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Perform automatic actions when new messages arrive to organize contacts and boost lead conversions.
WhatsApp automations are small if-this-then-that rules that act on your conversations the instant something happens: a message arrives containing a keyword, a customer goes quiet, or a contact's details change.
Each rule pairs a trigger and a condition with one action, from sending an instant reply to tagging the contact, updating a list, flipping their subscription, or assigning the chat to a teammate.
Some work is too small for a chatbot and too repetitive for a human. Automations exist for exactly that layer:
The payoff is a faster first response and a contact base that organizes itself while you work.
Each automation is three choices, evaluated live on your traffic:
A chatbot holds a conversation; an automation makes a reflex — and a busy WhatsApp number needs both.
Rules do the rote work so people and bots can do the interesting part.
Keyword rules answer instantly, day or night, before a customer can wander off to a competitor's chat.
Tagging and assignment rules push each conversation toward the right person while it is still warm.
List and tag actions keep your WhatsApp CRM segments fresh without a single manual edit.
An exact-match “STOP” rule unsubscribes contacts on the spot, keeping campaign lists clean and compliant.
The customer-not-responding trigger nudges stalled conversations back to life automatically.
Every recipe below is a single rule: one trigger, one condition, one action. Recreate any of them in a couple of minutes.
| Recipe | Trigger & condition | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Instant price reply | New message received, phrase match “price” | Send message with your price list and a link to book a call |
| Opt-out compliance | New message received, exact match “STOP” | Unsubscribe the contact from future campaigns |
| Interest tagging | New message received, phrase match a product name | Tag contact, ready for a targeted follow-up broadcast |
| Priority routing | New message received, phrase match “urgent” | Assign a specific team member so it never waits in the queue |
| Ghosted-lead nudge | Customer not responding | Send a friendly “still interested?” message |
| VIP list builder | New message received, phrase match “order” | Add the contact to your buyers list for re-purchase campaigns |
The same rule engine, applied to very different businesses.
Evening enquiries get an immediate acknowledgement with opening hours and a promise of a morning reply, so no lead feels ignored overnight.
Keywords like “delivery” or “returns” trigger policy replies instantly, while buyers accumulate onto lists for the next campaign.
Quote requests get tagged and assigned to whoever owns that service line, with the customer receiving a “we're on it” note in the meantime.
Rules sit between the customer and your Botpress or Voiceflow bot, which makes them perfect for reflexes the bot shouldn't spend a whole flow on.
After a broadcast, reply keywords sort respondents into interested and not-now segments before an agent even opens the inbox.
Subscribe and unsubscribe actions keep opt-in status truthful, which protects both deliverability and your sender reputation.
Build your first rule with the walkthrough: How to Set Up Automations.
A few habits keep a rule set helpful instead of spammy as it grows:
Handoff to a human on request is its own dedicated system rather than an automation: see HITL keywords for that.
Everything you need to know about WhatsApp automations in hitlchat.
Triggers: a new message received, a customer who stopped responding, and a contact record updated via the API. Actions include sending a message, tagging or untagging, adding to or removing from a list, subscribing or unsubscribing, and assigning a team member.
No, they complement one. A Botpress or Voiceflow bot holds multi-turn conversations; automations are single-shot reflexes. Busy numbers typically run both at once.
Any connected integration works: WhatsApp Business API, QR code, or the website webchat channel. The rules behave the same on each.
Yes. Replies support up to 1,024 characters with WhatsApp styling: bold, italics, strikethrough, and code formatting.
Yes, the assign-team-member action hands the chat to a named agent the moment the condition matches, which is a simple way to build priority or specialist routing.
Automations sit between the customer and your bot, evaluating incoming messages as they arrive, so your reflexes and your bot's conversation logic operate side by side.
Tag, list, and subscription actions write directly to the contact record, which means segmentation for your next campaign happens as a by-product of normal conversation traffic.
HITL keywords are the dedicated bot-to-human handoff system managed in Bot Settings; automations are general-purpose rules. If the goal is “customer asks for a human, bot pauses,” use HITL keywords. For everything else rule-shaped, use an automation.
No. Rules are built in the dashboard with dropdowns and a text box. Developers who want deeper logic can pair automations with the developer API.
Keep conditions distinct to avoid surprises: reserve exact match for single-word commands and make phrase-match keywords specific. While testing, deactivate overlapping rules instead of deleting them.
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