Facebook Messenger After-Hours Replies That Get Things Done
After-hours replies on Messenger cover the messages your Facebook Page gets when nobody is at work: evenings, weekends and public holidays. Instead of an away message, AeroChat answers the question, books into your Google Calendar, takes a payment if needed, and logs anything that needs a person as a callback in HubSpot or a Google Sheet, ready for your team in the morning.
What happens today
The Page’s away message says “We’re closed, we’ll reply tomorrow”. The customer asked a simple question, such as a price or whether Saturday is free, and now waits until morning.
In the morning the inbox is full. The team works through it oldest first, some customers have already booked elsewhere, and messages from Friday night are past Meta’s 24-hour window by Monday.
How it runs on Messenger
- A customer messages your Page outside opening hours. AeroChat answers straight away, as it does during the day.
- It answers questions from your knowledge base, and reads opening hours and holiday dates from your Google Sheet so it knows when you are closed.
- If the customer wants to book, it reads free slots from your Google Calendar and books the one they pick.
- If the request needs a person, it tells the customer when the team will be back, asks for an email or phone number, and creates a callback task in HubSpot or a row in your callback sheet.
- It hands the conversation to your team’s inbox with a summary, marked for the next working morning.
- Urgent requests you define, such as a breakdown or a same-day booking problem, go to the on-call person on the mobile app straight away.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer messages us outside opening hours, follow these steps.
- Check the Hours tab of our Google Sheet (example) for today’s opening hours and any public holiday.
- Answer questions about prices, services and policies from our knowledge base as normal.
- If they want to book, check free slots in our Google Calendar for the next 7 days and book the one they pick.
- If they need a person, say: “Our team is back at 9am on Monday (example). Can I take your email or phone number so they can follow up?”
- Create a task in HubSpot for the Support team (example) due at 9am on the next working day, with a summary of the request and their contact details.
- If they report a burst pipe, a power failure or a no-show by our technician (example), hand the conversation to the on-call person now.
Never promise a reply time earlier than our next opening. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the opening time, urgent triggers and team names to your own.
Connect the systems behind it
- Google Calendar: built in by connecting a Google account. AeroChat books after-hours appointments into free slots.
- Google Sheets: opening hours and holidays AeroChat reads, and a callback list it writes to.
- HubSpot: AeroChat creates a callback task due on the next working morning, on the right contact.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
Meta’s rules on Messenger
Automated replies can go within 24 hours of the customer’s last message, and Meta expects them within 30 seconds, or it can limit your messaging. Answering at night keeps you inside both. Replies typed by a person on your team have a separate 7-day window, so a message from Friday night can still get a reply from your team on Monday. If the customer came from a click-to-Messenger ad, you can reply for up to 7 days from their first message. Collecting an email or phone number at night gives your team another way to reach the customer.
Also on WhatsApp, TikTok and web chat
The same after-hours workflow runs on WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok (direct messages and TikTok Shop buyer chat), Telegram, web chat and email, with the same hours, calendar and callback list.
Who uses it
- Hotels: late-night room availability questions answered while the guest is still deciding.
- Restaurants and caterers: table reservations taken after closing time.
- Aircon and home services: urgent breakdowns passed to the on-call technician.
Read more: tools for 24/7 Facebook customer service.
Questions
How do I set an away message on Facebook Messenger?
Meta Business Suite has an away message that tells customers you are closed. AeroChat goes further: it answers the question, books, or logs a callback, so the customer gets what they came for at night.
Can my team reply to weekend messages on Monday?
Yes. A person on your team can reply within 7 days of the customer’s last message. Automated replies are limited to 24 hours.
Can it handle urgent requests at night?
Yes. You list what counts as urgent, and AeroChat passes those conversations to the on-call person on the mobile app straight away.
Does it know about public holidays?
Yes, if you list them. AeroChat reads your hours and holiday dates from a Google Sheet or its knowledge base before it replies.
Answer tonight’s messages tonight
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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.
Related: human handover and appointment booking.