Chat App Message Service:Create Click-to-WhatsApp ads

Meta ads offer various formats to engage with Meta products (such as WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram). For example, advertisers can add a Click to WhatsApp button in their ads or send Messenger messages. Enterprises can combine these options with other products based on their actual objectives when launching ads, providing users with a better product experience and creating more sales opportunities for the enterprise.

Create a Click-to-WhatsApp ad in Meta Ads Manager

Prerequisites

• An Alibaba Cloud account has been registered and enterprise authentication has been completed.

• Chat App Message Service has been activated.

• A WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) account has been registered and has phone numbers available for use.

• A Facebook Page has been created.

• WABA numbers have been linked to the Facebook Page for interaction with users.

  Note

  You can link WABA accounts to Facebook Pages instead of Personal Profiles.

• An ad account has been created in business tools from Meta. To create an ad account, click Add and follow the prompts as shown in the following figure.

  

• A payment method has been configured in Ads Manager for settling ad expenses.

Procedure

1. Log into Meta Ads Manager.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Campaigns.

   

3. On the Campaigns page, click the Ads tab.

   

4. On the Ads tab, click Create or Create Ad.

   

5. Choose one campaign objective from Engagement, Traffic, and Sales based on your needs.

Take Engagement as an example.

6. Choose between Tailored messages campaign and Manual engagement campaign based on your needs, and click Continue.

   

7. Set the campaign name, budget, schedule, and audience based on your needs. Select WhatsApp as a message destination. Then, click Next.

   

8. Follow the instructions to upload ad resources and preview ad performance. Set greeting messages, predefined responses, and auto-replies that trigger when users click on the ad.

9. Click Publish.

Create Click-to-Messenger and Click-to-Instagram ads

The process for creating Click-to-Messenger or Click-to-Instagram ads is similar to that for Click-to-WhatsApp ads. When choosing the message destination, select Messenger or Instagram.

For more information about how to create Click-to ads in Meta Ads Manager, visit Meta Help Center.

Use Chat Flow to implement auto-replies for Click-to-WhatsApp ads

Chat Flow is a visual chat process editing tool that allows you to define conversation flows by dragging functional components onto a canvas, enabling configuration without the need for coding. It can flexibly respond to and automatically reply to user inputs. Chat Flow is widely used in automating tasks, data collection, and delivering personalized experiences.

When creating Click-to ads in Meta Ads Manager, enterprises can set greeting messages that will be sent when users click on the ad. These greetings can serve as keywords; when users send one of these greetings to the WABA or Facebook Page/Professional Account linked to a flow, it triggers the flow and initiates auto-replies.

In the following procedure, the greetings "Hello" and "Customer Service" are used as examples to illustrate how to create WhatsApp auto-replies and interact with users.

Procedure

1. Create a Click-to-WhatsApp add by selecting WhatsApp as the message destination.

2. When setting the greeting messages for a Click-to ad, set the first predefined response to "Hello" and leave the auto-reply empty; set the second predefined response to "Customer Service" and also leave the auto-reply empty.

3. In the left-side navigation pane of the Chat App Message Service console, click Chat Flow. Then, click Create Flow.

   

4. In the dialog box that appears, select Create on Blank Canvas to create a new flow.

   

5. In the new dialog box:

   1. Choose WhatsApp as the trigger type.

   2. Specify Flow Name.

   3. Specify Remarks.

   4. Select the WABA account.

   5. Select the WABA number.

      Note

      Use the WABA number linked to the Click-to-WhatsApp ad. Otherwise, the flow will not be triggered.

   6. Click OK.

      

6. In the flow list, click the flow name to enter the editing page.

7. On the editing page, click the Component Library icon on the left.

   

   You can also move the pointer to the connection line on the canvas and click the + icon.

   

8. Select the Branching by Conditions component from the component library and drag it to the connection line on the right side of the canvas.

   

9. Because two greeting messages, "Hello" and "Customer Service," have been configured in the Click-to-WhatsApp ad, when a user clicks on one of these greetings, the message will be sent to the WABA number and trigger the corresponding flow. You need to configure two branches in the conditional branch to handle the incoming messages from users. Click on the Branching by Conditions component and edit Branch_A in the panel on the right. Then, add a new branch to accommodate the different greetings received from users.

