Best Greeting Messages for Customers — With WhatsApp Business Examples

Setting up a WhatsApp Business greeting message is one of the quickest wins available to any business — it takes two minutes and works automatically every time a customer makes contact. The problem is most businesses write a generic one: “Hi, how can I help you?” That tells the customer nothing about who you are, nothing about when they’ll hear back, and gives them no reason to stay in the conversation.

A well-written greeting message tells the customer they’ve reached the right place, confirms their message was received, and sets a clear expectation for when a real reply is coming. This guide covers what to write, what to avoid, the character limit you’re working within, and ready-to-use examples for more than a dozen business types — including ecommerce stores, Shopify merchants, and service businesses.

Quick Answer

A WhatsApp Business greeting message is an automatic message sent to customers the first time they message you — and again after 14 days of no contact. Keep it under 160 characters. The best ones state who you are, acknowledge the message, and set a clear expectation for when you’ll reply. Set it up in the WhatsApp Business App under Tools → Greeting Message, or automate it through the WhatsApp Business API for personalised, Shopify-connected messages.

Key Takeaways

• A greeting message sends automatically — you don’t need to be online for it to reach the customer
• WhatsApp also sends it again after 14 days of no contact in that chat — so it works as a re-engagement message too
• Keep your greeting message under 160 characters — short messages display fully on mobile without truncation
• A greeting message is not the same as an away message — the greeting goes to first-time contacts regardless of your hours, the away message goes to everyone outside business hours
• For Shopify stores, greeting messages can be automated through the WhatsApp Business API and personalised with customer and order data

What Is a Greeting Message for Customers

A greeting message is any message a business sends to acknowledge a customer the moment they make contact — a welcome, a confirmation, a brief introduction, or a prompt to start the conversation.

On WhatsApp Business, this is automated. The built-in greeting message feature sends a pre-written message the first time a customer contacts your business number, and again after 14 days of no activity in that chat. Unlike a human reply, it goes out instantly — at 2 PM or 2 AM, on weekdays or weekends.

For the full breakdown of every WhatsApp Business profile feature and how greeting messages work alongside catalog and quick replies, the top WhatsApp Business features guide covers each one in detail.

Why a Good Greeting Message Matters?

The first thing a customer sees when they message you on WhatsApp is your greeting message — not your reply, not your catalog, and not your profile. It’s automatic, immediate, and sets the entire tone of the conversation before you’ve typed a single word.

A generic greeting — “Hello, how can I help you?” — tells the customer nothing useful. A specific greeting — “Thanks for reaching out to [Business Name]. We reply within 2 hours, Mon–Sat 9 AM to 6 PM” — confirms their message was received, tells them who you are, and sets an expectation for when they’ll hear back. That difference alone reduces customer drop-off before the conversation even starts.

Greeting Messages vs Away Messages

They’re easy to confuse because both are automatic WhatsApp messages — but they’re not the same thing and they serve different purposes.

A greeting message goes to customers who message you for the first time, or after 14 days of no contact. It has nothing to do with your business hours. An away message goes to all customers who message you outside your set business hours, regardless of whether they’ve contacted you before.

Most businesses need both. For ready-to-use away message templates for different business types and off-hours scenarios, the away message templates guide has a full library

20+ Best WhatsApp Business Greeting Message Examples

Short Welcome Messages for Customers on WhatsApp

Short messages — under 160 characters — load fast, display in full on every device, and get straight to the point. These are the most versatile greeting messages and work for almost any business type.

Greeting Messages for New Customers

First-time customers need a slightly warmer message — one that confirms they’ve reached the right place and makes them feel welcomed before they’ve heard back from anyone on your team.

Customer Service Greeting Messages

Customer service greetings should set a realistic response time and acknowledge that the customer likely has a specific issue they need resolved.

For handling the full support conversation once the greeting has opened it, the WhatsApp customer support tips guide covers every step of the workflow.

