of the business hours, an away message will be sent. This step lets you configure the messages, if needed.
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