Facebook Messenger Auto-Reply Guide with Templates

Messaging on social media plays an essential role in today’s customer experience. Although people have a wide range of platform choices they use for different purposes, Facebook is still among the most popular ones when it comes to shopping and customer support. According to Datareportal, “Advertisers could reach 931.0 million users on Facebook Messenger in January 2023”. Consumers from all over the world contact brands on Facebook Messenger to obtain information about products and prices, as well as seek support and deliver complaints. It’s easy to imagine how much time and effort it requires from different brand teams to answer all those questions swiftly. Furthermore, even though social media never sleeps, those who answer the questions are also human, and they need to take a break from time to time. This is where Facebook Messenger Auto-Reply feature comes into play.

What Is Facebook Messenger Auto-Reply?

Auto-Reply is a native feature of Facebook Messenger, and as the name suggests, it delivers short, automated responses to people on a number of occasions. The most common use cases of auto replies are welcome and away messages, but they can provide answers to frequently asked questions and deliver the brand’s contact information and location as well. 

There are a number of benefits of using Facebook Messenger Auto-Reply for businesses. The most prominent benefit is obvious: It saves tons of time by handling repetitive tasks. For example, thanks to the tool, you can greet all your customers by name without even lifting a finger. Besides, you can save your customers’ time by automatically sending them your exact location or some frequently requested information within a second. These two alone can improve your engagement scores significantly.

Another benefit as important as time efficiency is that replying to customers instantly with relevant information makes your brand more approachable. For customers, this little gesture means that you take the time to make their lives easier, especially if you provide them with carefully prepared answers. 

Best Practices for Facebook Messenger Auto-Reply

Facebook Messenger Auto-Reply basically works as a chatbot, but it’s not a very smart one. You can use it on the following occasions:

1. Welcome message: When someone sends you a message for the first time, you can greet them with a warm welcome instantly and maybe ask what you can do for them.
   
2. Away message: Outside business hours, during lunch breaks, or when you’re on holiday, you can make use of auto-replies to tell the customers that you’re not available. You can also customize your message by adding the available hours and setting customer expectations.
   
3. Contact information and location requests: Upon request, you can copy and paste your address and phone number to an instant message easily, but why bother? Facebook Messenger does this automatically for you while you deal with other customer concerns – the ones that require real human answers. The same goes for locations. Just pin your stores on the map beforehand and let Facebook share the information for you.
   
4. Answering page recommendations: Automated messages allow you to respond to people who have publicly shared that they recommend your business page. You should consider using this feature because good deeds deserve gratitude. Showing that you value your customer’s endorsement is a perfect route to creating loyal customers.
   
5. Answering a negative page review: Not everyone will be satisfied with the services you provide, and they can publicly declare that your business page is not worth following. You can respond to them with an automated message, saying that you are sorry for the negative experience, and ask them for opinions to improve your service. But be careful when responding to negativity. A sloppy message can easily make matters worse, while a well-thought-out response can change perceptions.
   
6. Receiving applications: If you have published a job posting on your business page, you can send an automated instant message to thank the applicants. 

Facebook Messenger Auto-Reply Templates

Setting up automated responses on Facebook Messenger is simple. Composing them, on the other hand, might require a little creativity. These messages can be customized with your brand’s unique tone of voice, different media formats such as videos and attached forms, and buttons. You can also customize the timing (when the message will be sent after being triggered) and personalize the message by adding the receiver’s name dynamically. 

Here are some template examples and things to keep in mind before setting up your automated responses.

• Personal and sincere: Welcome message templates

1. Hi! Welcome to Juphy <user name>! How can I be of assistance?
2. Hello, thank you for contacting us. We’ll be with you in a jiff!

• Clear and informative: Away message templates

1. Thank you for your message. We are away right now, but we’ll be back around 10:00 in the morning to assist you. In the meantime, you can check our FAQ page.
2. Thanks for getting in touch with us. Our office hours are from 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

• Show gratitude: Answering recommendation templates

1. Thank you for your recommendation! We’re thrilled to have you with us!
2. Hi <user name>! It’s so nice to see that you recommend us to your loved ones. Thank you for sparing the time. Have a great day!

• Customer feedback templates

1. Hello <user name>. We are sorry about your negative experience. Can you provide us with some details on what went wrong? We’d like to make it up to you.
   
2. Hello. We’re sorry that we couldn’t meet your expectations. We’d like to hear your opinions to make improvements.

How to Set Up Auto-Reply on Facebook Messenger

In order to use Facebook Messenger on a business page, you need to be a page admin, editor, or moderator.

1. Go to the inbox of your business page
2. On the upper right side, click on Automation
3. See the Instant reply toggle on top; turn it on
4. Check the box and select Messenger as the preferred platform
5. Compose your message and make it more appealing with emojis
6. Check the preview and save the changes

After creating your messages, you can turn them on and off at any time. Editing them works basically the same. 

While it’s quite simple to set up and operate, the tool has its limits. For instance, it only works on Facebook Messenger, as the name suggests. But businesses operate on many different platforms and can receive messages on any of them. That’s why you might need a more advanced option like Juphy.

Juphy AI: Your AI Chatbot With Seamless Social Media Integration

Suppose your business has established a strong online presence or wants to build one. In that case, you should consider highly engaging with your social media visitors and keeping a personal touch during the process. With Juphy AI’s social media connection, your AI chatbot can adeptly handle all your DMs, strengthening your business’s online presence and fostering an approachable brand image.

Beyond its multitude of features, Juphy AI, with its ‘Built for Shopify’ badge, excels at nurturing an engaged social media follower base and converting visitors into loyal advocates. Offering round-the-clock customer support and effortlessly guiding visitors to your website, Juphy AI ensures assistance is always available, regardless of the time.

Gone are the days of auto-reply or brief responses – your AI chatbot serves as a real-time assistant, providing detailed answers on demand without requiring pre-set responses.

Whether it’s providing product information, addressing common concerns, or offering assistance, Juphy’s features streamline communication and enhance customer satisfaction. It’s a time-saving solution, ensuring smooth and personalized interactions even beyond traditional office hours, from the initial welcome to the visitor’s departure.

Last of All…

With the types of messages it supports, Facebook Messenger Auto-Reply is a valuable function for speeding up your operations. It can be a little unsatisfactory when it comes to all the other platforms that you communicate with your customers, but you can tackle this problem easily by integrating it with other tools like Juphy. Find out how convenient it is by starting your free trial now!

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