Answering customers when you're closed: a practical plan for after-hours WhatsApp

1. Decide what you promise

Pick a promise you can keep: “We reply within 15 minutes, 9 am to 9 pm” or “Messages after 9 pm are answered the next morning”. Put it in your greeting and your profile so nobody is left guessing.

2. Separate what can wait from what can't

A price question can be answered at 11 pm by a prepared reply or an assistant. A complaint, a refund or a medical question should reach a person. Decide the list in advance, so the rest never wakes you up.

• Can be answered automatically: prices, sizes, timings, delivery, bookings
• Should reach a person: complaints, refunds, medical or legal questions, large orders

3. Automate the routine, with a safety net

An AI assistant on your WhatsApp can answer the routine questions in the customer's own language at any hour and hand the others to you. The safety net matters: it should tell the customer a person will reply, and alert you, rather than guess.

4. Start the morning with a summary, not a pile

The worst way to start the day is scrolling 60 unread chats. Better to see a short summary: who was answered, which orders and bookings came in, and the few chats that need you. Then you reply to those and move on.

5. Look at what customers ask at night

Night-time questions tell you what your listing or profile doesn't explain. If many ask about delivery to a city, put it in your profile; if many ask about sizes, add a size chart. Each fix removes questions for good.