Messenger Journeys
Build journeys for your Facebook Page in the same editor as WhatsApp and Instagram, and start them from a message, a comment, an m.me link or a menu tap.
A Messenger journey answers people who message your Facebook Page — greeting them, answering the usual questions, collecting a lead or a booking, and handing over to your team. You build it in the same editor as WhatsApp and Instagram journeys, and an automation rule starts it.
Journeys were previously called Chatbots.
Messenger journeys live in the one Journeys list with the other channels:
open Automation → Journeys and set the channel filter to Messenger
(/dashboard/automation/journeys?channel=messenger), or click Messenger journeys at the top of
the Messenger page, which opens the same filtered list.
This page covers what is special about Messenger. The list itself — cards, runs, the on/off switch, cloning — is described on Journeys.
Create a Journey
Click Create journey on the list. With the list filtered to Messenger, the wizard opens on Channel with Messenger already picked — "Answers for people who message or comment on your Facebook Page."
Click Next. Pick Start from scratch or one of the examples. Filter them with the chips along the top. On a wide screen, the selected example plays in a phone preview on the right.
Click Next. Check the Journey Name — at least 3 characters, only your team sees it.
Optionally pick a Facebook Page — "The Page whose messages and comments start this journey." Leave it empty and the rule the wizard creates listens on every connected Page.
Under How it starts, pick Message with a keyword, Get Started button, Comment on a Page post or m.me link. The example picks one for you.
Click Create journey. The editor opens at /dashboard/automation/journeys/<id> with the example
laid out. Change the wording, then switch it on — see Start It.
With no Messenger journeys yet, the filtered list offers three examples and Start from scratch as buttons.
Messenger Examples
| Example | Filter | What it does | How it starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Page welcome | Welcome | Greets people who message your Page with quick replies to get them started | Message with a keyword |
| Get Started welcome | Welcome | Greets people the moment they tap Get Started on a new chat | Get Started button |
| FAQ, hours and location | Support | Answers the usual questions, including when you're open and where to find you | Message with a keyword |
| Lead capture | Lead capture | Asks for a name and a phone number or email, then hands the lead to your team | Message with a keyword |
| Product cards | Sales | Shows products as swipeable cards with a link to buy each one | Message with a keyword |
| Booking request | Bookings | Picks a service, asks for a preferred time and passes the request to your team | Message with a keyword |
| Rating with follow-up | Feedback | Asks how it went and follows up differently on a good or bad answer | Message with a keyword |
| Page comment to DM | Growth | Replies privately in Messenger to anyone who comments on a Page post | Comment on a Page post |
| m.me link campaign | Growth | Welcomes people who open your m.me link from an ad, website or QR code | m.me link |
| Talk to a person | Handoff | Lets people ask for a person and assigns the chat to your team | Message with a keyword |
Get Started welcome, Page comment to DM and m.me link campaign carry a New badge in the wizard.
Every example comes with placeholder text, links and opening hours — https://example.com/shop,
"Mon–Sat, 9 AM – 6 PM". Change them to yours before the journey goes live.
Start It
A Messenger journey runs only when a rule on the Messenger channel starts it with the Start a journey action, which lists only Messenger journeys. The wizard creates that rule for you, switched off:
| How it starts | Rule the wizard creates |
|---|---|
| Message with a keyword | Message Received, waiting for a keyword |
| Get Started button | Message Received on the payload your Page's Get Started button sends — GET_STARTED if the Page has no button yet |
| Comment on a Page post | Facebook Page Comment on all posts |
| m.me link | m.me Link Opened |
In the editor, the This journey is off card shows the rule's name and trigger. For a keyword rule, type the keyword — "Keyword, e.g. menu".
Click Switch on. For a Get Started button journey on a Page with no Get Started button yet, the card says "Switching it on also adds a Get Started button to your Page." — switching on sets the button up on Messenger too.
docs/screenshots/messenger/journey-off-card.pngEdit rule opens the rule in the rule builder instead. If no Page was connected when you created the journey, the editor shows Set up the trigger; Create the rule opens a new Messenger rule with the trigger already chosen.
