WhatsApp automation
WhatsApp automation for your business, step by step
WhatsApp automation works when you pick one concrete job, such as answering, quoting or following up, connect it to the official WhatsApp Business line, set up rules or an AI agent with your own data, test that a person can take over the conversation and measure what got solved on its own.
Automation is not sending more messages. It is the usual question getting answered on its own, from your data, and the conversation that needs a person reaching your team with the context attached.
This guide works with any tool and uses Meta's rules as checked on November 12, 2026. EvaAI publishes it and sells Eva, an AI agent for WhatsApp, which appears in the last sections.
What can you automate on WhatsApp?
On WhatsApp you can automate notices, replies and actions. The free app sends a greeting and an away message on its own; rules on the official line answer what you planned for; an AI agent understands the question, checks your data, quotes, books or follows up, and hands over to a person when needed.
The practical difference shows in the question you did not plan for: a notice leaves it waiting, a rule sends it to a menu, and an agent answers it from your data or passes it to your team.
| Option | What it does on its own | Where it falls short |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic messages in the WhatsApp Business app | Sends a greeting on the first message and an away message outside your hours. Quick replies are shortcuts you insert yourself. | It does not read the question or answer it. |
| Meta's AI agent inside the app | Answers from what it learns from your website and catalog; you turn it on under Tools. | Meta offers it only to eligible businesses in select markets. |
| Rules and menus on the official line | Buttons, menus and keyword replies, through a provider. | It only answers what you planned for. |
| AI agent on the official line | Understands the question, checks your catalog, calendar or CRM, takes the action and hands over to a person. | It needs your data loaded and clear rules for when your team steps in. |
How do you set up WhatsApp automation, step by step?
Set up WhatsApp automation in five steps: pick one job and write its rules, connect the official WhatsApp Business line, load the data the answers come from, test with real conversations including the handoff to a person, and measure what got solved on its own. Start with one job and add the next once the first works.
Write the job down before you pick a tool: if a new hire could not follow your rules, software cannot either. The official line is the WhatsApp Business API, the business version that connects to other systems; you get it through a provider.
| Step | What you do | How you know it is done |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Pick the job | Write what customers ask, which data you need, the result you want and when a person steps in. | A new hire could follow it without asking you. |
| 2. Connect the official line | If the job needs more than the app does (greeting, away message and, where Meta offers it, its AI agent), connect your number to the WhatsApp Business API with the tool you choose. | Messages reach the tool and your team can see them. |
| 3. Load your data | Catalog, prices, hours, calendar and policies. Anything you did not load should not be answered. | Every answer comes from something you provided. |
| 4. Test the handoff | Test with real questions, the hard ones too, and have your team take over a conversation. | Nobody is left without a reply or given an invented fact. |
| 5. Measure | Count what got solved on its own, what went to your team and what ended in a sale or a booking. | You know which job to automate next. |
Which Meta rules limit WhatsApp automation?
Meta allows automated replies inside the 24-hour window that each customer message opens, as long as there is a clear path to a person. Outside that window you can only send approved templates, and to message someone first you need their number and their permission. That is what its business messaging policy says.
The window opens when the customer messages or calls you and resets with every new message. Inside it you reply freely; once it closes, you can only send a template, a message format Meta has approved. Template review can take up to 24 hours.
The path to a person can be an in-chat transfer, a phone number, an email address, support on your website, a store visit or a form. An automated flow with none of those paths breaks the policy, last updated on September 23, 2026.
On cost, Meta gives every number 1,000 free service messages a month and charges templates per delivered message, by type and country. The amounts for Mexico are in the API pricing guide, among the related pages.
Which job should you automate first?
Automate first the job that repeats the most and that you already know how to solve: usually the first reply, with price and availability. Next come quoting from your catalog, following up with whoever went quiet, notices to customers who gave you permission, and handing over to a person when the sale needs it.
Each job has its own page with the detail and its limits; you will find them among the related pages at the end of this guide.
| Job | What the automation does | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| First reply and after hours | Answers in seconds from your information and asks for what is missing. | Your common questions, prices and hours. |
| Quoting | Searches your catalog and builds the quote with the current price. | A catalog with up-to-date prices and stock. |
| Follow-up | Writes again to whoever went quiet, with the context of the conversation. | Approved templates to write after 24 hours. |
| Notices and campaigns | Sends a message to customers who agreed to receive it. | Each customer's permission and approved templates. |
| Handing over to a person | Alerts your team and stops replying once someone steps in. | Who answers, at what hours and on which topics. |
When is the app enough, and when do you need an AI agent?
The free app is enough if you get few messages and most of them get the same answer: the greeting, the away message and quick replies save typing. An AI agent pays off when questions vary, arrive after hours or end in a quote, a booking or a follow-up that someone has to record.
Look at your last 50 messages. If almost all of them get the same text, the app is enough. If many ask for a price, stock or a date, that job already belongs to an agent.
How does Eva automate WhatsApp?
Eva connects to the official WhatsApp line and also to Instagram, Messenger and your website chat. It answers from your catalog and your information, quotes with real prices, books against your calendar, records the contact and the opportunity in its CRM, follows up, and hands the conversation to your team when needed.
Follow-ups allow sequences of up to five steps and waits of up to 180 days. After 24 hours they need an approved template; without one, the message waits, is skipped or asks for a person to step in.
When someone on your team replies, Eva goes quiet. If a fact is not loaded, Eva says so and asks a person for help. Its payment links are SPEI bank transfers in Mexican pesos, without cards.
Methodology
Methodology
- Greeting and away messages in the WhatsApp Business app: WhatsApp Help Center. Meta's AI agent in the app: the Meta Business Agent page. Both checked on November 12, 2026.
- Customer permission, templates to start a conversation, the 24-hour window and the path to a person: the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy, last updated on September 23, 2026, and Meta's developer documentation on messages, templates and pricing; all checked on November 12, 2026.
- What Eva does: its record of verified capabilities. We review these rules every quarter.
Related pages
FAQ
Can you automate WhatsApp for free?
Partly. The WhatsApp Business app sends the greeting and the away message for free. On the official line, Meta gives every number 1,000 free service messages a month and charges for each delivered template; the tool you use charges separately.
Can I send automated messages to people who have not written to me?
Only if that person gave you their number and agreed to receive your messages, and only with a template Meta approved. That is what the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy requires.
How long does template approval take?
Meta says review can take up to 24 hours. Until it is approved, the template cannot be used to write outside the 24-hour window.
Put Eva to work.
Send us the ten questions you get the most. We will tell you which ones can be automated today, with what data, and when a person on your team would step in.
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