Summary
Operating hours in Mumble let you define when your business is open and automatically send a message to customers who reach out outside those hours. This is the only built-in auto-reply in Mumble – any other reply (welcome message, response during business hours, FAQ) requires a chatbot, automations, or Dolores AI.
How to get to the operating hours settings
- Open the right-hand menu and click Settings.
- In the tabs at the top of the screen, choose Business Profile.
- Scroll to the Operating Hours Selection section.
The hours are interpreted according to the account’s time zone, which is set in the Technical Profile tab (default: Asia/Jerusalem).
Setting operating hours by day
At the top of the section there’s a main toggle that turns the whole feature on or off. When the toggle is off, Mumble won’t send any auto-reply, even if there’s text in the message field.
Below the main toggle there’s a row for each day of the week, from Sunday through Saturday. In each row:
- A toggle that marks whether the day is open or closed
- A start time and an end time (when the day’s toggle is on)
Days with the toggle off are treated as closed all day. An example of a typical Israeli office: Sunday through Thursday 09:00 to 18:00 active, Friday 09:00 to 13:00 active, Saturday closed.
When you’re done configuring, click Update Details at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
Writing the auto-reply
The Message when the business is closed field is below the days table. This message is sent to a customer who writes outside operating hours. During operating hours, the message isn’t sent at all – customers get a normal response from your agents.
A few things to know about the field:
- Maximum length: 150 characters
- Mumble automatically appends your operating hours to the end of the message – there’s no need to write them yourself
An example of good wording:
Thanks for reaching out! Our business is currently closed. We’ll get back to you soon during our operating hours:
Mumble will add your operating hours as configured to the end of the message, so there’s no need to spell them out in the text.
A welcome message – what’s the solution
Mumble has no field for automatically sending a welcome message to a new customer. There are four ways to achieve the effect:
- Chatbot – set up a bot that starts automatically when a new customer writes for the first time, sends a greeting, and can also present a menu of options or collect basic details.
- Automations – set up an automation with a trigger on a conversation status change (for example from “New” to “In Progress”), and an action of sending a message template or attaching a chatbot. Useful when you want conditional logic – for example a different welcome message for customers labeled in a particular list.
- Dolores AI – an AI agent that answers first and can open the conversation with a greeting tailored to the business’s field and the customer’s question.
- Out-of-office message – outside operating hours, this message effectively fills the role of a welcome greeting for situations when no one is available to answer.
The choice depends on your volume of inquiries and how personalized the first message needs to be. For a small business with low traffic, the out-of-office message is usually enough. For businesses with high traffic, a chatbot, an automation, or Dolores is the solution.
Troubleshooting common issues
I set up operating hours but the message isn’t being sent
Cause: The main toggle is off, or the toggle for the specific day the customer wrote is on (meaning the business is set as open).
Solution: Make sure the main toggle is on, that the specific day is marked as closed (or that the current time is genuinely outside the configured hours), and that the time zone in the Technical Profile is correct.
The message is being sent during operating hours too
Cause: The toggle for the current day is off, or the start and end times are set incorrectly (for example 09:00 to 09:00).
Solution: Check the configuration for the current day. Make sure the end time is after the start time.
The message length isn’t enough for me
Cause: The limit is 150 characters.
Solution: Mumble appends your operating hours automatically, so you can cut them from your text. If you still need more room, switch to a chatbot – there’s no similar limit there and you can build an entire scenario.
I want an auto-reply during operating hours too, not just when closed
Cause: The built-in reply only handles the business-closed situation.
Solution: Build a chatbot with a trigger on the first message of a new conversation, set up an automation with a trigger on a conversation status change, or turn on Dolores AI as a first agent that always answers.
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Bottom line
The operating hours feature automatically handles customers who reach out outside business hours, and nothing more. Any other response – a welcome greeting, a response during business hours, an answer to common questions – requires a chatbot, automations, or Dolores AI.