Outgoing WhatsApp Messages
Outgoing WhatsApp Messages runs when a WhatsApp message is sent to a contact from Whautomate, by a team member or by an automation. Use it to follow up when there is no reply, tag contacts after an agent answers, or close the conversation.
Conditions
Conditions are optional. Click Add Condition, then pick a Field, an Operator and a value. Choose All (AND) or Any (OR) under Condition Type to decide whether every condition or just one must match.
| Condition | Operators | Values |
|---|---|---|
| Outgoing Message | includes any, does not include all, is a valid date, is not a valid date, matches regex pattern, does not match regex pattern, equals, not equals | Keywords, a regex pattern or exact text |
| Message Type | is part of all, is part of any, is not part of all | Text, Template, Document, Image, Video, Audio, Order, Interactive, Sticker |
| Message Sender | equals, not equals | Human Agent, Automation Bot |
| Message sent time | is between, is on, is before, is after, is less than X period ago (past), is more than X period ago (past) | A time of day, weekdays or a period |
| Contact Group | is part of all, is part of any, is not part of all | Your contact groups |
| Contact Tags | includes any, does not include all, is part of all, is part of any, is not part of all | Your contact tags |
| Phone Number | includes any, does not include all, matches regex pattern, does not match regex pattern, equals, not equals | Phone numbers or a regex pattern |
| Contact Stage | equals, not equals | Subscriber, Lead, Engaged, Marketing qualified lead (MQL), Sales qualified lead (SQL), Opportunity, Follow-up Required, Customer, Evangelist, Other, Lost, Inactive |
Use Message Sender to tell replies from a Human Agent apart from Automation Bot messages.
Actions
Click Add Action and choose from Select Action. Actions run in order; use the arrows to reorder them. To delay an action, click Add wait time (or Add wait & Schedule time on template and email actions). Wait times count from the trigger event, not from the previous action.
| Action | What it does | Wait time |
|---|---|---|
| Notify Staffs via WhatsApp | Sends a WhatsApp template message to the team members you choose. | Minutes to months |
| Assign chat to unassigned queue | Moves the chat to the unassigned queue so a team member can pick it up (bot-to-human handover). | Up to 1 day |
| Assign chat to Staff | Assigns the chat to the team member you choose. | Up to 1 day |
| Auto-Assign Chat to Staff - Round Robin | Assigns the chat to team members in turn (round robin). | Up to 1 day |
| Auto Close Conversation | Closes the conversation, so automations answer again the next time the person writes. | Up to 1 day |
| Clear AI Conversation History | Clears the AI conversation history, so the next AI reply starts without earlier context. | Up to 1 day |
| send WhatsApp message | Sends a WhatsApp text reply. Only delivered while the 24-hour WhatsApp session is open. | Up to 1 day |
| send WhatsApp interactive message - Buttons | Sends a WhatsApp message with reply buttons. | Up to 1 day |
| send WhatsApp interactive message - List options | Sends a WhatsApp message with a list of options to choose from. | Up to 1 day |
| send WhatsApp interactive message - CTA URL | Sends a WhatsApp message with a button that opens a link. | Up to 1 day |
| send WhatsApp interactive message - Flow | Sends a WhatsApp Flow, a form that opens inside WhatsApp. | Up to 1 day |
| send WhatsApp media | Sends an image, video or document. | Up to 1 day |
| send WhatsApp audio | Sends an audio file or voice note. | Up to 1 day |
| send WhatsApp location Message | Sends a map location, such as your address. | Up to 1 day |
| request WhatsApp location Message | Asks the contact to share their location. | Up to 1 day |
| request WhatsApp Phone Number | Asks the contact to share their phone number. Useful when someone writes from a WhatsApp username and their number is not known yet. | Up to 1 day |
| request permission to call on WhatsApp | Asks the contact for permission to call them on WhatsApp. Skipped when permission is already in place. WhatsApp allows one request every 24 hours and two every 7 days. | Up to 1 day |
| send a WhatsApp template message | Sends an approved WhatsApp template. Works outside the 24-hour session, so use it for reminders, follow-ups and anything sent later. | Minutes to months |
| send Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSAT) | Sends a customer satisfaction (CSAT) survey. | Minutes to months |
| Smart Follow-up | Sends a follow-up if the contact has not replied within the wait time. Cancelled automatically when they reply. | Up to 1 day |
| Smart AI Follow-up | Writes and sends a follow-up with AI, based on the conversation, if the contact has not replied within the wait time. Cancelled automatically when they reply. | Up to 1 day |
| Webhooks by Whautomate | Sends the event data to your own URL (webhook). | Minutes to months |
| Add the Contact to Group | Adds the contact to a contact group, which you can check in later conditions. | Minutes to months |
| Remove the Contact from Group | Removes the contact from a contact group, for example so a rule does not run twice. | Minutes to months |
| Add Contact Tags | Adds tags to the contact. | Minutes to months |
| Remove Contact Tags | Removes tags from the contact. | Minutes to months |
| Update Contact Stage | Moves the contact to a stage, such as Lead or Customer. | Minutes to months |
| Add Contact to Suppression List | Adds the contact to the suppression list so they stop receiving messages from you. | Up to 1 day |
| Remove Contact from Suppression List | Removes the contact from the suppression list so they can receive messages again. | Up to 1 day |
| Add Contact Notes | Adds a note to the contact. | Minutes to months |
Example
Follow up if the contact goes quiet after your team replies
- Create a rule with the Outgoing WhatsApp Messages trigger.
- Add the condition Message Sender equals Human Agent.
- Add the action Smart Follow-up, click Add wait time and set 4 hour(s). Write the message, for example "Just checking in: did that answer your question?"
If the contact replies within 4 hours, the follow-up is cancelled.
Good to know
- Broadcast messages do not run outgoing rules, to keep large sends fast.
- Messages sent by your automations also fire outgoing triggers. Add Message Sender equals Human Agent if the rule should only react to your team, or a rule that sends a message can keep triggering itself. See loop protection.
- While a team member has the conversation Open, message rules do not run, so the bot does not talk over a person. Turn on Override Human Agent in the trigger section to run this rule anyway (for example for an opt-out keyword).
- Text, media and interactive replies only reach the contact inside the messaging window (24 hours after their last message on WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger), so their wait time is limited to 1 day. Use a template message for anything later.