Short answer
To handle WhatsApp messages that arrive after hours, decide which questions can be answered without a person, write those answers once, and make sure every other enquiry is saved with enough detail for your team to pick it up first thing. An away message can do part of this. An AI employee can answer the repeated questions from your knowledge and hand the rest to your team, with the conversation saved on the customer's record.
Why closing time is not the end of the day
Customers write when it suits them, often in the evening. If nobody answers until the next working day, some of them may ask another business. We do not quote figures for this because they differ from one business to another. Count your own: open your chat history and tally the messages that arrived outside opening hours over the last two weeks.
Seven steps that need no extra hires
- Count what arrives. Group the after-hours messages by type: opening hours, location, prices, availability, booking, complaints, other.
- Sort them. Some questions have a stable answer in text. Others need a person: price exceptions, complaints, changes to an existing order.
- Write the stable answers once. Keep each answer short and the same every time. Only include prices you will keep up to date.
- Make a promise you can keep. Say when the team will reply, for example "from 9 am", and keep to it.
- Capture the basics. Ask for a name, what the customer needs and a time that suits them, so the morning team does not start from zero.
- Give the morning one owner. One person goes through the overnight chats, oldest first, and passes each one to the right colleague.
- Review every week. Read a few overnight chats, fix any answer that was wrong and add the questions that keep coming back.
Three ways to cover the hours you are closed
| Away message | Staff on a rota | AI employee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the customer gets | A note saying when you will reply | A real answer from a person | An answer from the knowledge you provided, or a hand-over |
| Questions it can answer | None | Any, within the person's knowledge | The ones your knowledge covers |
| What it needs from you | One short text | Pay and scheduling for hours that may be quiet | Set-up of your information and a weekly review |
| Main risk | The customer still waits | Cost and tired staff | A wrong answer if your information is wrong or missing |
At the time of writing, the WhatsApp Business app can send an automatic greeting message to customers who write to you. See WhatsApp's article How to use greeting messages for the current details. Software that connects to the official WhatsApp Business Platform can do more, such as sharing one number between staff and adding an AI employee.
A sample after-hours message
Change the brackets to suit your business.
"Hello, thank you for writing to [business name]. We are closed now and reopen at [time]. If you have a question about our hours, location or services, write it here and we will help. Otherwise leave your name and what you are looking for, and a member of the team will reply from [time]."
Keep it short. Do not promise a reply time you cannot meet.
One WhatsApp rule to remember
When a customer has not written to you in the last 24 hours, you can send only a Meta-approved template message. When a customer writes to you, Meta's 24-hour customer service window opens again. Rules change, so read Meta's current documentation on sending messages and the customer service window and on template fundamentals.
Where Growme fits
Growme is an AI workspace and CRM platform. WhatsApp is the first channel. After hours, the AI employee answers customers in Arabic or English from the business knowledge you give it, introduces itself in the chat as the AI assistant, and hands the chat to your team when it does not know the answer or when the customer asks for a person. Your team can switch the AI off in any chat.
- Tasks with an owner and a next step are created from conversations, which gives the morning team a list to start from.
- When a customer agrees a time in the chat, the AI pencils it in as tentative. A member of your team confirms it, and then the customer receives the invitation.
- Voice notes are transcribed. WhatsApp calls are answered by the AI, with a transcript and a summary. Ordinary phone lines are not available.
The AI answers only from the information you provide, so review its chats. On the Pricing page: KD 50 a month covers one WhatsApp number, five users and an AI employee, and AI work is metered in man-hours at KD 5 per man-hour. Meta's message fees are separate.
Frequently asked questions
Is an away message enough?
If few customers write after hours, it may be. It tells people when to expect a reply, but it does not answer their question. If the same questions keep arriving, answering them is better than asking people to wait.
Should an AI answer customers at night?
That is your decision. A careful start is to let it answer only the repeated questions from information you have approved, and hand over everything else. In Growme your team can switch the AI off in any chat.
Will customers know it is an AI?
They should. In Growme the AI employee introduces itself as the AI assistant in chat, and on a call it says it is an AI if the caller asks. Offer an easy way to reach a person.
Can it book appointments when we are closed?
In Growme a time agreed in chat is pencilled in as tentative. A member of your team confirms it, and then the customer receives the invitation. Ask any provider exactly how booking works.
What about calls at night?
Growme answers WhatsApp calls with the AI and keeps a transcript and a summary. It does not answer calls on an ordinary phone line.