What does the Default Reply do?
The Default Reply is a catch-all. When a contact writes to you on WhatsApp and the message matches none of your keywords, Keaz answers with the text you saved here. It is optional: leave the toggle off and an untriggered message simply waits in the Inbox.
Most teams use it to set expectations rather than to answer anything. A line about support hours, or a pointer to email, keeps a chat from looking abandoned. If you are moving over from the WhatsApp Business app, see our comparison of the WhatsApp Business app and the API.
Where do you find it and how do you switch it on?
The Default Reply lives in the Inbox, behind the button Automation. You never leave the Inbox to set it up.
- Open the Inbox and click the button Automation.
- Choose Default Reply in the sidebar.
- Switch on the toggle Activate. The screen describes it as: "When active, this message is sent in response to every message that doesn't trigger another automation. It will be only sent once every 24 hours."
- Write your reply in the text field. The formatting bar gives you bold, italic, strikethrough, monospace and emoji.
- Use Variables to insert dynamic placeholders into the text.
- Click Save at the top right.
The reply is live only while the toggle is on. Switch it off and untriggered messages get no automatic answer at all.
How does it work alongside keyword automations?
Keaz checks for a keyword first. If the incoming message matches one of your keyword automations, that keyword answers and the Default Reply stays quiet. Only when nothing matches does the Default Reply go out. The order is fixed, so a single message never produces two replies.
The Automations overview shows how the Default Reply, keywords and the Conversation Starter fit together.
Why does it go out only once every 24 hours?
The limit counts per contact. Someone who sends you four messages in a row receives one Default Reply, not four. That is what makes the feature safe to leave switched on permanently.
This limit is not the same thing as the 24-hour reply window. The window is WhatsApp's rule about how long you may answer a contact with a normal message. The Default Reply limit is about how often Keaz answers automatically. Both run on 24 hours, and they are counted separately.
What should you write in it?
- Your support hours, so a contact knows when a person will read the chat.
- A pointer to email or another channel for anything urgent.
- A short confirmation that the message has arrived.
Keep it to one or two sentences. The Default Reply is the first thing a contact reads after writing to you, and it stands in for a person rather than replacing one. Nothing about it is mandatory — leave it off if it does not fit how you communicate.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to use the Default Reply?
Can the Default Reply overrule one of my keywords?
What happens if a contact writes several times in a row?
Can I personalise the text?
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