How to read these templates
Each template has the bot's messages to copy, then the options and where each one leads. Square brackets are the parts you fill in. Numbers in the messages are the replies a customer types, since a typed number works in any WhatsApp chat.
Every template ends with a way to reach a person. That isn't only good manners. WhatsApp's Business Messaging Policy says that if you automate replies, you "must also have available prompt, clear, and direct escalation paths", such as a hand-over to a person or a phone number.
Ten chatbot templates for WhatsApp
1. Welcome menu
Hi, thanks for messaging [business]. What can we help with? Reply with a number:
1. Prices
2. Book an appointment
3. Opening hours and location
4. Talk to a person
Options: 1 goes to template 3, 2 goes to template 4, 3 goes to template 2, and 4 goes to template 10.
2. Opening hours and location
We're open [days] from [time] to [time], and closed on [days]. You'll find us at [address], [landmark or MRT exit]. Parking: [where to park]. Reply 0 to go back to the menu, or 4 to talk to a person.
3. Prices
Here are our main prices: [service 1]: [price]. [Service 2]: [price]. [Service 3]: [price]. Prices for anything else depend on [what it depends on]. Reply 2 to book, or 4 to ask a person for a quote.
Keep this one short. Three or four prices answer most people, and a full price list belongs in a PDF you can send.
4. Booking
Happy to book you in. Which service is it for?
1. [Service 1]
2. [Service 2]
3. Something else
Thanks. Which day suits you better: [day 1] or [day 2]? Reply with the day, and we'll confirm the time shortly.
Options: 1 and 2 ask for the day, and 3 goes to template 10. A person or your booking page confirms the time, so the bot never promises a slot it can't check.
5. Sorting a new lead
Thanks for getting in touch with [business]. So we can help you properly, what are you looking for?
1. [Main service]
2. [Second service]
3. Just browsing for now
And how soon do you need it?
1. This week
2. This month
3. No rush
Options: "This week" goes straight to a person with both answers attached. "No rush" gets template 3's prices and a note on the contact. Save both answers so whoever picks up the chat doesn't ask again.
6. When you're closed
Thanks for your message. We're closed right now and open again at [time] on [day]. Leave your question here and we'll reply first thing. For anything urgent, call [phone number].
This is the bot people meet most, so make it useful: say when you'll reply, and give the urgent number.
7. Choose a language
Hi, thanks for messaging [business]. Which language would you like to use? Reply with a number:
1. English
2. [Second language]
Options: each answer opens the welcome menu in that language and saves the choice to the contact, so a person who picks up the chat sees it.
8. Returning customers
Welcome back, [name]. Is this about your [last order / booking], or something new?
1. My [last order / booking]
2. Something new
3. Talk to a person
Options: 1 goes to whoever handled them last, 2 goes to the welcome menu, and 3 goes to template 10.
9. Stop messages
Thanks, [name]. We've noted that you'd rather not get messages from [business], and we've stopped them. Reply here if you ever want to book again.
Send this when someone replies STOP, unsubscribe or "not interested", then mark them as opted out and close the chat. WhatsApp's policy says you must respect every request to stop.
10. Hand over to a person
Thanks, I'm passing this to [person or team], who'll reply here by [time]. If it's urgent, call [phone number].
Options: the chat goes to a person with what the customer has said so far. If nobody's in, say when someone will be.
Write your own options in three steps
- List the questions you answered most last week. The top four become your menu.
- Write each answer as if you were typing it to one customer, in three short lines or fewer.
- Add "talk to a person" to every menu, and test it on your own phone before customers see it.
A menu with more than five options is hard to read on a phone. If you have more, group them and send a second menu, the way template 4 asks the service before the day.
Chatbot or AI agent?
A chatbot follows the script you wrote, the same way every time. That's what you want for opening hours, a menu and a stop request. It's predictable and quick to check.
An AI agent reads what the customer actually wrote and answers in sentences, from what you've taught it. That suits the questions a menu can't hold: "do you do weekends near Bedok, and how much for three units?" Many businesses use both. The menu takes the simple questions, and an agent picks up whatever's left. AI agent vs chatbot goes deeper on the difference.
One enquiry, two bots and a person
Made-up example: an aircon servicing firm in Jurong gets a message after closing: "hi how much for chemical wash".
Template 6 replies at once with the next opening time and the urgent number, then shows the welcome menu.
The customer replies 1, and template 3 sends the prices for general servicing, chemical washes and gas top-ups.
They reply 2, pick "chemical wash" in template 4 and choose a day.
When the firm opens, the owner reads the chat, sees the service and the day already saved, and confirms the time in one message.
Nobody typed the price list, and the customer didn't have to explain twice.
Use these templates in Palby AI Agent
You can build any of these in most chatbot tools. In Palby AI Agent, which we make, the chat menus, the language menu, closed-hours replies and stop messages are ready-made workflow templates, among 50 you can start from. When a question goes past the menu, its AI agent answers from your files and website, and a hand-over goes to your WhatsApp alert number or a Lark group. It runs on the number you already use, linked as a device through Green API rather than the Business API, so it doesn't send Meta's button or list messages. Customers reply with numbers, as in these templates.
30 minutes. You choose the day and the time.
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Questions about chatbot templates
A ready-written script for a chatbot: the messages it sends, the options a customer can pick and where each option goes. You change the words to fit your business and load it into your chatbot tool.
A welcome menu, a closed-hours reply and a hand-over to a person. Those three cover most chats. Add prices and bookings once you see which questions come in most.
It should. WhatsApp's Business Messaging Policy says automated replies need "prompt, clear, and direct escalation paths", such as a transfer to a person in the chat or a phone number.
Because a typed number works in any WhatsApp chat. Buttons and list menus are Business API features, so a bot that runs on an ordinary linked number asks customers to reply with a number instead.
Four or five at most. More than that is hard to read on a phone, so group the rest behind a second menu.