In this article
An empty chat is the hardest screen in any messaging app. Telegram fills it twice: with a suggested sticker anyone can tap to break the silence, and — for business accounts — with a page you write yourself that greets whoever opens the chat.
They are two different features with two different audiences, and the second one is a paid subscription. This page separates them, because most explanations do not.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Use the greeting sticker that appears in an empty chat, and know where it comes from.
- check_circle Tell a Start Page apart from a Greeting Message — they fire at different moments.
- check_circle Write a start page that answers the three questions a new arrival actually has.
- check_circle Decide whether any of this is worth a subscription for what you do.
The sticker in the middle of an empty chat is a suggestion, not a decoration — tapping it sends it.
waving_hand The free half: the greeting sticker
Open a chat with someone you have never written to and Telegram puts an animated sticker in the empty space with a line inviting you to say hello. It is not a decoration: tapping it sends it as your first message.
This costs nothing and applies to every account. It exists because the friction in a new conversation is almost never about what to say — it is about having to type the first thing at all. A tap removes that, and the other person gets something friendlier than a blank "hi".
storefront The paid half: what a business account adds
Telegram Business is a subscription that turns a personal account into a shopfront. Two of its features act on the empty chat, and they are easy to confuse because both are described as greetings.
A Start Page is what a visitor sees before they write: a title, a short description and a sticker you choose. Nothing is sent; it is a page, in the space a conversation has not filled yet.
A Greeting Message is what gets sent automatically after they write, to people who have not contacted you in a while. It is a real message in the thread, and it can carry the things a page cannot — a price list, a link, a form.
What belongs on a start page
You have a title, a couple of lines and a sticker. Someone who has just opened your chat has three questions, and the space fits exactly those.
storefront Am I in the right place
schedule When will someone reply
checklist What should I write
cancel What not to put there
Three lines, in this order: what you do, when you reply, what to send.
settings Setting up a start page
- Open Telegram Business Settings, then Telegram Business. The whole set of business features lives on this screen.
- Choose Start Page The editor shows a live preview of what a visitor will see.
- Write the title and the description Short. Two lines is the space; three is already too many.
- Pick the sticker It sets the tone before anything is read. A neutral one is safer than a funny one for a first contact.
- Set up a Greeting Message separately if you want one Different screen, different moment — that one is a reply, not a page.
This page is what someone sees once they arrive. The curriculum step is how they get there: the handle you publish, the link you hand out, and what happens to that address if you ever let it go.
At a glance
- 1Greeting sticker
An empty chat offers a sticker to say hello with one tap.
- 2Start page vs greeting
A start page shows before the first message; a greeting replies after it.
- 3Worth paying for?
Both are Business features; useful only if strangers message you often.
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