Palby AI Agent
Updated 8 min read

WhatsApp quick reply buttons: qualify leads with them

"Quick reply" means two different things on WhatsApp: a saved message you send with a shortcut in the Business app, and a button the customer taps, which comes with the Platform. Here's how to set up each, who can use which, replies worth saving, and how to use either to find out which new leads are ready to talk.

By Leo Tan, founder of Palby AI Agent

Two things called quick reply

Search for WhatsApp quick reply buttons and you'll find two features mixed up. A quick reply is a message you save in the WhatsApp Business app and send with a shortcut. A reply button is a choice the customer taps under a message, and it comes with the WhatsApp Business Platform.

FeatureQuick repliesReply buttons
WhereWhatsApp Business appWhatsApp Business Platform (the API)
Who tapsYou, to send a saved messageThe customer, to answer you
What it savesYour typingThe customer's typing
CostFree with the appPart of Platform messaging, charged by Meta and your vendor

The free Business app gives you quick replies and no reply buttons in a chat. Reply buttons come with the Platform, which most businesses reach through a vendor.

One newer feature blurs the line. WhatsApp's Business app features page says Business Broadcasts let you "add buttons like Book, Order and Call so people can tap to act", and that they're "available to eligible users in select countries". Those are buttons that act, on a broadcast. They aren't answers to a question you asked in a chat.

Quick replies on the Business app

A quick reply is a message you save once and send in two taps. WhatsApp's help page says you can "create shortcuts for the messages you frequently send to your customers", including images and videos, and that you can store up to 50.

Set one up

The steps are the same on Android and iPhone:

  1. Open the Tools tab and tap Quick replies.
  2. Tap the add button, then the message box, and write it.
  3. Tap Shortcut and give it a keyword, like "hours" or "price".
  4. Tap Save.

Send one

Open a chat and type "/" in the message field. Your saved replies come up, and you pick one. You can also get to them from the attach button, under Quick reply. Either way, the message lands in the box where you type, and you can edit it before you send, which is the moment to add the customer's name.

WhatsApp's page adds that the app makes a few default replies from your business profile, such as your hours, your address and the profile itself. Fill in every part of the profile and they appear on their own.

Delete the ones you stop using

From the Tools tab, tap Quick replies. On Android, tap and hold the reply, then Delete. On iPhone, tap it, then Delete. A list of 12 you use beats a list of 50 you scroll through.

On WhatsApp Web and Desktop

The same page says media files aren't supported in quick replies on Web or Desktop. Save the text replies you use at your desk, and keep the ones with a price list image or a video for your phone.

Start with the ones you type every day. Opening hours and directions are obvious. So is a price range, and a polite "I'm with a client, I'll reply by 3pm" earns its place within a week.

Quick replies worth saving

A good quick reply answers one question, leaves room for the customer's name, and ends with a question back so the chat keeps moving. These six cover most of a seller's day. Change the details to yours.

ShortcutThe replyWhen
/hiHi, thanks for getting in touch. What are you looking for, and by when?A new enquiry
/hoursWe're open Monday to Friday, 9 to 6, and Saturday mornings. When suits you?Someone asks when you're free
/priceHappy to give you a clear number. What's the job, and roughly how big?A price question before you know the job
/bookI can do Tuesday at 11 or Thursday at 3. Which works better?Moving a chat to a booked slot
/laterGot your message. I'm with a client and I'll reply properly by 3pm.You need time but want them to know you saw it
/afterGood talking just now. I'll send what we covered by the end of today.Straight after a call

Leave out promises you'd have to defend, like "lowest price" or "same-day". A saved reply goes to everyone, so it should be true for everyone.

Some messages shouldn't come from a shortcut at all. A complaint, bad news, a refund or a price exception needs your own words. Use a quick reply when the answer is the same for every customer, and type it when the answer depends on the person.

How reply buttons work

With reply buttons, the customer answers by tapping instead of typing. Meta's developer page says a reply buttons message can offer "up to three predefined replies". Each button label can be up to 20 characters, and the message body up to 1,024.

When the customer taps one, your software gets the choice straight away, so it can branch: "Book a visit" goes to your calendar, "Just looking" gets a brochure, "Talk to someone" goes to a person.

You send a reply buttons message while the customer service window is open, which means within 24 hours of the customer's last message. To put buttons in a message that starts a conversation, you add quick reply buttons to an approved template.

