Two things called quick reply
Search for WhatsApp quick reply buttons and you'll find two features mixed up.
| Feature | Quick replies | Reply buttons |
|---|---|---|
| Where | WhatsApp Business app | WhatsApp Business Platform (the API) |
| Who taps | You, to send a saved message | The customer, to answer you |
| What it saves | Your typing | The customer's typing |
| Cost | Free with the app | Part of Platform messaging, charged by Meta and your vendor |
The free Business app gives you quick replies and no buttons. Buttons come with the Platform, which most businesses reach through a vendor.
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.
To set one up on your phone:
- Open the Tools tab and tap Quick replies.
- Tap the add button, then Message, and write it.
- Tap Shortcut and give it a keyword, like "hours" or "price".
- Tap Save.
To use it, open a chat and type "/" in the message field. Your saved replies come up, and you pick one. WhatsApp's page adds that the app makes a few default replies from your business profile, such as your hours and address.
Save the ones you type every day first. 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.
Reply buttons on the Platform
Reply buttons let the customer answer 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 these through the Platform, usually through a vendor's chatbot or inbox tool. Buttons can also sit inside approved templates, which is how a business adds them to messages sent outside the 24-hour window. 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.
- What are you looking for? Give the two or three things you actually sell as the options.
- When do you need it? This month, in the next three months, or just looking.
- 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.
With the Platform, each question can be a reply buttons message, and the answers sort the lead before a person reads it. With 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 about 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
Buttons need the Platform. If you stay on the Business app, or on a tool that links your own number, the customer can't tap a button, but they can type "2". A numbered list works almost as well, as long as whatever reads the answer accepts both "2" and the words of the choice.
That's how ActivityTracker's chatbot builder asks its questions: choices go out as a numbered list, since a number linked as a device can't show buttons. Linking carries a risk as well: WhatsApp's linked devices page warns that "linking your device through unofficial apps or websites may put your account at risk", so any tool that links your number should pace what it sends.
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.
What to do first
- Write down the five questions customers ask you most, and save the answers as quick replies.
- Write your three qualifying questions, each with numbered options.
- Save them as quick replies with short shortcuts, like "/what" and "/when".
- Send them to every new enquiry this week, one at a time.
- On Friday, count how many answered and how many were ready to talk.
Keep reading
Questions people ask
Sources
- WhatsApp Help Center, How to use quick replies, read 28 September 2026
- Meta for Developers, Interactive reply buttons messages, read 28 September 2026
- WhatsApp Help Center, About linked devices, read 28 September 2026