If you create chat automations or chatbots on Facebook, you need to comply with the Facebook Messenger Rules.
In this tutorial, I will cover the Facebook Messenger policies. I will explain the 24-hour window and how to send promotional messages while being compliant!
Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
What is the 24-hour rule on Facebook Messenger?
Facebook Messenger has a 24-hour rule to prevent businesses from spamming users.
This 24-hour Messenger rule says this: Facebook Pages can only send promotional messages to users who have messaged them in the last 24 hours.
And every time a user messages a Facebook Page, this “24-hour window” resets.
Take this example:
- User starts a conversation on Facebook Messenger – 24-hour window will open
- User says nothing for 8 hours – There are 16 hours left in the 24-hour window
- After 8 hours, the user sends another message – 24-hour window will reset, and you have a full 24 hours to respond
How can I send messages outside the 24-hour window or start conversations?
To message outside the 24-hour window or start chats as a business, use one of these options:
- Message Tags
- One-Time Notification
- Marketing Messages (formerly called “Recurring Notifications”)
Let’s cover them one-by-one.
Message Tags
Facebook has created four scenarios to send messages after 24 hours, without prior permission. These scenarios are called “Message Tags“.
Message Tags are personally relevant updates for a person. For example, updates on an order, flight info, or answers to a question you asked a business (if they didn’t respond within 24 hours).
Message Tags cannot be used to send promotional content. This includes deals, offers, coupons and discounts.
The four message tags are:
- Confirmed Event Update
This is the tag you need when you send the user reminders or updates for an event they have registered for (e.g. event updates or purchased tickets). This tag can be used for upcoming events and events in progress. - Post Purchase Update
A message with this tag notifies the user of an update on a recent purchase.
Examples are the confirmation of a transaction or notification of shipment status. - Account Update
A message with this tag tells the user of a one-time change to their application or account.
Examples are a change in application status or notification of suspicious activity - Human Agent
This tag allows human agents to respond to questions. Messages can be sent within 7 days after the user’s message.
In most chatbot platforms, you can simply select one of the tags you want to use. For example, in Manychat, it looks like this:
One-Time Notification
You can also reach users outside the 24-hour window with the One-Time Notification. You can use it to ask inside the 24-hour window for permission to send a message outside that window.
Let’s imagine a product you sell is out of stock. Then, you can ask the user “Do you want to receive a message when this product is back in stock?” When the user wants to receive that message, you can send the message outside the 24-hour window.
This is just a simple example, and I even wrote a more elaborate post on this here:
Marketing Messages (formerly called “Recurring Notifications”)
Another option to start chats is with Marketing Messages (formerly “Recurring Notification”). With them, you can ask within the 24-hour window for permission to send marketing messages outside that window.
It’s very similar to the One-Time Notification, but it has one difference. With the One-Time notification, you can only send one message. With Marketing Messages, you get the user’s opt-in and you can send many marketing messages.
If you want to know more about this, here is a full tutorial on Marketing Messages:
Can I still send broadcasts via Facebook Messenger?
Yes, you can.
You can send broadcasts to three audiences on Facebook Messenger:
- People that engaged with your Facebook Page in the last 24 hours
- Users who signed up for a One-Time Notification
- And people who opted in for Marketing Messages
Your Next Steps
And that’s it! That’s how you stay complaint with the Facebook Messenger rules and don’t get blocked on Facebook!
If you have any questions about the rules of using chatbot platforms, please leave a comment below and I will reply as soon as possible 👇
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the 24-hour window always open if someone interacts on Facebook?
The 24-hour window opens when somebody messages you on Facebook Messenger. So this is when someone starts a conversation, sends a message or clicks a button that results in a new message.
The 24-hour window doesn’t open when:
- People comment on one of your posts and you send them a message automatically
- Someone clicks on a button that goes to a URL
What is the new Facebook Messenger Policy?
The new Facebook Messenger policy allows Facebook Pages to send promo messages only to users who messaged them in the last 24 hours.