Reply buttons messageQuick reply buttons in a template
When it goesWithin 24 hours of their last messageAny time, once Meta approves the template
How many buttonsUp to 3Up to 10
Label length20 characters25 characters
Review firstNoYes, with the template

Meta's template components page adds two catches: with more than three buttons, the customer sees two and a "See all options" button that opens the rest, and a template with four or more buttons, or quick reply buttons mixed with another kind, can't be viewed on WhatsApp's desktop apps, so the customer is told to open it on their phone.

You send all of these through the Platform, usually through a vendor's chatbot or inbox tool. WhatsApp Business API setup covers getting onto the Platform in the first place.

Using them to qualify a new lead

The job for either feature is the same: find out fast whether a new enquiry is worth a call today, and three questions usually do it.

  1. What are you looking for? Give the two or three things you actually sell as the options.
  2. When do you need it? This month, in the next three months, or just looking.
  3. What's the best way to reach you? A call, WhatsApp, or a visit.

How to qualify prospects goes deeper on the questions that matter and how to order your list each morning.

Platform users can make each question a reply buttons message, and the answers sort the lead before a person reads it. On the Business app, save each question as a quick reply with the options numbered, and ask them yourself, one at a time.

A few rules keep people answering:

  • One question per message. Three questions in one bubble get one vague answer.
  • Keep it to three questions. Anything more can wait for the call.
  • Offer a way out. "Or just type your question" stops a customer who doesn't fit your options from leaving.
  • Hand over quickly. Someone who picks "this month" wants to talk to a person now.

Made-up example: a two-person bathroom renovation company gets 30 WhatsApp enquiries a week from its website and ads, all on the Business app.

Before: each enquiry gets a typed reply, and the owner spends evenings asking the same questions. Half the leads turn out to be just browsing.

Monday: the owner saves three quick replies. "/what" asks: "Thanks for getting in touch! Which of these is it? 1. Full bathroom 2. Shower only 3. Repairs". "/when" asks: "When would you like it done? 1. This month 2. Next 3 months 3. Just getting ideas". "/call" asks for the best time to call.

Tuesday: 7 enquiries. Each one gets "/what" within the hour, then "/when" once they answer. Two say "this month" and get a call that afternoon.

Friday: 29 enquiries in the week. Nine said this month, and the owner called all nine the same day. The rest got a price guide and a note to follow up next month.

The questions are the same ones she used to type. Now they take her seconds, and she knows who to call first.

If your number can't show buttons

Reply buttons in a chat come with the Platform. If you stay on the Business app, the customer can't tap a button, but they can type "2". A numbered list does the same job if the tool reading the answer takes "2" and the words of the choice as one answer.

ActivityTracker's chatbot builder works on the number you link to it as a device, the way WhatsApp Web does, and it isn't one of WhatsApp's own apps. It can put the choices in the question as a numbered list, and it takes "2" or the words of the choice as the same answer. WhatsApp's linked devices page warns that "linking your device through unofficial apps or websites may put your account at risk." So ActivityTracker spaces out the messages your number starts on its own, and stops them if WhatsApp warns the number.

If you want those questions asked for you, ActivityTracker's chatbot builder works on your own number. It greets new chats, asks your questions, saves the answers to their card and books the ready ones.

See the chatbot builder

Quick replies, greetings and away messages

A quick reply goes out when you pick it. Two other Business app tools send on their own, and people mix all three up. From WhatsApp's Business app features page:

  • A greeting message goes automatically to new customers "when they start a conversation with your business".
  • An away message answers "messages received outside your business hours", so people know when you'll be back.

Use the greeting to ask your first qualifying question, and the away message to say when a person will reply. Keep the rest of the qualifying for quick replies you send yourself, one question at a time. If you'd rather a bot asked them, read AI agent vs chatbot before you pick one.

What to do first

  1. Write down the five questions customers ask you most, and save the answers as quick replies.
  2. Write your three qualifying questions, each with numbered options.
  3. Save them as quick replies with short shortcuts, like "/what" and "/when".
  4. Send them to every new enquiry this week, one at a time.
  5. On Friday, count how many answered and how many were ready to talk.

Keep reading

Questions people ask

Sources

Ask the three questions first.

Then spend your time on the leads who answered.

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