Greet people automatically

Three things you can set on a number, from Chat setup in the WhatsApp toolkit, that shape what a customer sees when they first open the chat with you.

This is not a keyword autoresponder

A common assumption, and wrong. Ice-breakers and commands do not watch incoming messages and reply to them — they are prompts WhatsApp displays for you. The third setting, the welcome switch, does reply, but only by handing the conversation to an AI Assistant. Nothing here matches keywords on its own — that is Instant Replies.

Ice-breakers

Tappable suggested questions, shown the first time a customer opens the chat with you. They tap one, it is sent as their message, and you have a conversation with a clear subject line.

Good ice-breakers are the questions you get most:

What are your opening hours?
Do you deliver to my area?
I'd like to book a table
Where is my order?

The Ice-breakers section of Chat setup with one question entered, a character count of 28 of 80, a counter reading 1 of 4 and an Add ice-breaker link — Four is the maximum, and each is capped at 80 characters.

They matter more than they look. Faced with an empty chat, most people type nothing. Faced with four buttons, they tap one — and a conversation the customer starts opens a 24-hour window you can answer in for nothing, instead of costing you a template to begin.

Commands

Shortcuts a customer sees when they type / in the chat. Each has a name and a description of what it does.

Useful where people return repeatedly and want the same thing quickly — /track, /hours, /menu. Less useful for a business someone contacts once. If in doubt, do ice-breakers properly and leave commands empty.

The Commands section of Chat setup with one command named welcome and its description, and a counter reading 1 of 30 — A short name and a description of what it does. Up to 30 of them.

Welcome message

A switch, not a message you write. Turn it on and the AI Assistant connected to that number answers the first message a customer sends. With no active assistant on the number, nothing is sent — the switch on its own does nothing.

So if you want a greeting in your own words, that copy belongs in the assistant — see Set up a support assistant. If you only want the chat to look inviting before anyone types, that is the ice-breakers above, and they need no assistant at all.

Steps

Open Chat setup under WhatsApp toolkit in the sidebar.
Pick the WhatsApp number — these are set per number, so each can behave differently.
Fill in the ice-breakers and commands, and set the welcome switch.
Use the preview to see how each one looks in the chat.
Save.

Changes take effect on new conversations. Someone already in a chat with you does not see them.

Getting it right

Four ice-breakers is plenty. They compete for one small area of screen.
Write them in the customer's words, not yours. "Where is my order?", not "Order status enquiry".
Cover the thing you most want to stop answering by hand, then pair it with a saved reply so answering is one tap on your side too.
Review them once a quarter. The questions you get change.

If something goes wrong

Nothing appears for the customer. These show on first contact. Test with a number that has never messaged you.
The changes did not take. Check you saved against the right number, and that you are looking at the same number in WhatsApp.
You expected an automatic reply and got none. Ice-breakers and commands never reply — they are prompts. The welcome switch does, but only through an active AI Assistant on that number. See AI Assistants.