01
The 9pm message kept
A message that waits two hours is a booking made somewhere else. Your agent answers in seconds, at midnight, on a public holiday.
Your agent, on WhatsApp
AI agents for WhatsApp
The number your customers already message.
For most of your customers WhatsApp is the phone. Your agent answers there in seconds, takes the booking or the order, confirms the day before so the table is not empty, and replies in whatever language the message arrived in.
TL;DR
What you get
- Every message answered in seconds — including the 9pm one you would have lost.
- Bookings and orders captured complete, then confirmed the day before to cut no-shows.
- Replies go out in the language the message arrived in; voice notes and photos included.
- Complaints and unusual requests escalate to your team with the full chat.
- Runs on your own WhatsApp Cloud API number. Setup is about 30 minutes.
What it handles
Six outcomes on the number they already message.
02
Bookings taken properly
Party size, date, window, name and the thing you always have to ask — one request you can confirm, not four unanswered messages.
03
Fewer empty tables
The day-before confirmation lands in the chat the booking was made in, so a reply keeps it, moves it or frees the slot in time to resell.
04
Every customer in their own language
You write your hours, prices and policies once; the reply goes out in the language the message arrived in.
05
Voice notes and photos, not refusals
Voice notes are transcribed and answered; a photo of the damaged part is attached to the request for whoever picks it up.
06
Complaints reach a person
An angry message gets flagged with the full chat to someone who can fix it, instead of an automated apology.
A real chat
One number, answered in seconds, all day.
No portal, no ticket number, no "your call is important to us". The customer messages the number on your window and the answer arrives in the chat they already had open.
WhatsApp Business · Casa MarinaA WhatsApp agent vs an auto-reply flow
A menu of options is not a conversation.
The usual WhatsApp Business setup is a greeting, a numbered menu, and a promise that someone will reply during business hours. Customers answer the menu with a sentence, and the flow breaks.
| Capability | Your WhatsApp agent | Auto-reply / numbered menu |
|---|---|---|
| How the customer answers | In a sentence, a voice note, or a photo. | By typing 1, 2 or 3 — in the right order. |
| Out of hours | Takes the booking and confirms it. | "We are closed. We will reply tomorrow." |
| Languages | Replies in the language the message arrived in. | Whatever the flow was written in. |
| No-shows | Day-before confirmation in the same chat. | A template blast, if someone remembers to send it. |
| Regulars | Remembers the order, the allergy, the preference. | Every chat starts from zero. |
| When it goes wrong | Flags the chat to a person with the full history. | Repeats the menu. |
Start from a complete template
Restaurant Host
The complete template for a place that takes bookings on WhatsApp: reservations captured properly, day-of confirmations that cut no-shows, and regulars who are remembered.
What comes with it
- Reservations captured complete: party, date, window, name, notes
- Day-of confirmations in the original chat, with reply-to-change
- Menu, hours and allergen answers from your own profile
- Voice notes and photos understood, not refused
- Guest memory keyed to the phone number
- Escalation to a human for complaints and large-party requests
Evidence
Why messaging beats a callback promise.
Published research on message reminders, response speed and AI-assisted service. None of these studies tested Keiki — they measure the behaviour a WhatsApp agent is built on.
Message reminders reduce no-shows.
Across eight randomised trials (6,615 participants), attendance rose from 67.8% with no reminder to 78.6% with a text reminder, at 55-65% lower cost per attendance than phone calls.
Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointmentsCochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2013
Slow replies lose the customer, not just the thread.
A study of how firms handle online enquiries found most reply far too slowly to reach a prospect while the enquiry is still live.
The Short Life of Online Sales LeadsHarvard Business Review, 2011
AI assistance lets a small team answer more.
Support staff working with a generative-AI assistant resolved nearly 14% more issues per hour, with the largest gains for the least experienced.
Generative AI at WorkBrynjolfsson, Li & Raymond, NBER Working Paper 31161, 2023
Further reading
Worth reading on WhatsApp for business.
- WhatsApp Business Platform
The Cloud API your number runs on, including the 24-hour customer service window.
Meta for Developers
- WhatsApp Business
Meta’s own case for selling and supporting customers inside WhatsApp.
WhatsApp
- Global social media statistics
Where WhatsApp sits in messaging use, country by country.
DataReportal
Questions
What people ask about running an agent on WhatsApp.
- Does this work with WhatsApp Business?
- Yes — it runs on your WhatsApp Business number, so customers message the number you already advertise. There is nothing for them to install or accept.
- Can it reply in more than one language?
- It answers in the language the message arrived in. You write your hours, prices and policies once, and each customer reads them in their own language.
- What about voice notes and photos?
- Voice notes are transcribed and answered in text; photos are attached to the request so whoever picks it up sees what the customer sent. Neither gets a "please type that instead".
- Will it reduce no-shows?
- That is what the day-before confirmation is for. It lands in the chat the booking was made in, and a one-word reply keeps, moves or frees the slot while you can still fill it.
- Can a person take over the chat?
- Any chat can be handed to your team, with the full history and everything the agent already promised. Complaints and unusual requests are escalated automatically.
- How long does setup take?
- Start from the Restaurant Host template, connect your WhatsApp number, and edit the profile. You are answering messages the same day.
Stop losing the 9pm message.
Request access at onkeiki.com, open the Restaurant Host template, connect your Cloud API number. About 30 minutes to answering in seconds, in their language.