How to set up Messenger auto-replies on Facebook

Facebook Pages set up Messenger auto-replies in Meta Business Suite, the free dashboard Meta provides for Pages and their connected Instagram accounts. Open business.facebook.com, choose your Page, select Inbox and then Automations. From there you can switch on an instant reply for new messages, an away message for when nobody is at the inbox, answers to frequently asked questions, and replies that fire on keywords. Choose Messenger as the platform, write the message and save. There’s nothing to install or pay for.

Meta’s help pages describe these Inbox automations as responding to people who message your business across Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, so if your Instagram account is connected, one automation can answer both inboxes. The Business Suite phone app handles the basics, but custom keyword replies are, at the time of writing, only available on desktop.

• Check your access. You need to be one of the people who manage the Page, with access that covers messages. If Inbox doesn’t appear for you in Business Suite, ask whoever has full control of the Page to check your access.
• Start on a computer. Every automation type is on the desktop version, and a bigger screen makes the message editor easier to check.
• Decide about Instagram now. If your Instagram professional account is connected, you can tick it for each automation; choosing both platforms at the start saves building everything twice.
• Pick a reply time you can keep. “We answer within an hour” is a promise, so choose a time your team meets on its busiest day, not its quietest.
• Draft the messages first. Writing them in a notes app lets you read them aloud and cut them down before customers see them.
• Know what Meta Business Agent does to them. Meta says that if you turn it on, your existing automations, such as away messages and instant replies, are paused.

1. Go to business.facebook.com and log in with the Facebook account that manages the Page. If you look after several Pages, pick the right one from the menu at the top left.
2. Select Inbox in the menu on the left.
3. Select Automations, then Create automation in the top right.
4. Choose the Instant reply template. Meta’s desktop instructions call it Auto reply: a greeting sent when someone messages you for the first time.
5. Under platforms, tick Messenger. Tick Instagram as well if you want the same reply there.
6. Write the message. If the editor offers personalisation, add the person’s first name so the reply doesn’t read like a notice taped to a door.
7. Save your changes and check the automation shows as on. You can edit it or switch it off from the same place whenever you like.

An instant reply answers the first message someone sends, not every message after it, so it suits a short welcome rather than a full answer. Three sentences cover it: that this reply is automatic, when a person will pick the conversation up, and one question that gets them to say what they need.

A bike repair shop might send: “Thanks for messaging the workshop. This is an automatic reply: a mechanic reads every message and answers within two hours, 9am to 6pm. What bike is it, and what’s it doing?” That last question means the mechanic’s first reply can be useful instead of being another question.

An away message covers the hours nobody is watching the inbox. Meta’s help pages describe it as a reply to a message when you’re not available, and tell you to follow the on-screen instructions to set it up. The scheduling choices have changed between versions, so read what your screen offers before saving.

1. In Automations, open Away message.
2. Tick Messenger, and Instagram if it’s connected.
3. Set when it runs. Match it to the hours nobody is genuinely available, including lunch if nobody covers it.
4. Write the message, with the day and time you’re back in plain words: “back Monday at 10am”, not “back soon”.
5. Save, then add a calendar reminder to check it before your next holiday or change of hours.

Away messages also meet Meta’s timing rule. Automated messages can only go out within 24 hours of the person’s last message, so an answer promised for Monday after a Friday-evening message has to come from a person, not the automation.

Tip: Send a test message during away hours that also contains one of your keywords. One Meta page says that when a keyword automation and a template automation such as the away message are both triggered, only the template reply is sent, so a test is the surest way to see what customers get.

Frequently asked questions

FAQs show people a few questions they can tap when they start a chat with your Page, each with an answer you’ve saved. Business Suite suggests ready-made questions you can edit. Write them the way customers actually ask: “Do you deliver to my area?” gets more taps than “Delivery information”.

Custom keywords

A keyword reply goes out when a message contains a word you chose. Meta’s help pages say each one can respond to up to five keywords or phrases and can carry photos, videos, buttons and links. They also say Inbox sends a keyword reply after 15 minutes unless you’ve answered personally by then, so it doesn’t talk over a colleague who’s already helping. Keywords are case-sensitive and must match exactly, and the same keyword can be used in only one keyword automation.

1. In Automations, create a new automation and choose custom keywords. At the time of writing this needs the desktop version.
2. Add up to five trigger words. Meta says they must match exactly, so cover the ways people ask: price, prices, cost and rates, rather than a single form.
3. Tick Messenger, and Instagram if you want it there too.
4. Write the reply and attach what it needs: a photo of the price list, a button linking to your booking page, or both.
5. Save it. Inbox sends the keyword reply after 15 minutes unless a person has replied first.

Tip: Avoid keywords that turn up in ordinary sentences. “Price” is safe; words like “how” or “when” would fire on half your inbox and confuse the people they misfire on.

1. Ask a friend, or use a second Facebook account that doesn’t manage the Page, to send the Page a message. You want to see exactly what a stranger sees.
2. Check the instant reply arrives, and read it on a phone, where a long message becomes a wall of text.
3. Send each keyword on its own, then inside a longer sentence, to check both get the right answer.
4. Ask something none of your keywords cover, to see what happens when the automation has nothing to say.
5. Message the Page during away hours.
6. Open the conversation in the Page’s inbox and make sure your team can see what the automation already sent, so nobody repeats it.

• Replies go only to people who wrote first. No official tool lets a Page message everyone who likes or follows it.
• Automated messages have 24 hours from the person’s last message, and every new message from them restarts that clock.
• Meta’s human agent tag gives a real person up to 7 days for support replies. Automated and marketing messages can’t use it.
• A comment on a Page post can get one private reply in Messenger, sent within 7 days of the comment. That first message is plain text, with no link or buttons, and the chat carries on only if the person answers.
• Automated chats should say they’re automated. Meta’s messaging policy asks for it, and a short line at the start of the reply covers it.

Business Suite’s automations answer messages one at a time. Apps built on Meta’s Messenger API can hold a longer conversation: ask a question and branch on the answer, collect an email address and export the list, show product cards, or open a chat when someone comments a keyword under a Page post. They connect through Facebook’s own login screen. A tool that asks you to type your Facebook password into its own form is one to avoid.

DMFast works this way for Facebook Pages. Someone comments a word such as MENU on a post, DMFast replies under the comment and sends the plain-text Messenger message, and the link card follows once they answer. Keyword replies, email capture and, on the Growth and Business plans, AI answers written only from the business details you provide work on Messenger too. Story replies and the follow gate are Instagram features, so they don’t apply to Pages.