Five rules that cover most of it
- Say who you are in the first line. People message several shops in a day. Your name saves a moment of doubt.
- Give one next step. “Pick your items here” beats a paragraph of options.
- Keep it under four short lines. It will be read on a phone, probably while doing something else.
- Never promise what you cannot keep. “We reply within five minutes” is a promise you will break at lunchtime.
- Write in the language your customers write in. If they message you in Arabic, the automatic reply should be in Arabic, and not translated word for word from something else.
The welcome message
This is the one that matters most, because every new customer sees it. Compare these two.
Dear customer, thank you for contacting us. Our team will be with you shortly. Please note our working hours are listed on our page. We appreciate your patience.
Hi, welcome to Nour Store 👋 You can see everything and order from here, it takes a minute: [link]. Anything special, just write it here.
The first one tells the customer nothing they can act on. The second tells them where to go and that a human is still around. Emojis are fine in moderation, one or two, where you would naturally use them.
The “we are closed” message
A closed message has two jobs: say when you are back, and say what the customer can still do. If they can browse and place an order for later, tell them that. If they cannot, say so plainly instead of leaving them guessing.
Thanks for writing to Nour Store. We are closed right now and open again tomorrow at 10:00. You can already browse and send your order here: [link], and we will pick it up first thing.
Check the hours you list are the hours you really keep. Nothing irritates a customer more than a message that says “open until midnight” at 11:40 and then silence.
Order messages: received, accepted, done
These are different from a welcome. They are about reassurance and facts. Short, specific, with the order number so nobody has to guess which order you mean.
Your order #1042 has reached us. We will confirm it shortly.
Order #1042 is accepted. Total: 578, cash on delivery. It should reach you in about 40 minutes.
Order #1042 is complete. Thank you, and tell us if anything is off.
If you decline an order, say why, even in a single sentence (“sorry, we ran out of that item”). People can handle “no”. They cannot handle not knowing.
A note on tone
Read your messages out loud. If you would not say it to someone standing at your counter, rewrite it. Avoid stiff phrases like “kindly be informed”, avoid ALL CAPS, and do not stack five emojis in a row. The goal is not to be fancy, it is to be easy to answer.
Finally, review the messages every few months. Prices, hours, delivery times and menus change, and a stale automatic message is worse than none.
General advice from the 2sra3 team, written from how online ordering usually works. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and your own rules and local regulations come first.