Me: spot a Facebook advert in my news feed; I click the ‘Send Message’ button to ‘learn more’.
Owner: (sending the default Facebook auto response) Hi, Urban! Please let us know how we can help you.
Me: “Believe you targeted me in one of your FB adverts. Is this Messenger reply automated?”
Owner: “Sorry about that Urban, it is an automatic message, will try to avoid it in the future.“
(Seriously! OMFG! Holding my head in disbelief)…
Me: (OMFG!) “Ah, lol, no I was *wishing* is was automated. Because, manual replies waste time and if you don’t reply immediately you lose a customer.”
…engage with the conversation your audience is already having…where they want to have it… in Messenger!
All the credit in the world goes to this advertiser as he replied, all be it 20 minutes later. 20 min in internet time is forever.
STOP! You are using the ‘Send Message’ message button wrong.
The Send Message button gives instant answers and automatic replies to woo, fascinate and delight people. Both give a) an excellent customer experience, b) you a USP, and c) the capacity to lead score people from a Facebook Ad, and d) these 20+ other reasons to use Facebook Messenger.
I give credit for the 20 minutes reply time.
Facebook Messenger is an email marking killer, a CRM, drip content machine, lead scoring, instant answers and auto reply message godsend.
Done wrong and you lose customers.
Done right, it’s easy to do Messenger right, you delight people and win them over and earn money.
Don’t worry, this is Urban Renström, there is always science and research involved in everything I talk about.
BBBBBBBBBBB
If your not using Messenger for business you’re losing. Losing money, time, and customers.
Marketing basics – Helping People Solve Problems
Business is building relationships with people – having one-on-one conversations. Chat marketing (Messenger™) allows building one-on-one relationships with people at scale.

Right? Use marketing to help solve problems.
Right? The more we help, the more people like us, more they like us, the more they will trust us. The deeper they trust, the quicker they’ll get to point of buying from us.
Badda bing, badda boom. Simple right?
Yet, most businesses muck the simple (me too).
(recall) People go through Eugene Schwartz five phases of the ‘buyer’s journey’. Only at step five do people ‘flash the cash’.
The journey takes time – depending on the complexity of the problem, knowledge available, and 100 other factors. Buyers don’t ‘flash the cash’ because they saw one Facebook advert.
(Backing up further) people will pay to avoid/have:
- Pain in the present. Have a problem and need it fixed immediately.
- Pain in the future: anticipate a future problem and planning to solve it now.
- Pleasure in the present – looking for something to fulfill and immediate need or desire
- Pleasure in the future – people want to invest now to later reap the rewards
So, which of these four does your product/service solve for?
Circling back to the: “Sorry about that Urban, it is an automatic message, will try to avoid it in the future“
Use the Facebook Send Message button to Supercharge your Customer Acquisition and Facebook Ads ROI
If you treat people beyond their expectations, you might build up loyalty.
Right? Supercharge! “Bold claim Urban!” Yes it is. Here is why my claim is bold.
First, with Facebook Messenger you provide instant replies and auto answers. Helping people solve problems.
I did a simple test. I clicked the Send Message button on 100 different Facebook adverts I saw in my news feed.
What was the test? Simple – Does an advertiser give instant replies and auto answers?
Every one of those 100 failed the simple test. Right. 100 failed. Ever reply was:
…“Hi, Urban! Please let us know how we can help you”
Yes this is an auto reply. Let us #ThinkThisThrough

Each of the 100 was a Facebook advert. Each used the online equivalent of the “retail deflection system“. Don’t deflect people away.
Think about this as it is retail. The same person walks into your shop and you tell them:
“…wait there and I’ll get back to you“
Would you wait? Of course not. And you’d tell your friends about your sh1ty experience.
#ThisShitHappensOnline #CannotMakeItUp #CallingItAsISeeIt
Second, you are wasting money. You paid money to get people to click your Send Message button…why would you force people to wait?
Thirdly, instant answers and auto replies, delivered 24/7, saves you time. Craft a reply once and answer the same question. Removes people waiting for an answer.
Forth, 3rd party apps, ManyChat do amazing things. Track what people click and don’t like. Useful to segment people and give message tailored.
Tracking people action in messenger allows you to lead score. Lead scoring segments people into cold, warm, or hot leads. Would that help you? #ThinkAboutIt the ability to lead score people direct from Facebook ads!
#PleaesSayYes
Fifth, woo, fascinate and delight people with great and customer experiences.
Hands down, excellent and memorable customer experience is the easiest way to up your Unique Selling Proposition, USP, that thing giving you the upper hand over your competitor.
Sixth, that twenty-minute wait is an eternity in internet time. Right? People want instant gratification. Satisfy with instant replies and auto answers.
Worse, that delay is feeble and you will lose a customer. Forever. Forever!
In Practice – The better Facebook Send Message Button Experience
Look at this typical Facebook Advert image. The name and identities have been change to protect the innocent!
This advert is representative of the 100+ adverts I click.

The reply from the ‘Send Message’ button is

hum…this advert is well, poor for many reasons. Read this Facebook Ads Tear down and see why it is bad (good read actually)…
Send this message instead:

Don’t get scared by the picture. The image is the ‘behind-the-scenes’ view of a Messenger message.
A short video of discussing this Messenger message for the home improvement company.
After the ‘Send Message‘ button get pressed, sent is a series of short text message.
The left side of the red line is the FAQ section.
Right side of the red line are is the business asking questions to generate a quotation.
Finally, you asking for an email address, which gets auto populated by Facebook (how cool is that!).
Want to see for yourself? Try the demo the Messenger messages for the Home Improvement company. This opens in Facebook Messenger! Then click the blue ‘Get Started‘ button.
Putting the Facebook Send Message Button to Good Use
Ditch the default Facebook™ messenger replies…they are time wasting worthlessness.
Think as if people are standing in front of you and your answering questions people ask.
Then, give people the chance to ‘move it forward’ and contact you.
Also published on Medium.
Thanks for sharing all of your experiences!
Hey,
you are very welcome.
Are you using Messenger to help in your business?
Thanks for sharing all of your experiences!
Hey,
thanks for dropping buy and reading.
Welcome and glad you got value.
Are you using Facebook messenger in your business? Let me know.
Urban
Thanks for sharing all of your experiences!
Hey Carnes Mechanical,
You are welcome, you using Messenger to get customers?
Let me know.
Urban
I came here with hope to find a solution to how to CHANGE this automatic response. Because, believe it or not, it seems IMPOSSIBLE to easily customize it. In theory I know how this should work and in practice it doesn’t work. So I am stuck with this stupid automatic response that me and my clients HATE and IDK how to change it.
which automatic response? inside of messenger? Are you using Manychat or Facebook native messenger?
In my experience all (well most) things are changeable.
Let me know and I’ll help
I can’t change the default messaging either, whenever I click I get the “Hi xxxx, How can we help you” And my chatbot responds when it types, but would be nice to have some quick replies or even the “Get Started” Button would be better.
Up in your caption you say that messaging can be changed, but I have all FB responder stuff turned off.
Hey Mike,
Yea, FB is finiky at the best of times and often ‘ghosts in the machine’ cause choas.
I’ll put together a video cover some of the common and not common things to check to turn off or change the default messages. I’ll then like to the video.
So just to be clear, do you have a 3rd party messenger tool attached to your FB Page? e.g. Mobile Monkey, Manychat etc?