Sometimes you may notice that an automation sends a message you didn’t expect. This can happen for several reasons, and it’s not always caused by the automation itself. In some cases, messages may be triggered by Instant Replies on your Facebook Page, custom templates set up in Meta Ads Manager, other automation tools connected to your page, or triggers configured in the Inbox.
This article explains the most common scenarios and helps you identify where the message is coming from.
Instant reply on your Facebook page
If Facebook’s autoresponder (Instant Reply) is enabled, it may interfere with your Manychat automations. To avoid unexpected messages, we recommend turning it off.
To do so:
- Open Meta Business Suite.
- Click Inbox in the sidebar.
- Next, click Automations in the window that opens.
- On the Automations page, find the Instant Reply automation under Your automations.
- Switch off the toggle next to it under Status.
Custom template in Ads manager
The Facebook ads trigger starts a conversation in Manychat when someone interacts with your Facebook ad.
If you’ve also set up custom greetings in Meta Ads Manager, those can take over and prevent your Manychat automation from sending its messages. As a result, people may see the custom greeting text or buttons instead.
Here’s how to fix it:
- Open the Meta Ads Manager.
- Select Campaigns from the sidebar.
- Find the campaign that triggers the custom conversation starters; it's usually called the “New engagement campaign”.
- Hover over it, then click the Edit button when it appears.
- Once you get to the campaign details page, select the New engagement ad from the sidebar.
- Click on the New engagement ad in the sidebar.
- Scroll down to the Chat builder section.
- Here you can edit the messages the user sees when they click the ad.
- Make sure that you have selected the automation created in Manychat using the Facebook Ads trigger as your selected template.
- After all the changes are applied, publish the updated ad.
Other automation tools
Make sure there aren’t any other automation tools connected to your Facebook Business Page. If there are, they may interfere with your Manychat automations and cause unexpected messages to be sent to your contacts.
You can also review your Conversation Routing settings. If Manychat isn’t set as the default app, messages may be routed elsewhere, which can result in unexpected responses being sent.
Learn how to check your Conversation Routing settings for Instagram and Facebook Messenger.
You can also review your Business Integrations by switching back to your Facebook profile and going to Settings → Business Integrations. If you see any other chatbot tools listed there, remove or disable them to ensure Manychat runs smoothly.
Checking the triggers in Inbox
If the messages were created in Manychat but didn’t behave as expected, open the Inbox conversation with the affected contact and review the activity history. Checking for triggered rules, sequences, or other actions can help explain why the message was sent.
If you’re still seeing unexpected messages being sent, please reach out to our Support Team for help.