How to set up a Freshdesk WhatsApp automatic reply outside business hours: A 2025 guide

Switching your customer support to WhatsApp makes a lot of sense. It’s where your customers are, and they expect quick, easy conversations on the apps they use every day. So you’ve integrated WhatsApp with Freshdesk to meet them there. Great move.

But you've probably hit a wall that’s more frustrating than it should be: trying to set up a simple automatic reply on WhatsApp for messages that come in after you’ve all gone home. It seems like it should be easy, but it’s not.

This guide will walk you through Freshdesk's built-in options, show you exactly where they come up short, and introduce a much better, integrated way to get true WhatsApp automation up and running.

What is a Freshdesk WhatsApp automatic reply outside business hours?

Let's get on the same page. A Freshdesk WhatsApp automatic reply is just a pre-written message sent through WhatsApp to let a customer know you’ve got their message, but your team is currently offline. Think of it as the digital version of a friendly "We're closed right now, but we'll get back to you first thing in the morning."

This is a really important piece of the puzzle for managing customer expectations, especially outside of your normal business hours. When a customer messages you late at night, an automatic reply does two things: it confirms their message wasn't lost in the ether and it tells them when a real person will be able to help.

And no, it’s not the same as an email auto-responder. A reply on WhatsApp keeps the conversation right where it started, on their preferred app. It keeps things feeling immediate and shows that you’re on top of it. It’s a small touch, but it’s critical for providing a smooth experience for your customers.

Setting up a native WhatsApp auto-reply: The standard approach and its limitations

Even with a tool as solid as Freshdesk, automating replies specifically for WhatsApp comes with some surprising headaches. Let's look at how you'd normally try to set this up and pinpoint where it all falls apart.

The standard approach: Business hours and automation rules

On the surface, this seems straightforward. Freshdesk lets you define your team's working hours under Admin > Team > Business Hours. This is how the system knows when your team is "at work" and when they're not.

The next logical step is to head over to Admin > Workflows > Automations to create a rule. You'd set the condition to trigger when a new ticket is created, specifically "In Tickets if... Created > During > Non-Business hours". So far, so good, right?

Here’s the catch. When you get to the "Perform these actions" part, you’ll see a bunch of options like "Send email to requester" and other actions centered around email. What you won't see is an option to "Send WhatsApp message." This is the core of the problem. Freshdesk’s automation engine was built with email in mind and just can't send an automated reply back through the WhatsApp channel. It’s a common point of frustration you’ll see mentioned over and over in the Freshworks community from people looking for this exact feature.

Common workarounds and why they don't work

Because of this gap, teams usually resort to a couple of workarounds, but honestly, they often create more problems than they solve.

• Workaround 1: Using the separate WhatsApp Business App. Some people try to get around this by using the auto-responder built into the standalone WhatsApp Business App. The issue here? This completely separates the auto-reply from your helpdesk. The message doesn't get logged in the Freshdesk ticket, your agents can't see what was sent, and you end up having to manage two different systems. It defeats the purpose of having an integrated helpdesk and is really designed for a single user, not a whole support team.

• Workaround 2: Relying on email notifications. The automation rule in Freshdesk can send an email to the customer. But this just feels clunky. A customer who messages you on WhatsApp is expecting a reply on WhatsApp. Pushing them over to their email inbox feels impersonal and cancels out the convenience you were trying to offer them.

Freshdesk pricing for WhatsApp integration

It's important to talk about the cost, because the ability to integrate WhatsApp is only available on certain Freshdesk plans. And even if you pay for the highest tier, you still won't solve the core automation problem we just talked about.

The WhatsApp integration is mostly offered through their Omnichannel plans. Here’s a quick look at how those break down:

Freshdesk also has its Freddy AI add-ons, like the AI Copilot for an extra $29 per agent per month. While these tools are fantastic for helping agents write replies faster once they're online, they don't give you an autonomous agent that can handle new WhatsApp messages while your team is away.

