WhatsApp Business Quick Replies: How to Set Them Up, With Samples

Quick replies in WhatsApp Business are saved messages you insert into a chat by typing “/” or picking them from the attach menu. You can store up to 50, each with a short keyboard shortcut, and on the mobile app they can include images and videos. You always send them yourself: a quick reply never goes out on its own.

This guide shows how to create, use and delete them, why they sometimes don’t appear, how they work for a team on the WhatsApp Business API, and 15 sample replies you can adapt today.

What a quick reply is (and what it isn’t)

A quick reply is a message you’ve saved because you send it often: your opening hours, how to pay, where to park, a price list. You open a chat, type a slash and a shortcut, and the saved text drops into the message box, ready to send.

Three things get mixed up with it, so it helps to keep them apart:

Greeting and away messages are covered in WhatsApp auto reply. Tappable buttons are covered in WhatsApp buttons and lists. This guide is only about the saved replies you send yourself.

How to create a quick reply in the WhatsApp Business app

WhatsApp’s Help Center gives these steps for the Business app on Android and iPhone:

1. Open the Tools tab and tap Quick replies.
2. Tap the plus icon.
3. Tap Message and write the reply. On the mobile app you can attach media, such as an image or video.
4. Tap Shortcut and type the keyword you’ll use to find it, such as “hours” or “pay”.
5. Tap Save.

WhatsApp also creates some quick replies for you from your business profile, such as your hours and address. The more of your profile you fill in, the more of these you get. See your WhatsApp Business profile for what to fill in.

How to send a quick reply in a chat

There are two ways, and both put the text into the message box so you can change it before it goes:

• From the message box: tap Message and type “/”. Your quick replies appear, including the ones WhatsApp made from your profile. Pick one, edit it if needed, and send.
• From the attach menu: tap the attach icon, choose Quick reply, and select the one you want.

Because you can edit before sending, the best quick replies have obvious gaps to fill, such as “Hi [name]” or “Your table for [number] on [date]”. A gap left in by mistake looks careless, so read the message once before you tap send.

Edit, delete and back up your list

To delete one, go to Tools › Quick replies, tap and hold it, tap the trash icon and confirm Delete. Everything about your list is managed from that same screen.

Review the list every few months. Prices, hours and links change, and an out-of-date quick reply is worse than none, because it’s sent with confidence.

Quick replies not working? Check these first

Most problems come down to one of these:

If none of these fit, update the WhatsApp Business app from your app store and try again, since the steps above follow WhatsApp’s current Help Center.

15 quick reply samples you can adapt

These are our own samples with demo details. Swap in your own facts, and keep the brackets as reminders to personalise.

Two rules keep these safe. Never ask for full card numbers, bank account numbers or ID numbers in a chat, which WhatsApp’s Business Messaging Policy rules out. And keep promotions out of quick replies: if you want to send offers, use opted-in marketing templates, not a saved reply pasted into old chats.

Quick replies on the WhatsApp Business API

Meta’s documentation lists quick replies, greeting and away messages and labels as not supported on the Cloud API. Those are Business app tools. On the API, saved replies come from the platform your team uses to answer chats.

If you connect your Business app number with coexistence, Meta says your quick replies in the app don’t change. They keep working on your phone, but they don’t appear in your API platform. See WhatsApp coexistence.

There’s one more rule to remember. On the API you can send a free-form message, including a quick reply, only while the customer’s 24-hour customer service window is open. After that you need an approved template. See the 24-hour window.

Quick replies in Automate AI’s team inbox

In Automate AI, quick replies belong to the whole workspace, so every person on the team uses the same answers from the shared inbox. The shared inbox is on every plan. To set them up:

1. Open Settings and, under Chats & replies, choose Quick Replies.
2. Click Add Quick Reply.
3. Enter a Shortcode (letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores only), such as hours or pay-options.
4. Write the Message and keep Active switched on, so it shows in the chat.
5. Click Create.

In any chat, type “/” followed by a word from the shortcode or the message. A list of matching active replies appears with each shortcode beside it. Use the arrow keys and press Enter or Tab to insert one, or Esc to close the list. The text replaces the slash and what you typed after it, and you can edit it before sending.

• Text only. An Automate AI quick reply inserts text. To send a file, attach it in the chat as usual.
• No automatic name. Brackets like [name] stay as typed, so fill them in before you send.
• Switch off instead of deleting. Turning Active off hides a seasonal reply from the chat without losing it.

Quick replies fit alongside the rest of the inbox: assignment, internal notes and, on plans that include it, the AI Assistant for answers at any hour. If your team is growing beyond one phone, see WhatsApp Business for multiple users.