   1. Click on Branch_A, rename it to "Hello," and in the rule configuration below, select incomingMessage-stringEquals-Hello. This means that if the incoming message equals "Hello", it will enter this branch.

   2. Click on "Add New Branch" to create Branch_B. Similarly, rename it to "Customer Service" and configure the rule as incomingMessage-stringEquals-Customer Service.

      

The current flow indicates that if the incoming message is "Hello", it will enter the "Hello" branch; if the message is "Customer Service", it will enter the "Customer Service" branch; if the message is neither "Hello" nor "Customer Service", it will enter the else branch.

For more information about conditional branches, see: Configure the Branching by Conditions node.

10. In the "Hello" branch, add the Send WhatsApp Message component to reply to the user:

    1. Find the Send WhatsApp Message component from the component library.

    2. Click the component name in the configuration panel and rename it to "Reply to the 'Hello' message" to distinguish it from other components; this makes it easier to find, for example, when jumping between components during flow orchestration.

    3. Select the message type, which can be Text, Media, Interactive, Product, or Template. For more information, see Message Settings. Here, Text is used as an example.

    4. Enter the reply content.

    5. Click Save to save the flow.

       

The current flow indicates that if the incoming message is "Hello", the Branching by Conditions component will determine that it matches the "Hello" branch, enter the branch, trigger the "Reply to the 'Hello' message" component, and send a text message to the user who triggered the event.

11. In the Customer Service branch, use the Interactive message type to offer users a button to obtain the customer service phone number:

    1. Find the Send WhatsApp Message component from the component library.

    2. Click the component name in the configuration panel and rename it to "Reply to 'Customer Service' message".

    3. Select the message type as "Interactive" and set Action to Reply.

    4. Enter the reply content, for example, "Please select the service you need."

    5. For Button 1, set the name as "Obtain Customer Service Phone Number."

    6. In the interactive reply settings, enable Interactive Reply-based Branch and set a custom variable name. The custom variable is used for references in subsequent components or flows.

       

    7. Click Save to save the flow.

       

       The current flow indicates that if a user enters the "Customer Service" branch, they will receive a message with buttons. When the user clicks on one of these buttons, it will trigger the "Obtain Customer Service Phone Number" branch.

12. Add the Send WhatsApp Message component to the Obtain Customer Service Phone Number branch to send the phone number to the user. The setup process is the same as for the "Reply to 'Customer Service' message" component. To save time, you can quickly copy the "Reply to 'Customer Service' message" component and then edit the reply content.

    

    After copying, a duplicate component will be created. Drag the duplicated component to the Obtain Customer Service Phone Number branch and modify the component name and reply content.

    

13. When the incoming message is neither "Hello" nor "Customer Service", it will enter the else branch. Therefore, you can design a welcome message in the else branch to reply with a general message. For instance, you can provide an interactive message with a Reply button that offer different product introductions or redirect links to the user. The orchestration steps are consistent with those for obtaining the customer service phone number.

    

14. Click Save to save the flow and then click Save and Publish to publish it.

Use Chat Flow to implement auto-replies for Click-to-Messenger and Click-to-Instagram ads

The overall process is consistent with implementing auto-replies for Click-to-WhatsApp ads. When creating a flow, select the corresponding trigger type and WABA account.

If you are using Chat Flow in conjunction with Click-to ads, do not set any reply content when configuring the greeting messages and predefined responses. Otherwise, users might receive two messages simultaneously (one from the automatic reply configured in the ad and another from the triggered flow after interaction).

For more information about the features and operation procedures of Chat Flow, see Chat Flow.

View ad performance in Chat App Message Service

You can view the ad data of authorized Public Pages in the Chat App Message Service console.

1. On the channel details page, click Advertisement Information in the left-side navigation pane.

2. Click Authorize at the top of the page.

   

3. In the dialog box that appears, authorize the Public Pages that you want to view.

4. After authorization is complete, you can view the relevant ad data by Enterprise Phone Number, User Phone Number, Ad ID, or time period.