When it is on, everybody who fills in your contact form gets an email back straight away with your words in it. It carries your business name and your colour, and when they hit reply it comes to you rather than to us.
What it is not is an answer. It buys you the time to give a real one, so the words matter: say what happens next and roughly when, in the way you would say it on the phone. What you should not do is promise a time you cannot keep. "As soon as we can" costs you nothing if you are on a job all day; "within the hour" is a broken promise the first time you are under a house.
One thing to know about where it comes from. The email leaves Kitset's address with your name on it, reading as "Bayside Plumbing (via Kitset)", rather than from your own domain. Sending as you would need DNS records set up and verified on your domain for email, and without them most inboxes quietly bin it. An email that arrives honestly beats one that does not arrive.
Step by step
Open Enquiries in your dashboard and find "Reply automatically".
Turn the switch on.
Write what it should say.
Two or three sentences. Who you are, that you have got it, and when they will hear back.
Pick the colour for the bar at the top, or use one of the ones offered.
Your business name sits in it. We choose black or white text for you, whichever can actually be read on the colour you picked.
Check the preview underneath. That is exactly what a stranger receives.
Press Save, then send yourself a test message from your live site.
If it does not go to plan
Can I turn it off again?
Yes, the same switch. Nothing else changes and your words are kept, so turning it back on later does not mean writing it again.
Why can it not come from my own email address?
Because it would not arrive. Sending as you needs SPF and DKIM records on your domain, verified with the mail provider. Without them Gmail treats it as forgery and bins it silently. If that matters to you, tell us and we will talk about setting it up properly.
Will it reply to spam?
Obvious rubbish is filtered before it reaches this. Something that gets through would get one copy of your thank-you note, which is true of every contact form on the internet.
My colour looks wrong in the email.
Check the preview first, since that is what actually goes out. If they disagree, tell us: that is a bug on our side.