Away message templates for nights, weekends and holidays

A shopper who writes to you at 10pm isn’t asking for an instant answer. They want an honest one about when a person will get back to them, and an hour is about all the patience they bring: 70% of US consumers in a 2026 EZ Texting survey said that’s how quickly they expect a business to text back. The away message templates below cover the hours your team can’t.

Think of an away message as the reply your system sends by itself while nobody is around. A good one buys you the night. A bad one feels like a door shut on the customer.

Those messages arrive whether you’re open or not. Across 22 markets, 73.3% of people in WhatsApp’s 2026 Consumer Report picked messaging as their preferred way to contact a business, as Drag’s roundup of WhatsApp statistics reports. If you’re still deciding which channels to offer, look at how customers choose between live chat, WhatsApp and Instagram first.

What should every away message include?

Four parts make an away message work: a note that the message landed, a named reply time, one thing the customer can do now and the voice your team uses every day. Drop any of them and people write again, wait with no idea how long, or decide nobody cares.

Three of those four also show up in Saysimple’s guide to WhatsApp away messages: acknowledge the message, trade a fuzzy promise for an actual time, and skip stiff company language nobody on your team would type in a live chat. In practice, each part looks like this.

• Confirmation: tell them it arrived, so they don’t send it three more times.
• A real reply time: “by 10am Monday” works better than “as soon as possible”, since the customer can plan around it.
• A next step: a link to order tracking, the returns page or a phone number for things that can’t wait.
• Your voice: sound like your best agent typing, not like your terms of service.

Of the four, the reply time carries the most weight, because customers judge you on speed. Fast replies came out as critical to service feeling genuine for 84% of the 1,650 US and UK consumers Emplifi surveyed. An away message isn’t an answer, so the time it names becomes the speed you’re measured against.

Be upfront that the reply is automatic. Just over half of US consumers, 54%, told EZ Texting that automated text assistants are fine with them. Another 20% are uneasy with automation, and 25% say it comes down to how the experience goes. Nobody minds an honest auto-reply. People mind one that pretends to be a person and then goes silent.

Brevity helps too. What separates a helpful chat from an annoying one holds for automatic replies as well: say something specific, cut the filler and end once the customer knows what comes next.

What should you send when you’re closed for the night?

Send something short that names the hour you’ll be back and points to anything the customer can sort out alone before then. Selling across regions? Add your time zone, so “back at 9” doesn’t get read as 9 in the customer’s own time.

Website chat, closed for the night

Pick this one for your site, where the visitor may still be on the page and can click a link right away.

Template: Hi, thanks for writing. We’re offline for the night and return at {opening time} {time zone}, and your chat is first on our list. Want an order update before then? Track it live at {tracking link}.

WhatsApp, closed for the night

Pick this one for WhatsApp, where the reply pops up as a phone notification and fewer words read better.

Template: Thanks for your message to {business name}. We’re closed now and reopen at {opening time}. It’s reached us safely, and {team member} will answer you here in the morning.

Night message with an urgent route

Pick this version when a few problems truly can’t sit until morning, like a booking for the next day.

Template: Hi {name}, we’ve received this. We’re closed until {opening time}. If it’s about tomorrow’s booking, ring {urgent number} and someone will answer. Everything else gets a reply in this chat by {reply time}.

What should a weekend away message say?

It should name the exact day and hour you’ll reply, because “after the weekend” means Sunday night to one person and Tuesday to another. Saysimple advises a distinct message for each of evenings, weekends and public holidays, which lets every version state its own return time.

Closed all weekend

Pick this when no one reads messages between Friday evening and Monday morning.

Template: Thanks for getting in touch. We’re off until Monday at {opening time} {time zone}. Leave your question here and you’ll have an answer before noon Monday. Many common questions are answered at {help center link}.

Checking once a day

Pick this when someone does glance at weekend messages, though only once a day.

Template: Hi, thanks for writing. At weekends someone reads messages once a day, around {check time}. If that’s already passed, expect our reply on {next check day}. Writing about an order? Include the order number and we’ll start there.

WhatsApp, weekend

Pick this for WhatsApp, where people often message on Saturday about something they spotted midweek.

Template: Hi {name}, the team is off this weekend. We’re back Monday at {opening time} and will reply in this chat by {reply time}. Thanks for your patience with us.

How do you write a holiday away message?

Give the exact dates: when you close, when you reopen and when you’ll have caught up on replies. Saysimple’s guide also says to restore your normal message once the break is over, because a holiday notice left running into the new week makes it look like you’ve vanished.

Single public holiday

Pick this for a one-day closure, like a national holiday landing midweek.

Template: Thanks for writing. We’re closed on {date} for {holiday} and reopen on {reopening date} at {opening time}. From that morning we’ll work through messages in the order they arrived.

Longer closure with shipping dates

Pick this for a break of several days, above all at year end, when people fret about deliveries.

Template: Hi, {business name} is closed from {start date} to {end date}. Orders placed during the break ship on {first shipping date}, and replies go out by {reply date}. You can still follow your parcel at {tracking link} while we’re away.

Owner on vacation

Pick this when the main person in a small team is gone for a week and a colleague handles only some of the work.

Template: Hi {name}, it’s {owner name}. I’m away from {start date} to {end date} and only dipping into messages. {colleague name} checks orders daily, so order questions will still be answered. I’ll get to everything else by {reply date}.