Festival and Holiday Greeting Messages

During sales seasons and festivals, adjust your greeting to reflect the occasion while keeping the response expectation clear and honest.

Business Welcome Messages

A more formal greeting for B2B businesses, service providers, and professional services where a professional tone is appropriate.

Online Shop and Shopify Store Greeting Messages

For ecommerce stores and Shopify merchants, the greeting should specifically address what customers most commonly message about — orders, delivery timelines, returns, and sizing. Generic greetings lose customers at this exact moment because they don’t signal that the store can actually answer those questions over WhatsApp.

Shopify stores using Chatix can automate these greetings so they go out with the customer’s name and, where relevant, their recent order context — making a static greeting feel like a personal one from the first message.

For when a customer messages outside business hours and the greeting isn’t enough, an auto reply message picks up where the greeting leaves off. The WhatsApp auto reply message guide covers how to set those up alongside your greeting.

How to Write a Good Greeting Message

1. Keep it under 160 characters: That’s the recommended length for greeting messages to display fully on mobile screens. Longer messages risk pushing key information below the visible area before the customer scrolls. Count before you publish.
2. State who you are: Your business name should appear in the first sentence. A customer messaging a number they haven’t saved should know immediately they’ve reached the right place.
3. Say when you’ll reply: “We’ll get back to you soon” is worse than “We reply within 2 hours.” Specificity manages expectations and cuts down on follow-up messages from customers checking if their message arrived.
4. Avoid over-promotion: A greeting message isn’t a sales pitch. A customer who just messaged you doesn’t want to hear about your current offer before you’ve addressed why they reached out
5. Use a friendly, human tone: Overly formal responses perform worse than direct and warm ones. Both can say the same thing — only one sounds like a person wrote it.
6. Personalize where you can: Adding [Customer Name] is a small detail that makes an automated message feel less automated. Most WhatsApp Business tools support name variables.
7. Language is not restricted: WhatsApp Business greeting messages can be written in any language your customers use — there’s no platform restriction on language.

How to Set Up WhatsApp Business Greeting Messages

Setting up a greeting message in the WhatsApp Business App takes under five minutes. Here’s the full process:

Setting Up the Greeting Message

1. Open the WhatsApp Business app. On Android, tap the three-dot menu in the top-right corner and go to Business Tools. On iPhone, tap the Settings icon at the bottom of the screen.
2. Under Business Tools, tap Greeting Message.
3. Toggle on Send greeting message to activate it.
4. Tap the message field and write your greeting. Keep it under 160 characters. Use [Customer Name] if you want to personalize it with the recipient’s name.
5. Tap Recipients to choose who receives the greeting: Everyone, Everyone not in address book, Everyone except specific contacts, or Only send to specific contacts. Tap Save.

Your greeting message is now live. It sends automatically to every qualifying customer the moment they message your business.

Automating Greeting Messages for Shopify Stores

The WhatsApp Business App greeting message is static — the same message goes to every customer. For Shopify stores, the WhatsApp Business API allows greeting messages personalised with the customer’s name, referencing their order history, and routed to specific team members based on the type of enquiry.

Chatix connects the WhatsApp Business API directly to your Shopify store, so greeting messages can be automated with customer and order context from the moment the conversation starts — without any manual setup per customer. For the complete guide to WhatsApp automation beyond just the greeting message, the WhatsApp automation for Shopify guide covers the full workflow.

Final Thoughts

Every customer who messages your business on WhatsApp receives your greeting message first — before any human reply, before any product recommendation, before any campaign you run. It’s the most consistently delivered message on your entire WhatsApp channel. Most businesses write it once in two minutes and never revisit it.

Take one of the examples above, adjust it for your business name and response time, count the characters, and test it from a separate phone before going live.

For Shopify stores that want to move beyond a static greeting to automated, personalised first messages tied to customer and order data, Ctx app connects the WhatsApp Business API directly to your store — handling greeting automation alongside cart recovery, order notifications, and the full post-purchase customer journey.