The message that arrives at 10:40 PM
"Hi, do you have anything free on Saturday morning?"
You see it at 8 the next morning, reply, and hear nothing back. Maybe they found someone else. Maybe they were just browsing. You'll never know, and that's the problem: after-hours messages are easy to ignore because their cost is invisible.
This article does two things. First, a simple worksheet to see what those messages are actually worth to your business, using your own numbers rather than anyone's averages. Second, four ways to answer them without working nights.
Short answer: write a useful away message, put the basics where people look at night, take one fixed ten-minute check in the evening, and only then consider an assistant. The worksheet below tells you whether that last step is worth paying for.
Part 1: The two-week after-hours worksheet
You need two weeks of WhatsApp history and ten minutes a day, or one evening scrolling back.
Step 1: Decide what "after hours" means for you. Write down your real working hours, including the hours you're on site with a customer and can't reply. For a plumber that might be most of the day. For a shop, it's evenings and the weekend.
Step 2: Mark every customer message that arrived outside those hours. Ignore personal chats and suppliers.
Step 3: Sort each one into a type:
| Type | Example | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Ready to buy | "Can you do a cake for tomorrow?" | A fast answer, or they ask elsewhere |
| Comparing | "What do you charge for a full kitchen?" | A clear, complete first answer |
| Simple question | "Are you open Sunday?" | Any correct answer, ideally right away |
| Needs you | "The part you installed is leaking" | You, personally |
Step 4: For each message, note what happened. Did they book or buy after your reply? Did they go quiet? Did they say they'd found someone?
Step 5: Fill in your own estimate.
| Your number | |
|---|---|
| After-hours messages in two weeks that were "ready to buy" or "comparing" | ___ |
| How many of those went quiet after your late reply | ___ |
| Of people who get a quick reply, roughly how many usually end up buying (your own experience) | ___ out of 10 |
| Average value of a sale | ___ |
| Rough value of the quiet ones, per two weeks (quiet × your usual share × average sale) | ___ |
For the last line, turn "out of 10" into a fraction: 4 out of 10 is 0.4. This is an estimate, and it is only as good as the counts behind it. Some of the people who went quiet would never have bought, so treat the result as an upper limit, not a forecast. But if the number at the bottom is large compared with what an answer costs you, after-hours messages deserve a plan. If it's close to zero, a good away message may be all you need.
Part 2: Four ways to answer after hours
1. Make your away message useful
The WhatsApp Business app has a built-in away message you can schedule for outside your hours. Most say "We're closed, we'll get back to you." A better one answers the most common question and sets a time:
"Hi! We're closed for the evening and back tomorrow at 8:30. Our prices and opening hours are here: [link]. If you're booking for this weekend, send the day and time you'd like and we'll confirm first thing."
This costs nothing. It doesn't answer specific questions, but it stops the silence and gets the customer to send the details you'll need in the morning.
2. Put the answers where people look at night
Some customers browsing late check your WhatsApp Business profile, catalog or website before writing. Keep hours, location, prices (where you're comfortable showing them) and booking instructions there, and some questions never need sending at all.
3. A short evening check, on your terms
Some owners prefer a fixed ten-minute window, say 8:30 to 8:40 PM, to answer the "ready to buy" messages only. It's not hands-off, but it's a boundary: you check once, deal with the urgent ones, and put the phone down.
4. An assistant that answers from what you taught it
If the worksheet shows real value at night or on weekends, an assistant can answer for you. With Answr:
- It answers the questions you've taught it, such as hours, prices, which days you take bookings and what details to send for one, in the customer's language, whenever they write.
- What it can't answer comes to you. The customer is normally told you'll check, and you get a short summary on WhatsApp to deal with when it suits you.
- You choose when it replies. By default it answers right away. You can also tell it to reply only during set hours ("Sunday to Thursday, 9 to 6") and add one message for anyone who writes outside them, in your own words. That suits you if you'd rather customers hear from you only during working hours: anyone who writes earlier gets your one out-of-hours message, and the real answer goes out when your hours open.
- It can wait for you first. Tell it to wait, for example, 10 minutes before replying. If you answer the customer yourself in that time, it stays out of the conversation.
Two limits. It can only answer what you've taught it, so a new kind of question at midnight still waits for you. And WhatsApp only lets a business reply freely within 24 hours of the customer's last message. If you set hours that leave a gap longer than that, for example over a long holiday weekend, a late reply has to go out as an approved WhatsApp message template, which needs a payment method on your WhatsApp account. Answr tells you when you set the hours whether that's in place.
Which option fits
- The worksheet shows only a few after-hours messages: a useful away message (option 1) is enough.
- Many simple questions at night: options 1 and 2 first, then decide.
- Real buyers writing at night or on weekends: that's where an assistant pays off. Start with a free first month, test it with your own questions, and turn it on when you're happy with the answers.
Whatever you choose, keep the messages that need you (complaints, problems, anything sensitive) with you. Speed matters less there than getting it right.
Want your after-hours questions answered from what you taught? Start with a free first month, no credit card needed.