A journey whose rule is off never runs. If you closed the editor without switching it on, open the journey again, or switch on its rule — named "… · start" — in Automation → Rules.
Messenger rules can use the general triggers — Message Received, Chat Closed, Chat Assigned, Contact Created and the rest — plus two of their own. See Triggers.
| To start the journey when… | Build the rule with |
|---|---|
| Someone messages a keyword | Message Received and a Message Body keyword |
| Someone taps Get Started, an ice breaker or a menu item | Message Received on the keyword that tap sends — see Welcome & Menu |
| Someone opens an m.me link | m.me Link Opened — see m.me Links |
| Someone comments on a Page post | Facebook Page Comment — see Facebook Comments |
On a comment rule, the journey's first message goes out as the private reply to the comment.
An agent can also start a Messenger journey by hand from the Inbox: Journey in the composer — see Start a Journey from the Inbox.
What a Messenger Journey Can Send
The Components panel on Messenger offers:
| Group | Components |
|---|---|
| Basic Messages | Text · Image · Video · Audio · Document |
| Interactive | Input |
| Templates | Cards · Quick Reply · Continue on WhatsApp |
| Flow Control | Pause · Start |
| None Interactive | Assign |
| Component | Detail |
|---|---|
| Quick Reply | A Message Text with up to 13 tappable replies, each up to 20 characters |
| Cards | Up to 10 swipeable cards, each with up to 3 buttons — a URL or an Action |
| Input | Asks a question and saves the answer under Save Answer to Variable |
| Document | Sent as a file attachment |
| Continue on WhatsApp | A button that moves the chat to one of your WhatsApp numbers and joins the person's Messenger and WhatsApp contacts — see Continue on WhatsApp |
| Assign | Hands the conversation to your team in the Inbox |
Instagram's Product Template and Follow Check do not appear, and neither do WhatsApp's buttons, lists, templates, flows or Lead. The canvas, toolbar and Preview work as described in the Journey Builder.
How a Conversation Continues
A Quick Reply, Cards or Input step waits for the person, then carries on:
| They… | The journey… |
|---|---|
| Tap one of the step's buttons | Follows that button's branch |
| Type a button's title (case does not matter) | Treats it as that button |
| Type anything else at a Quick Reply step | Keeps waiting; the message goes to your rules instead |
| Answer an Input step | Saves the answer and moves on |
The journey waits up to 24 hours — Messenger only lets a Page message someone within 24 hours of their last message. A message the journey consumes as an answer does not also fire your rules.
Manage Journeys
Search, sort, the on/off switch, Clone and Delete work as on every journey — see Journeys. Settings in the editor toolbar renames the journey.
To change a journey people are using, clone it, edit and preview the clone, then point the rule at the clone.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Messenger cannot be picked in the wizard | No Page is connected | See Connect a Facebook Page |
| The journey never runs | Its rule is still off, or no Messenger rule starts it | Switch it on from the editor's card, or add Start a journey to a Messenger rule |
| Select journey on a rule does not list the journey | The rule does not run on Messenger alone | Keep Messenger as the rule's only channel |
| The journey stops part-way | Meta refused a message — usually because more than 24 hours passed since the person last wrote | Nothing to fix; it restarts when a rule fires again |
| "Failed to load the journey" in the editor | The journey could not be loaded | Click Retry |
Related Pages
- Messenger Overview — connecting a Page
- Automation Rules — rules that start a journey
- Welcome & Menu, m.me Links and Facebook Comments — other ways in
- Journeys — the list for every channel
- Journey Builder — the editor canvas
- Instagram Journeys
- Inbox
Messenger Overview
Connect a Facebook Page on its own, answer Page comments, share m.me links, set the Get Started button and menu, and find your Messenger journeys.
Facebook Comments
Answer comments on your Facebook Page's posts with a private Messenger reply or a journey, and thank people publicly under the comment.