You send the announcement on Monday. By Tuesday you've answered "What time?" eleven times, "Where is it?" seven times and "Is there parking?" five times. At 11 PM someone asks what to wear.

Every answer was already in the announcement. People don't always read to the end, and it's easier to ask. That's fine. It just shouldn't be your job to answer the same five questions one by one, all week, from your own phone.

Why answering by hand wears you out

The same questions come in waves, right after every announcement.
They arrive at all hours, and a question left unanswered can turn into a no-show.
Copy and paste only goes so far. You still have to open each chat and reply.
If you share the job, everyone answers a little differently, and someone gives the old time.

What you want is for the common questions to answer themselves, in your words, while the real questions still come to a person.

How to do it with MsgOrb on WhatsApp

When you build an announcement in MsgOrb, there's a section called Smart Auto-Replies. You switch on the questions you expect, type your answer once, and MsgOrb sends that answer whenever someone replies to your announcement with that question.

Nothing is made up and nothing is guessed. MsgOrb only ever sends the answers you wrote, word for word.

1. Build your announcement

Open the campaign builder from Automations (for example Organisation for a church, school or club, or Events for an event), choose the group, and write your announcement or pick your approved template.

2. Go to section 4, Smart Auto-Replies

Section 4 is a list of switches, one for each common question:

Time / Date answers: "What time?" You type the time and date.
Venue / Location answers: "Where?" You type the venue or a link.
Organizer details: "Who do I contact?" You type a name and number.
RSVP confirmation: "I will attend". Nothing to type.
Greeting acknowledgement: "Hello", "Good morning" and other greetings. Nothing to type.
Dress code: "What should I wear?" You type the dress code.
Parking / Directions: "Where do I park?" You type the parking notes.
Cost / Ticket price: "How much?" You type the cost.
Agenda / Program: "What's the program?" You type the outline.

3. Turn on the ones you need and type your answers

Write each answer the way you'd say it to a friend. For example, for parking: "Park in the north lot off Elm Street. Overflow parking is across the road at the library." For dress code: "Smart casual. It's outdoors, so bring a jacket."

4. Decide how long the answers run

By default, answers run for 24 hours after your announcement reaches each person. If you're announcing an event days ahead, set Stop answering at to when the event ends, so people can ask about the time or the venue all week.

5. Test it on yourself

Create a group with only your own number, send the announcement to it, and reply with "what time?" from your phone. Your answer comes back within seconds. Now you know exactly what your people will see.

6. Send it

Send it now or schedule it. From then on, the common questions answer themselves.

What your people receive

Imagine you run a youth soccer league and send the season kickoff details. A parent replies:

Where do we park?

A few seconds later, MsgOrb answers, in your words, from your number:

Park in the north lot off Elm Street. Overflow parking is across the road at the library.

Another parent replies "what time does it start?" and gets the time and date you typed. Someone else asks, "Can my daughter switch teams?" That isn't on your list, so MsgOrb doesn't make up an answer. It sends a short note saying it couldn't match the question (with your contact, if you switched on Organizer details), and the message waits in your Inbox for you.

Good to know

Only replies to your announcement are answered, and only while the answers are running. After that, messages go to the Inbox for a person.
"Ok", "thanks" and a thumbs-up are never answered with an automatic reply, because they aren't questions.
Anything it doesn't recognize comes to you. The person gets a short holding reply, and the message waits in your Inbox. You stay in charge of the real conversations.
Keep each answer short. One or two sentences with the detail people need. If the answer is long, like a full program, put the main points in and add "Full details on the flier."
Most answers cost nothing to send. When someone writes to you, WhatsApp opens a 24-hour window where you can reply without a template, and Meta includes 1,000 of these replies free each month for every WhatsApp number. After that, each reply is charged at Meta's Utility rate, well under a cent in the US.

What changes for you

Imagine the week after your next announcement. The phone still buzzes, but most of those buzzes are already answered: time, place, parking, dress code, cost. What's left in your Inbox are the questions that actually need you.

People get answers instantly, at 11 PM or 6 AM, so fewer of them give up and stay home.
Everyone gets the same, correct answer, because you wrote it once.
You get your evenings back.
Your team stops copying and pasting. Volunteers and staff can focus on the questions that need a human.

Let the common questions answer themselves

Write your answers once, switch them on, and let MsgOrb handle the "what time?" and "where do I park?" questions on WhatsApp. You can try it free at www.msgorb.com.

How to Automatically Answer "What Time Does It Start?" and "Where Do I Park?" on WhatsApp