If you want to send messages outside the 24-hour window or start conversations, you need to use:
- Message Tags
- One-Time Notification
- Marketing Messages (formerly called “Recurring Notifications”)
So this only applies for sequenced message, post comment messages, but the normal bot flow is not affected considering the user will be the one starting the conversation am I correct?
Yes that is right, the normal chatbot flow is not affected when the user starts the conversation.
Hello, I never had any chatbot installed and I got this message on top of my FB page: Your Automated Page Messaging Needs Attention
To prepare for upcoming changes to the Messenger Platform Policy on March 4, 2020, please ensure your Page’s message tag usage follows the guidelines laid out in the Facebook developer docs.
Do I need to make anything? I never engage with people except if they contact me.
Many thanks for your help,
Gey
Hey Gey, if you don’t use any chatbot, you don’t have to worry about this notification. The new policy is only applicable to chatbots.
Hey, thanks for the article it helps. One question. I have a course (13 weeks), each week I send one message through the chat bot. Basically it is just a delivery system of the messages. If I put “post purchase update” tag, will it be acceptable? Or how would you make sure chat bot deliver messages if it is part of one purchases? (13 weeks program). Thanks for your time and help.
Hey Robert! I don’t think Facebook will accept the Post Purchase Update tag, because that tag is primarily meant for order confirmations and updates on shipping (things like that). I would just send the user a One-Time Notification request each time you send a message, with “Is it okay if I send you the following lesson next week?” and then the user can click on “Notify Me” and get that message. Since they already opted-in for your course, they will definitely click that. If you don’t know what the One-Time Notification is, check https://chatimize.com/one-time-notification/
I really enjoy the blog post. Really Great.
Thank you 🙂
Hi,
We have found page name to be violating the following platform policies:
Platform Policy 17.8.1.b: Message Tags: Select message tags may be sent outside of the 24 hour period as described within our technical documentation. Monitor your block rate, to understand how people are responding to your messages. You may only use a message tag, template, quick reply or other structured message for its intended purpose as described within our technical documentation; don’t use message tags, templates, quick replies, or other structured messages for any purpose other than its intended purpose.
This warning is to alert you of the issue so you can bring your page’s messaging experience into compliance without further enforcement actions. We encourage you to review our Messenger Tag Best Practices, Message Tags Documentation, and Messenger Platform Policies to learn more about our policies and recommend that you ensure proper use before sending more messages.
Further violations of this or other policies may result in Delivery Boy’s messaging capabilities being temporarily or permanently suspended.
Best regards,
The Messenger Team
Page Restrictions
Your Page is at risk of having messaging restricted because messages sent by your Page’s automated messaging experience are violating policies.
how to clean this message i already edit my chatbot flow and messenger setting in my page
Hey Lee,
That’s a lot ;).
First of all, I would recommend to check out my blog post: https://chatimize.com/banned-facebook/ and make sure you check all the steps in that post.
After you’ve done that, I would reply to the message of Facebook by explaining to them which steps you undertook and that the problem should be resolved now.
Hi,
I’m currently using Manychat to deliver a 30 Days course on FB Messenger. I use sequence with 1 day interval and Confirm-Event-Update as the tag and I made the course as interactive as possible but there are days when the students rest (they won’t get any messages at all).
Is my Facebook page at any risk?
Thanks.
Hey Yusuf, great question! Yes, I think your page is at risk. The Confirmed-Event-Update tag is for events a user registered for. But an online course is not an event, so you can’t use this tag. My advice is to do the following:
1. Don’t use the Confired-Event-Update tag anymore
2. Set the interval to 23 hours. This way, the user is still in the 24-hour window if you send the next lesson of your course.
3. Use the One-Time Notification if the user doesn’t interact with that message. For more information on this, check https://chatimize.com/one-time-notification/
Hi Joren,
Thank u for sharing this great content. I have met with the same situation as Lee: the page’s messaing being temporalily suspended, and even worse, one of my page was unpublished by Facebook and we can’t get it back to published status for update any information now.
