After-hours enquiries: reply fast without working nights

People message businesses in the evening, at night and on weekends, because that is when they have time. If nobody answers until the next afternoon, many of them have already asked someone else.

What the research says (and its limits)

A well-known 2011 Harvard Business Review study of online sales leads found that firms contacting a lead within an hour were far more likely to qualify it than those who waited longer. It was a study of US B2B firms, so do not treat the numbers as a promise for a Lucknow coaching centre. The direction, though, matches common sense: the first business to reply usually gets the conversation.

The free version, in 15 minutes

If you use the WhatsApp Business app, set these up today.

1. Greeting message: sent to new contacts. “Namaste, this is [Business]. Thank you for writing. How can we help?”
2. Away message: sent outside working hours. State when you will reply: “We reply between 10 am and 7 pm. We will answer first thing tomorrow.”
3. Quick replies: short codes for the five questions you get most, such as /fees, /timing, /location, /demo, /docs.
4. Labels: New enquiry, Waiting for reply, Booked, Paid.

An away message that tells people when they will hear back is much better than silence, and costs nothing.

Make the next step easy

Do not make the customer ask three questions to get the one thing they came for. In your first reply, offer a clear next step: a demo slot, a visit time, a price list. “Which day suits you?” beats “Let us know how we can help.”

Morning routine

Start the day with a ten-minute pass over everything that arrived overnight. Reply to the labelled “New enquiry” chats first, oldest first. Without a routine, the replies happen when someone remembers.

When it is time to automate

When the volume is too high for a routine, or you want enquiries to book themselves into a calendar, that is when a bot or agent starts to pay for itself. Read WhatsApp Business app vs API before you pick a tool.