What should you say when you’re open but too busy to reply?

Quote the true wait, not a hopeful one, and offer a quicker route for simple questions. Being busy is just another way of being away: nobody is free, and the customer deserves to know for how long.

People expect more speed from automatic replies than from humans. In a separate Emplifi poll of 854 US consumers, 66% wanted AI support on social channels to answer instantly, and only 24% were willing to sit through an hour. That means the busy message should fire the second someone writes, and the wait it gives should be accurate.

Website chat queue

Pick this when chats are piling up and visitors are still browsing your site.

Template: Thanks for your patience. We’re busier than normal and the current wait is around {wait time}. Keep this chat open and we’ll get to you, or leave your email and we’ll reply there.

WhatsApp, busy day

Pick this for WhatsApp when you’re behind on replies but still getting through them.

Template: Hi {name}, today’s a busy one and replies are about {wait time} behind. You’re in the queue. Delivery question? Our shipping times are at {shipping page link}.

Sale or launch day

Pick this when a promotion is sure to swamp your inbox, and turn it on before the sale opens.

Template: Our {sale name} is keeping everyone busy, so expect slower replies today, within {wait time}. Sale dates, codes and delivery cutoffs are all at {sale page link}.

Where a chatbot greets visitors first, carry the same honest wait times into its queue and handoff wording when you update your chatbot message templates.

How should an away message handle order questions?

Send customers straight to self-service tracking and ask for the order number right away, so the first reply from a person can solve the problem rather than collect details. That alone cuts a whole back-and-forth from the next morning.

A lot of what lands after hours is about orders. Half of US consumers, 50%, told EZ Texting they’d like shipping and order news by text. Product questions were a reason to text a business for 45% of them, and returns or refunds for 39%.

Where is my order

Make this your standard after-hours reply if you sell online.

Template: Thanks for writing. Want to know where your order is? See its live status at {tracking link}. Still stuck? Reply with your order number and we’ll take it from there at {opening time}.

Returns and refunds

Pick this when customers can start a return on their own, through a form or a returns page.

Template: Hi {name}, thanks for asking about a return. The returns policy and the form to start one are at {returns link}. Already sent the item back? Reply with the order number and we’ll confirm your refund by {reply time}.

Damaged or wrong item

Pick this when someone says an item arrived broken or wasn’t what they ordered. Skip the help page link. They need to hear that a person is on it.

Template: We’re sorry your order arrived like this. Please send your order number and a photo of the problem. {team member} will get back to you by {reply time} to arrange a replacement or refund.

How do you set up away messages on WhatsApp and website chat?

Turn on the away message in the WhatsApp Business app, give your website chat tool your hours and an offline message, then test both from a second phone. The six steps below get you from a document full of templates to messages that really go out.

Step 1: Write one message for each situation

Paste the templates you want into one shared document, fill in the placeholders and label each version simply: night, weekend, holiday, busy, orders. That way anyone on the team can update a date without starting over.

Step 2: Turn on the WhatsApp Business app’s away message

Open the free WhatsApp Business app, head to Settings, choose Business tools and then Away message. Flip it on, add your text, set a schedule and an audience, and save. Saysimple’s walkthrough describes three schedule choices: send all the time, send only when you’re closed, or follow your own custom times. For the audience, you can pick everyone or limit it to new or selected contacts.

Step 3: Set your website chat hours and offline message

A chat tool that doesn’t know your hours assumes someone is always there. LenoChat, for example, keeps your working days and times in its chat operating hours setting, which ships turned off, so the widget looks available day and night until you switch it on. Once you’re closed, it can display an offline form, display an offline message or disappear, depending on your choice. The offline form message has a 250-character cap, so shorten the website version of each template.

Step 4: Cover WhatsApp separately if it runs through a shared inbox

The away message setting belongs to the WhatsApp Business app alone. Once a number runs on the WhatsApp Business API, the version of WhatsApp built to feed team inbox software rather than one handset, that setting is gone, and Saysimple explains that after-hours replies then live in the inbox software. If you’re weighing the two, read whether the free WhatsApp Business app is enough or you need the API.

The app’s away message takes less time to turn on than an inbox platform’s after-hours reply, but it’s tied to one phone and can’t pass chats to different people or teams. The built-in away message is best for owners who handle WhatsApp from a single phone.

Inside an inbox tool, check each channel’s after-hours behavior, since they don’t always follow one setting. LenoChat’s chat hours, for instance, govern the website widget only and don’t touch WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook, so someone writing on WhatsApp never sees your website offline message.

Step 5: Test each message before you rely on it

Saysimple suggests a trial run, messaging your business number from a second phone. After that, open your website chat in a private browser window while you’re closed. Confirm the reply shows up, every link works and the times are correct.

Step 6: Switch back when you reopen

Put a reminder in your calendar for the day you come back from any break. Replace the holiday text with your regular night message and make sure the weekend schedule still fits.

Which away message should you set up first?

Start with the night message, since it runs for more hours than any other. Add the weekend and order versions after that, and draft each holiday message a week ahead of the closure so the dates are accurate.

Store every version in the shared document from step 1 and look them over whenever your hours, delivery times or return rules change. An away message carrying an out-of-date date hurts more than a plain one that names no date.