It’s 10:40 p.m. You’ve closed up, you’re having dinner, and your phone buzzes: “Hi! Will you have the chocolate cake tomorrow? It’s for a birthday.”
You have two options. Answer with a fork in your other hand, or leave it for tomorrow. And tomorrow at 9, when you finally write back, that person has already ordered the cake somewhere else.
That scene repeats itself in almost every business that sells through WhatsApp. It isn’t a lack of will: one person simply can’t be at the counter, at home and on the phone at the same time. I’m Lautaro, co-founder and CEO of Nexvia. In this article I’ll tell you what you get back when someone answers for you, and how we solved it in Gridio.
1. Time: run the numbers with your own figures
Most of the messages a shop gets are the same questions, over and over. What time do you close? How much is it? Do you deliver to my area? Do you have it in size 39? Each one seems like nothing: read it, look up the answer, type it. A couple of minutes.
The problem is that they add up. Let’s run an example with round numbers:
Twenty-four hours a month is three full working days spent answering the same things. And that’s without counting what wears you down the most: the interruptions. Leaving a customer at the counter to answer another one on the phone, losing track of what you were doing, starting over.
To run your own numbers, open your business WhatsApp and look at any day last week: how many messages came in, and how many were questions you’ve already answered a thousand times. Multiply by the minutes each one takes and by the days you’re open. The result is usually surprising.
2. Sales: a question goes cold fast
When someone asks about a product, they’re deciding now. If the answer takes too long, they keep looking, and often someone else answers first.
It’s not just a feeling. A study published in Harvard Business Review in 2011 analyzed more than a million inquiries that US companies received through their websites. Those that responded within the first hour were nearly 7 times more likely to have a conversation with real buying interest than those that took one hour longer, and more than 60 times more likely than those that took a day or more (source). The study didn’t measure WhatsApp, but the lesson holds: a customer’s interest doesn’t last long.
And questions don’t arrive when it suits you. They come at nap time, at night, on Sunday, while you’re serving a line of customers.
To put a number on your own case, count how many questions you get after hours in a week and think about how many would turn into a purchase if someone answered right away. Multiply that by your average ticket. That’s what’s currently left waiting until tomorrow.
3. What Gridio’s AI agent does
Gridio is the inbox where all your business messages, from WhatsApp and Instagram, come together in one place. And it has an artificial intelligence agent that replies on its own, for you, on WhatsApp and on Instagram. It doesn’t suggest what to write or wait for you to hit “send”: it answers.
- You tell it about your businessWhat you sell, your hours, how you deliver, your prices and the questions you get most. You write it the way you'd explain it to someone new joining your team.
- You tell it how to talkFriendly or formal, with emojis or without. You don't pick from a list: you write it in your own words.
- It answers instantly, at any hourAt 2 a.m., on Sunday or while you're at the counter. With your information and in your tone.
- When a person is needed, it hands you the chatYou or someone on your team takes over the conversation whenever you want, and the AI pauses. Everything stays in the same inbox, with the full history.
Tone matters more than it seems. A neighborhood bakery and an accounting firm don’t talk to their customers the same way, and the person writing notices. That’s why the same question can get very different answers, depending on what you ask for:
If you also use Vendor ERP, our management system, the AI checks your real prices and stock before answering. And once the customer confirms, it leaves the order recorded in the system, with the products and the total, for someone on your team to review and ship. You wake up and last night’s order is already there.
4. What you should know before you start
We’d rather you know from the start, so there are no surprises:
- It answers on WhatsApp and on Instagram. Messages from both channels land in the same inbox, and the AI answers them with the same information and the same tone.
- It can make mistakes, like any artificial intelligence. You decide what it can answer and with what information, and you can review any conversation.
- It doesn't take payments. It gets the order ready; payment and delivery are closed by a person on your team.
- It uses the official WhatsApp connection. Nexvia is a Meta technology provider. It doesn't use programs that imitate WhatsApp Web, which are the ones that get numbers blocked. And you can keep using the WhatsApp Business app on your phone with the same number.
- Meta charges for messages separately. It bills them directly to your WhatsApp Business account, according to its price list, with no commission from us. Each number gets 1,000 free replies per month. The details are in what you need in Meta (in Spanish).
5. How to try it without risking anything
The easiest way is to see it working. At gridio.net you can chat with the same AI that answers the WhatsApp of businesses using Gridio: pick an industry and ask as if you were a customer.
If you like it, the Starter plan is free, no card required: one channel, one user and 100 AI replies per month. That’s enough to really try it with your customers and see how many questions it answers for you. When you need it, the Pro plan adds users, channels and more replies.
And if you’d like to read more before deciding, the Gridio blog (in Spanish) compares the WhatsApp Business app with the official API and explains why it pays to handle WhatsApp and Instagram from one place.
Frequently asked questions
Does Gridio’s AI reply on its own or suggest what to answer? It replies on its own. On WhatsApp and in Instagram direct messages, Gridio’s AI agent answers instantly, at any hour, with your business information and the tone you ask for. You or anyone on your team can take over any chat whenever you want, and the AI pauses at that moment.
Does it also answer Instagram messages? Yes. The AI answers Instagram direct messages just like WhatsApp: instantly, with your business information and in your tone. Both channels land in the same Gridio inbox, and you or your team can take over any chat whenever you want.
What if the AI doesn’t know the answer or gets it wrong? It can make mistakes, like any artificial intelligence. That’s why you decide what it can answer and with what information, you can review conversations whenever you like, and when a chat needs a person, someone on your team takes it over and the AI stops replying.
How much does Gridio’s AI agent cost? You can start free, with no card, on the Starter plan: one channel, one user and 100 AI replies per month. The Pro plan, with more users and channels, is quoted on request. Separately, Meta charges WhatsApp messages directly to your account according to its price list, with no Gridio commission.
Can the AI see my stock and take orders? Yes, if you use Vendor ERP. With Vendor connected, the AI checks your real prices and stock, and once the customer confirms, it leaves the order recorded in the system for someone on your team to review and ship. Without Vendor, it answers with the information you load into Gridio.
Your customers are already writing to you, at all hours. You run your business; Gridio handles your messages. Start free at gridio.net, or write to us and we’ll look at it together for your business.