WhatsApp After-Hours Replies That Book the Next Step
After-hours replies cover the WhatsApp messages that arrive when your team has gone home. AeroChat answers what it can from your knowledge base, and for anything that needs a person, it checks Google Calendar for the next free slot, books a callback and logs the request in a Google Sheet or your CRM. Your team starts the day with a list of booked follow-ups.
What happens today
An away message tells the customer you are closed. The customer either waits until morning or messages a competitor who is still answering.
In the morning, someone scrolls through the night’s chats, works out who needs what, and replies one by one. Requests that arrived on Friday night wait until Monday.
How it runs on WhatsApp
- A customer messages outside your opening hours.
- AeroChat answers questions on prices, services, stock and policies from your knowledge base, as it does during the day.
- If the request needs a person, it reads Google Calendar for the next free callback slot in opening hours and offers two times.
- It books the chosen slot as a calendar event with the customer’s name, number and request.
- It adds a row to your Google Sheet, or a note in HubSpot, so the team sees the overnight requests in one place.
- It confirms the time to the customer. In the morning, your team picks the conversation up in the AeroChat inbox with the full history.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer messages us outside 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday (example), follow these steps.
- Answer questions about prices, services and policies from our knowledge base.
- If they need a person, for example for a quote, a complaint or an account change, check the Callbacks calendar (example) for free 15-minute slots on the next working day.
- Offer the first two free slots and book the one they choose, with their name, phone number and request in the event description.
- Add a row to the After hours tab of our Google Sheet with the time, their name, their request and the callback time.
- Confirm the callback time and tell them which number we will call from.
Do not offer slots outside opening hours. If the request is urgent, give them our emergency line, 6123 4567 (example). Reply in the customer’s language.
Replace the hours, calendar name and phone number with your own.
Connect the systems behind it
- Google Calendar: shows free callback slots and holds the bookings AeroChat makes overnight.
- Google Sheets: collects every after-hours request in one tab for the morning.
- HubSpot: adds the request as a note on the contact if you keep customers in a CRM.
Google Calendar and Google Sheets connect by signing in with a Google account.
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.
What it costs on WhatsApp
Overnight messages from customers are free. AeroChat’s replies are service messages, free up to 1,000 a month per business phone number and then charged per message. When your team follows up within 24 hours of the customer’s last message, that reply is free-form too. If the follow-up happens later, for example after a weekend, it needs an approved template, which is charged per message. Rates vary by country and are set in Meta’s rate cards. AeroChat passes Meta’s WhatsApp fees through at cost.
Also on Instagram, Messenger, TikTok and web chat
Night-time messages on Instagram and your website get the same answers and the same callback bookings. The same workflow runs on Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TikTok (direct messages and TikTok Shop buyer chat), Telegram, the chat on your website and email, with the same connections behind it. You describe it once and switch on the channels you use. See this workflow on Instagram and on Messenger.
Who uses it
Retail and service businesses run it, including fashion stores, beauty stores, dental clinics, hair and beauty salons, spas, hotels, restaurants and caterers, tuition centres, property agents, aircon and home services and B2B suppliers.
Questions
How do I set an away message on WhatsApp Business?
The WhatsApp Business app has an away message under business tools that sends a fixed text outside your hours. AeroChat replaces it with answers to the actual question and a booked callback.
Can I reply the next morning for free?
If your reply goes out within 24 hours of the customer’s last message, it is a service message, free up to 1,000 a month per business number. After 24 hours, you can only send an approved template, which is charged per message.
Does AeroChat remind the customer before the callback?
Reminders come from your booking or calendar system, or from a WhatsApp broadcast to customers who opted in, on Growth and above. AeroChat replies inside the conversation.
Which plan do I need?
Workflows via Skills are on every plan, Free included. Starter gives 500 AI responses and 3 seats. Growth gives 2,000 AI responses and 10 seats, and adds payment links and broadcasts. Advanced gives 5,000 AI responses and 25 seats.
Stop losing the customers who message after closing
Connect your calendar, set your hours in the recipe, and message your number tonight to test it.
Start your 7-day free trial. No credit card needed.
On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.
Related: auto-replies that answer the question and human handover and team inbox.