WhatsApp Business Lead Handling: So No Enquiry Slips Through

For many Indian service businesses, WhatsApp is where enquiries actually land. The travel desk gets fare questions there, the AC repair firm gets photos of the broken unit, and the click-to-WhatsApp ads covered earlier drop their leads straight into it. Yet the number is often run like a personal phone, and enquiries get answered whenever someone happens to look.

The free WhatsApp Business app has most of what a small team needs to fix that, and setting it up takes an afternoon.

Start with the right number

WhatsApp Business is a separate app, and one number cannot be on it and on regular WhatsApp at the same time, though a number can move across with its chat history. If the owner's personal number doubles as the business line, get a separate SIM first; everything below gets messy on a number that also carries family chats.

Fill in the profile before you need it

Your profile is what a lead sees when they tap your name, and WhatsApp's Business Messaging Policy asks businesses to keep its contact details accurate. Fill in every field: up to three categories, a plain description, the address (or a service area if you go to customers), email, website and the hours someone actually replies. Get the hours right, because the away message can only run "outside business hours" once they are set, and the app turns them into a ready-made quick reply.

Link your Facebook Page and Instagram account from the profile, if you have them. Build a catalog even if you sell services. A "Dubai, 4 nights, flights and hotel" package or a "split AC deep clean" can sit there with photos and a description, and WhatsApp reviews each item against its policy before customers can see it.

Greeting and away messages that tell the truth

Both are in the Tools tab. The greeting message goes out when someone messages you for the first time, or after 14 days of silence in that chat. Use it to say who they have reached and when someone replies, then ask the one qualification question that lets you quote: "Namaste, you've reached our bookings desk. We reply 9 am to 8 pm, Monday to Saturday. Share your route and dates and we'll check fares."

The away message can run always, on a custom schedule, or outside business hours. Pick the last, promise a specific time ("We're closed now and will reply after 9 am tomorrow") and keep it, as the missed calls article said about real hours. Neither message goes out without an internet connection, so keep the business phone charged and online.

Quick replies for the questions you answer daily

Quick replies are saved messages you pull up by typing "/" in a chat, and the app stores up to 50. Write them for the questions that arrive every day: visa documents, cancellation terms, what a service visit includes, how to pay. Personalise the opening line every time, as the first reply article argued; a pasted answer to a question nobody asked is easy to spot.

Labels as a simple pipeline

Labels turn the app into a lead tracker (WhatsApp is gradually renaming them lists), and you can create up to 20. Four are enough to start:

• New: every incoming enquiry, owed a real reply within the first 30 minutes
• Quoted: price sent, waiting on a decision
• Booked: paid or confirmed
• Lost: said no, or went silent after your follow-ups

With lists, swipe down on the Chats screen, tap Quoted, and you have every lead waiting on a decision: the list to work through each afternoon. The built-in Unread list catches chats nobody has opened. Keep the lead sheet from the tracking article too; labels are no place to record where a lead came from or what the booking was worth.

More than one phone for a small team

The Business app runs on one main phone plus up to four linked devices at a time: WhatsApp Web, the desktop app, an Android tablet or a second phone. You still need the main phone to register and to link each device. Linked devices keep working while it is offline, but they log out if the main phone goes unused for more than 14 days, and broadcast lists cannot be created or viewed on them.

Higher Meta Verified plans, where WhatsApp offers them, raise the device limit and let you assign chats to named agents. Otherwise, agree ownership out loud, or everyone assumes someone else replied. One person per shift owns New chats; whoever sent a price owns that Quoted lead. Check Linked devices on the main phone monthly, and log out a person's device the day they leave.

Broadcasts and the consent rule

A broadcast list sends one message to up to 256 contacts. Each person gets it as an individual chat and their reply comes only to you, and only people who have saved your number receive it.

The Business Messaging Policy, which covers the free app too, goes further. You may message people only if they gave you their number and agreed to receive messages from you, and you must honour any request to stop, made on WhatsApp or off it. So ask before adding someone and say what they will get ("Can we send you fare offers here? Reply STOP any time"), note the yes in your sheet, and never load a bought list of numbers.

Some accounts can also send paid business broadcasts, charged per delivered message and available only in limited countries. WhatsApp is blunt about them: if a significant number of people report or block a business for unwanted messages, it gets a warning, and continued spam gets the feature suspended.

When the free app stops being enough

The WhatsApp Business Platform, usually called the API, is for jobs the app cannot do, such as logging every chat in a CRM or sending booking confirmations from your own system. Small businesses usually reach it through a provider (a Solution Partner, in Meta's documentation).

The rules change there. You can reply freely only inside a 24-hour customer service window, which opens and resets each time the customer messages you; outside it, you can only send message templates Meta has approved. Meta charges per delivered message, at published rates that vary by message category and the recipient's country code. Since 1 October 2026 that includes service replies once a number has used its monthly free allowance. Providers usually charge for their software on top, so get both costs in writing. If you add a chatbot, the policy requires a clear way to reach a person, such as a hand-over to a human agent or a phone number.

Moving no longer means giving up the app: Meta's documentation describes connecting a Business app number to the API while keeping the app, with one-to-one chats synced. Broadcast lists stop working (existing ones become read-only) and linked devices have to be linked again, so ask the provider for the full list of changes first.

Our recommendation: stay on the free app until it fails at something specific, such as more people needing to answer than the device limit allows. Paying for the API to fix slow replies just makes the slow replies more expensive.

Privacy basics

WhatsApp's policy tells businesses not to ask people to share full card numbers, bank account numbers or personal ID numbers in chat, so collect passport details another way, such as a secure form on your website. The policy also forbids passing information from one customer's chat to another customer, and it expects a published privacy policy, so check that yours mentions WhatsApp enquiries. And the profile photo is public by default: use the logo, not a family picture.

FAQ

Can two people answer from the same WhatsApp Business number?

Yes, through linked devices. Agree who replies to which chats, or two people will answer the same lead differently.

Does the greeting message count as our first reply?

No. It only tells the lead they reached the right place and when to expect an answer. A person still has to reply with something useful, within the promised hours.

Is the WhatsApp Business app really free?

The app is free to download, and replying to customers from it costs nothing extra. The paid extras are optional: Meta Verified, business broadcasts where available, ads, and the Business Platform, which charges per delivered message.