If portal leads wait until morning for a reply, this is for you. This is not for you if nobody owns the lead after the first reply: no message, automatic or typed, fixes that.
Did the buyer write to you, or did you write first?
Start here, because it decides what an automatic WhatsApp reply may do. A buyer who taps the WhatsApp button on a Bayut or Property Finder listing has written to you. The chat is open and you can answer freely. A buyer who filled in a form has not. Their phone number is in an email, and you are the one starting the conversation.
Meta's documentation is plain on the second case: "Template messages are the only type of message that can be sent to WhatsApp users outside of a customer service window." So the first message to a form lead is a template Meta has approved, not a typed line and not a bot that improvises. Check your portal's terms on using the phone number in a lead email before you send it.
The free WhatsApp Business app has a tool for the first case. WhatsApp's Help Center says a greeting message is sent automatically when a customer messages you for the first time, and again after 14 days of inactivity in that chat. It is one fixed text. It does not know which listing the buyer asked about, and it does not know who is on duty.
What makes an automatic first reply worth sending?
Most of what Dubai brokerages automate says nothing. CrankUp's founder describes the standard "we'll get back to you shortly" reply as a message that gives the buyer no reason to wait and leaves "shortly" to mean thirty minutes or three days. CrankUp sells an AI agent, so read that as one practitioner's opinion, not a measured result.
We hold a stricter rule. Send an automatic first reply only if it passes three tests:
- 01It names the listing the buyer asked about, by its reference.
- 02It names the agent and says when that agent will write.
- 03A person owns the lead in the inbox within the hour, so the promise in the message can be kept.
If you cannot promise the third, send nothing automatic. A message that sets a time nobody meets is worse than a quiet night, because the buyer now has a reason to give up on you. The shape of a good first message is not hard to write. A published sample from Remarketly (16 September 2026) greets the buyer by name, gives the listing reference, says who is writing, asks one question (investment or to move in) and offers a viewing that week. As a sample saved reply, written by us, not a result from any brokerage:
Hi Ahmed, thanks for your enquiry on the 2-bed in Dubai Marina (ref PF-4471). I'm Sara from [your brokerage]. Is it for investment or to move in? I'll send the floor plan and can book a viewing this week.
Swap the name, reference and agent for each lead, and keep a copy in Arabic for Arabic-speaking buyers.
Who owns the lead at 8am?
The first message is the easy half. The harder half is the morning after. Remarketly lists the leak plainly: "Shared numbers, no ownership. One office WhatsApp, five agents, and no record of who replied to whom."
That is where a first reply fails in practice. The buyer got a good message at 11pm, five agents see the chat at 8am, and each assumes another has it. The lead is answered by nobody until the buyer writes again, or writes to a competitor.
Run the test yourself tonight. Enquire on your own listing at 11pm from a number nobody knows. Note what arrives, from whom, and how fast. Then check at 8am who can see it.
How do we decide with a brokerage?
Our method is called Every lead has an owner. We start with the 11pm test on your own listings. We read where portal leads arrive today (the WhatsApp button, email, a form), how many agents answer, and who sees a chat at 8am. Then we say whether your first problem is the message or the owner. For most teams with one shared number it is the owner.
If a template, a greeting or a person on the phone at night already does the job, we tell you to keep it. Ticketed requests with a promised reply time are a different buyer: that is Mindcat Desk, not Inbox.
What does Inbox cost?
Here is what the Inbox page says today. You pay per agent a month, and an agent is anyone who replies to customers in that month. Each band's price applies only to the agents inside it, and one owner login that only reads reports is free.
- Agents 1 to 5: AED or SAR 89 each. Agents 6 to 20: 59. Agents 21 to 50: 45. Above 50: 35.
- The shared plan has a minimum of 3 agents (AED/SAR 267 a month), so one login does not buy a seat at the per-agent rate. Twelve agents pay AED 858 a month.
- The quick start is a fixed AED/SAR 2,500 that we set up, for 1 to 5 agents on the shared plan. Larger teams and your own copy are managed setups, with prices on the page.
Meta's WhatsApp fees, SMS and any AI use are billed at cost. A direct portal feed is built during setup for teams of 21 agents and up; before that, portal leads arrive on WhatsApp. Arabic screens are partly translated today and finished in setup. Prices exclude 5 percent UAE VAT and 15 percent Saudi VAT.
Tell us how many agents answer your WhatsApp leads and where the leads come from. We reply with the setup plan and the monthly price per agent. If a template and a clear owner are enough for you, tell us anyway and we will say so.