The bottom line on pricing is this: even if you invest in the top-tier Enterprise Omnichannel plan, you’re stuck with the same fundamental limitation. Freshdesk's automation rules cannot natively send a message back to a customer on WhatsApp. Throwing more money at the problem won't unlock this specific feature.

A better way to set up auto-replies: Using an AI agent

The best way to fix this is to extend Freshdesk's capabilities with a dedicated AI platform. Instead of getting stuck with the native tools, you can plug in an intelligent agent that handles these conversations for you, exactly the way you want.

How an AI integration solves the core problem

An AI platform like eesel AI integrates directly with Freshdesk and basically gives it the WhatsApp superpowers it's missing.

The key difference is that eesel AI's workflow engine was built from the ground up for modern messaging channels. It includes a specific, customizable action to "Reply on WhatsApp." This is the missing piece of the puzzle. It lets you build the exact workflow you need without making any compromises.

An AI agent like eesel AI integrated directly into Freshdesk, capable of handling a Freshdesk WhatsApp automatic reply outside business hours.

Building a smarter WhatsApp workflow

Getting this set up is probably faster and easier than you're imagining.

• Go live in minutes: You don't need to sit through long sales calls or complicated onboarding. You can connect eesel AI to Freshdesk with just one click. The whole setup is self-serve, which means you can have your WhatsApp auto-responder configured and launched in minutes, not weeks or months.

• Total control and customization: You're in the driver's seat. You get to decide exactly how the AI behaves. You can create smart rules to handle different types of questions in different ways. For example, a common workflow might look like this:

  1. A customer sends a WhatsApp message after hours.

  2. eesel AI picks up the ticket in Freshdesk and figures out what the customer is asking.

  3. If it's a simple, common question (like "Where's my order?"), the AI can use a custom action to look up the info in your Shopify store and reply directly on WhatsApp with the answer.

  4. If it's a trickier issue, the AI sends your customized "we're away" message on WhatsApp and automatically tags the ticket for the right person on the morning shift.

graph TD  

    A[Customer sends WhatsApp message after hours] --> B{eesel AI picks up ticket};  

    B --> C{Is it a common question?};  

    C -- Yes --> D[AI finds answer in Shopify/KB];  

    D --> E[AI replies directly on WhatsApp];  

    C -- No --> F[AI sends 'we're away' message on WhatsApp];  

    F --> G[AI tags ticket for morning shift];  

• Unified knowledge: The responses are much smarter than a generic template. eesel AI can connect to your help center articles, learn from your past successful tickets, and even pull information from other places like Google Docs or Confluence. This means the answers it gives are actually helpful and relevant.

Test your workflow with confidence before you launch

One of the biggest worries with automation is the fear that it might go haywire and annoy customers. That's a fair concern, but modern AI platforms are built to prevent that.

With eesel AI, you can run your new WhatsApp workflow in a simulation mode over thousands of your past tickets. This is a really powerful feature that shows you exactly how the AI would have responded to real customer questions. It gives you an accurate prediction of your resolution rate and lets you tweak its behavior. You can perfect the entire process in a safe environment before a single customer ever interacts with it.

Stop hitting walls with your WhatsApp automation

Freshdesk is a great helpdesk, but its built-in automation tools still have one foot firmly planted in the world of email. For modern support teams who live on WhatsApp, this leaves a pretty big gap.

Trying to patch that gap with separate apps or by forcing customers over to email just creates a clunky, disjointed experience. It completely undermines the reason you started using WhatsApp in the first place.

By integrating a dedicated AI agent like eesel AI, you can get past these limitations right away. You don't just get the ability to send a true Freshdesk WhatsApp automatic reply outside business hours, you get the power to actually resolve questions instantly. This leads to a much better experience for your customers and a more efficient workflow for your team.

Take control of your WhatsApp support channel

Stop letting your helpdesk’s limitations dictate your customer experience. It’s time to build powerful, reliable WhatsApp automations that work for you around the clock.

Explore eesel AI's integration with Freshdesk to learn more, or book a personalized demo to see it in action.