Basic Automations: Greeting, Delay and Out-of-Office Messages

In this article, we’ll show you how to set up basic automations for your phone number: automated greetings, delay in response, and out-of-office messages.

Let’s dive in.

Greeting Message Setup

You can use this automation to send a greeting message when someone messages you for the very first time or after 14 days of no activity, and their message text does not match any of the configured auto-reply conditions.

To set up a Greeting Automation:

1. Click on Automations in the left sidebar menu and select the Basic option.
2. On the Basic Automations screen, toggle the status button in the Greeting message section to turn this automation on, and then click the Edit button. This will open a pop-up.

3. In the pop-up, select a message type. You can either choose the Message text option to send a free-form greeting or select a pre-approved message template.

4. Once you’ve finalized the message text or template, click Save.

Your greeting automation is now active and ready to welcome new contacts.

Delay in Response Message Setup

You can use this automation to send an automatic message when someone messages you (other than the first time), and their message text does not match any of the configured auto-reply conditions, and there is a delay in your response.

To set up a delay in response automation:

1. Click on Automations in the left sidebar menu and select the Basic option.
2. On the Basic Automations screen, toggle the status button in the Delay in response section to turn this automation on, and then click the Edit button. This will open a pop-up.

3. In the pop-up, specify the delay in minutes after which the automated response should be sent.

4. Next, select a message type. You can either choose the Message text option to send a custom delay message or select a pre-approved message template.
5. Once you’ve finalized the message text or template, click Save.

That’s it! A message will now be sent automatically if there’s a delay in your reply.

Out-of-Office Message Setup

You can use this automation to send an out-of-office message when someone messages you outside of your configured office hours.

To set up an out-of-office automation:

1. Click on Automations in the left sidebar menu and select the Basic option.
2. On the Basic Automations screen, toggle the status button in the Out-of-office section to turn this automation on, and then click the Edit button. This will open a pop-up.

3. In the pop-up, select the days of the week you want the out-of-office message to be active. Additionally, specify the start and end times for your working hours to define when the automation should trigger.

4. Next, select a message type. You can either choose the Message text option to send a custom out-of-office message or select a pre-approved message template.
5. Once you’ve finalized the message text or template, click Save.

Your out-of-office automation is now enabled and will inform customers when you’re unavailable.

Next, we’ll show you how to enable your contacts to automatically opt in or out of receiving your messages.

Updated on: 08/07/2025