Auto-Reply Overview

Set up Auto Replies to automate responses to frequently asked questions, or provide a predetermined response based on the time of day or day of the week that the customer writes in.

You can change your auto-reply based on business hours, non-business hours, or specific days/hours. This helps set clear expectations for your customers, letting them know when they can expect a response.

Auto Replies are fully customizable, you can set unique replies for all conversations, new conversations, any incoming message, or when your Messenger inbox is at a certain capacity. Never miss a conversation with Patch Auto-Replies!

What is an Auto-Reply?

Auto Replies are messages that are sent for a predetermined use.

Examples of this could include store hours, location/address, return policy, etc.

When selecting the Auto Replies Module it will open to this page.

Select an Auto-Reply and it will appear with the details.

You can see that some Auto Replies are Enabled, and some are Disabled.

Clicking the three lines icon to the right of the name will allow you to click and drag to the position. The higher on the list, the higher the priority, meaning if you have more than one auto-reply about the same thing, only the ‘highest priority' message of that type will be sent.

To create a new Auto Reply, click on the (+) button in the lower-left corner.

There are different settings you can adjust:

When you want the autoresponder to be active only during certain times, you can set this to respond at all times, during business hours, or outside business hours.

Each checkbox will automatically select the designated time frames for you, based on your account settings.

You can also select custom time frames by choosing the days and times you want the auto-replies to be active.

After choosing the time frame that you would like your Auto Reply to be active during, you can then select who it is that receives a reply.

The options available to send replies to:

1.  - All new conversations
2.  - Any incoming message
3.  - Any message that passes (uses) a filter

Next, we will cover the different uses for these options.

Let’s start with the checkbox option for ‘Any incoming message that passes a filter’:

If someone were to write in, for example, asking for the store location, we could include a filter or rule that includes ‘Message Text’ that is equal to ‘location’ and/or ‘address’.

That way, any incoming message that includes the specified message text will get this auto-reply.

For the option ‘Any Incoming Message’, is often used for auto-replies that are sent after store hours. For example, any message coming in outside of the specified time frame/store hours will receive the auto-reply designated for the scenario.

The option, ‘All New Conversations’ can be used when there is a high chat volume for example.

It can be set so that when a New Conversation is started, and there are already a certain amount of messages in the inbox, it can receive this particular auto-reply.

Thereby still giving a response even if it is really busy.

You can check the box and set the number for ‘conversations in your inbox’ if you want to utilize this option.

In the bottom left corner of the Auto-Reply editor, there is a 'Send Test' option. We highly recommend sending yourself a test of the message content to ensure it displays the way you intended to before enabling the Auto-Reply.

If you have any questions or would like assistance setting up an Auto-Reply feel free to contact our Customer Success team via the TextChat widget in the bottom left corner of your Patch account or via email at success@patchretention.com