1. Was this unpublished page tagged by Facebook and will it affect my ad account performance in the Business Manager?
2. Will this unpublished page affect my Facebook account and other pages I have managed? Or the Facebook pages are actually indpendent for their own page performance or quality, are they?
Thanks for your time.
Hey Ingrid,
1. Facebook unpublished your page because they thought you were violating the rules. Is there any chance you can contact Facebook to ask for their reason? Also, to my knowledge, this doesn’t affect your ad account performance (as long as these ads don’t go to your chatbot).
2. Yes, The Facebook Pages are independent of their own page performance and quality.
Hi,
I have received similar email from Facebook and they have blocked my page stating we are violating their policy. My use case is we have a research group for a university researching and everyone who is part of this research has joined the research. This is about health and fitness. How do I contact Facebook to explain all this. There is no where for us to click reply or get in touch and talk/email our support option. Do you have any advice for me?
Hey Raj, the only way to contact Facebook is by contacting their support. Another thing you could do is go to https://chatimize.com/banned-facebook/ and follow the steps I described there.
Hello, I am new with chatbot. May I know that what if after 24 hours can we still manually reply the messages without using the chatbot? Thanks
Hey Kinji! No, this is not allowed. The only way you can manually reply after the 24 hours, is if you are providing an answer to a question of the user. In all other cases, you cannot manually reply after the 24 hours.
Impressive article. After read this blog, i think this blog is very helpful for Facebook users. I will share this blog with my groups. Keep sharing!
Thank you Maria! Love the sharing!
so now they have 7 day for manual replies, no?
Yes, that is correct!
If I have a post on Facebook and a user comments on the post, my bot (Silferbot) answers the comment and sends a private message. Is there a problem?
No, no problem at all!
very nice information
easy to understand and well-detailed
Thank you, Magnus!
hi is this applies on Facebook Business Suite? I’m confused with the term chatbots. I’m only using a regular messenger of facebook business page in the form of Business Suite.
No, this does not apply if you are using the automated version in Facebook Business Suite.
I wonder if I am now using chatbot, can I still reply manually to the user through Facebook Business Suite inbox after 24 hours without using the tag to send order confirmation and updates?
Can I send a promotional message to the user manually using Facebook Business Suite inbox after 24 hours?
If I didn’t use any chatbot, does it mean that I don’t have to comply with these rules and can send any message any time?
Hey Wei! This is a good question, but I cannot give a 100% answer on this. This is because Facebook is not entirely clear whether these rules only apply for chatbots on Facebook Messenger or businesses on Facebook Messenger. That’s why I would recommend to just follow these rules at all time, then you can never get blocked. So to answer your questions with this in mind:
1. Yes, you can manually reply after 24 hours using the tags on the Business Suite. You can always reply within 7 days, as long as it is not promotional and you are answering questions your users asked.
2. No, you cannot send a promotional message after 24 hours using the Business Suite.
3. As stated above, it is unclear whether you need to comply with these rules if you don’t have a chatbot. My recommendation: Comply with the rules.
Hello, thank you so much for this article. If I understand correctly, I cannot use the event tag for my case: We are having 3 consecutive days of live Q+A in our FB group. They will sign up for the event once but I cannot message them automatically with this tag each day. You suggest creating a OTN once they sign up? Can you direct me to a tutorial on how to create this, like a step-by-step guide? I am completely new at this so any help is truly appreciated 🙂 Thank you so much!
Hey Victoria! Yes, you are right about that, I would not recommend using the Event Tag Update 3 times. However, you can use the Event Tag one time: for the first reminder of the event. But for the two other messages (on the second and third day), I would recommend using an OTN as you mentioned.
How many messages are you allowed to send in the 24 hour window? For example follow up messages when someone hasn’t replied…
Hey Ryan! You are allowed to send an unlimited number of messages within the 24-hour window. But always remember of a good user experience and not spam your users 🙂
Hi i live in paris and i have a problem with mine. At first when connect a first automation it works but my ads doesnt connect with it and when i make a big automation it do both
Hey Martin! What do you mean by “make a big automation it do both”?