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

Meta Ads offer multiple ways to engage with Meta products such as WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. For example, you can add a Click-to-WhatsApp button in your ads or send Messenger messages. You can combine these options with other products when launching ads to improve the user experience and create more sales opportunities.

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

Prerequisites

• Alibaba Cloud account registration and enterprise identity verification have been completed.

• Chat App Message Service has been activated.

• You have registered and managed a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) and added at least one available phone number.

• You have created a Facebook Page.

• Ensure you have attached a WhatsApp number to your Facebook Page to interact with users.

  Note

  You can attach WhatsApp only to a public page, not a personal page.

• You have created an ad account in Meta Business Tools. To create an ad account, click Add and follow the prompts.

  

• You have configured a payment method in Meta Ads Manager to pay for your ads.

Create a Click-to-WhatsApp ad

1. Log in to Meta Ads Manager.

2. In the navigation pane on the left, 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: Engagement, Traffic, or Sales.

Use Engagement as an example.

6. Based on your needs, select Quick Create or Manual Create, and click Continue.

   

7. On the page, configure the name, message destination (Messenger, Instagram, or WhatsApp), budget, schedule, and audience as needed. After you complete the settings, click Continue.

   

8. Follow the on-screen instructions to upload ad assets and preview your ad. Configure greeting messages, predefined questions, and auto-replies that trigger when users click your ad.

9. Click Publish to finish.

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

The process for creating Click-to-Messenger or Click-to-Instagram ads is identical to that for Click-to-WhatsApp ads. When selecting the destination product, choose Messenger or Instagram instead of WhatsApp.

For more information, see the Meta Help Center.

Implementing auto-replies through interaction with the flow editor

Chat Flow is a visual tool for designing chat conversation flows. Drag components onto the canvas to define how conversations unfold—no coding required. It responds flexibly to user input and sends automatic replies. Chat Flow supports automation, data collection, and personalized experiences.

When you create a Click-to ad in Meta Ads Manager, you can configure greeting messages that users receive after clicking your ad. These greetings act as keywords. When users send one of these greetings to your WABA, Facebook Page, or Professional Account (each linked to a Chat Flow), the flow triggers automatically and begins replying.

The following procedure uses the greetings “Hello” and “Customer Service” to show how to build and test WhatsApp auto-replies.

Procedure

1. Select WhatsApp as the destination product when setting up your Click-to ad.

2. When configuring greeting messages for your Click-to ad, configure Question 1 as “Hello” and leave its auto-reply blank. Configure Question 2 as “Customer Service” and also leave its auto-reply blank.

3. In the navigation pane on the left of the Chat App Message Service console, click Chat Flow > Create Flow.

   

4. In the Create Flow dialog box, select Create on Blank Canvas.

   

5. In the new dialog box:

   1. Select Trigger Type as WhatsApp.

   2. Enter Flow Name and Remarks.

   3. Select Account Name and Mobile Number.

      Note

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

   4. 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 conditional branch component from the component library and drag it to a connection line on the canvas on the right.

   

9. You configured two greeting messages—“Hello” and “Customer Service”—in your Click-to-WhatsApp ad. When users click either message, the text is sent to your WABA number, triggering the flow. To handle both messages, configure two branches in the Branching by Conditions component. Click the component, then edit Branch_A in the configuration panel on the right and add a new branch.

   1. Click Branch_A. Rename it “Hello”. In the rule section below, select incomingMessage-stringEquals-Hello. This means that if the incoming message equals “Hello”, the flow enters this branch.

   2. Click Add New Branch. Branch_B appears. Similar to Branch_A, rename it to Customer and configure the rule as incomingMessage-stringEquals-Customer.

      

This flow means that if the incoming message is “Hello”, it enters the “Hello” branch. If it is “Customer Service”, it enters the “Customer Service” branch. If it is neither, it enters the else branch.

For more information about conditional branching, see Conditional Branch.

10. In the “Hello” branch, add the Send WhatsApp Message component to reply to users:

    1. Find the Send WhatsApp Message component in the Component Library.

    2. In the configuration panel, click the component name and rename it “Reply to ‘Hello’”. This helps you identify it later, for example, when jumping between components during orchestration.

    3. Select a message type: Text, Media, Interactive, Product, or Template. For details, see Message Settings. In this example, we use Text.

    4. Enter the reply text.

    5. Click Save to save the flow orchestration.

       

This flow means that if the incoming message is “Hello”, the Branching by Conditions component routes it to the “Hello” branch. That branch triggers the “Reply to ‘Hello’” component and sends a text message to the user who triggered the flow.

11. In the “Customer Service” branch, use an Interactive message to give users a button to get the customer service phone number:

    1. Find the Send WhatsApp Message component in the Component Library.

    2. In the configuration panel, click the component name and rename it “Reply to ‘Customer Service’”.

    3. Select Interactive as the message type and Reply Button as the action.

    4. Enter the reply text, for example, “Please select the service you need.”

    5. For Button 1, configure the label as “Get Customer Service Phone Number”.

    6. In the Interactive Reply Settings, enable the Interactive Reply-based Branch and configure a custom output 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 a Send WhatsApp Message component to the Obtain Customer Service Phone Number branch to send the phone number as the message content to the customer. The setup process is the same as for the 'Reply to Hello' component. Therefore, you can save time by copying the 'Reply to Hello' component and then editing the reply content.

    

    After you click the button, a duplicate component is created. Drag the duplicated component to the 'Obtain Customer Service Phone Number' branch and modify the component name and reply content.

    

13. If an incoming message from a user is neither 'Hello' nor 'Customer Service', the conversation flow enters the 'else' branch. In this branch, you can design a welcome message to respond to general messages. For example, you can use an interactive message, such as a reply button message, to provide users with different product introductions or redirect links. The orchestration steps are the same as those for obtaining the customer service phone number.

    

14. When you are finished editing, click Save. Then, click Save and Publish to publish the flow.

Use Chat Flow with Click-to-Messenger and Click-to-Instagram ads

The overall usage is consistent with WhatsApp. When creating a flow, you only need to select the corresponding trigger type and attach the corresponding account.

If you use the flow editor with direct-response ads, do not set reply content when configuring the ad’s greeting and questions because users might receive two messages simultaneously—the auto-reply configured in the ad and the reply triggered by the flow.

For more information about the flow editor, see Flow Editor.

View ad performance in Chat App Message Service

Authorization lets you view ad data for public homepages in the Chat App console.

1. On the action page for the WhatsApp-type channel, click the option in the left navigation pane.

2. Click Authorize at the top of the Ad Information page.

   

3. In the pop-up embedded authorization dialog box, follow the on-screen prompts to make your selections and create it.

4. After authorization is complete, you can view the corresponding ad data by Business Number, User Phone Number, Ad ID, or a specified time period.