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User clicks an instagram ad and gets a modal instead of DM

  • April 1, 2026
  • 3 comments
  • 37 views
jasondupreept

I’ve set up a meta ad. The flow should be: user clicks ad → they are sent to instagram DM and the manychat flow starts. 

What’s happening: user clicks ad → instagram opens a modal that says send a message.

Here’s a video of the issue: https://file.notion.so/f/f/31fdd5f5-8374-42fc-abfb-f613bc738670/d33ae1d4-e6fe-4909-8d23-461212928191/RecordIt-1774921114.mp4?table=block&id=3342c2bf-5c79-806d-aa9c-ffeb42282d78&spaceId=31fdd5f5-8374-42fc-abfb-f613bc738670&expirationTimestamp=1775073600000&signature=NwRsdUUn8gc4hUM7RKWPtS2m6BpemOga17f3dU5VN8w&downloadName=RecordIt-1774921114.mp4

Here are pics of my setup:

 

I’m spending money and getting clicks, but no one is seeing my manychat flow. Help!

    3 replies

    Devtrest
    • Devtrest
    • Smooth talker
    • April 1, 2026

    What you’re seeing is usually expected behavior for IG click-to-message ads. Meta often shows the “Send message” prompt/modal first, and the ManyChat flow starts after the user taps Send message / quick reply, not instantly on ad click. ManyChat also notes that the user must click a button or type a response to become a ManyChat contact.

    Your setup looks mostly right, so I’d check 3 things:

    1. In Ads Manager, the ad is using Send Instagram message and Partner app = ManyChat with the correct flow selected.
    2. The first ManyChat message has at least one quick reply button.
    3. Conversation Routing is set so ManyChat is the default app handling Instagram conversations.

    So the modal itself is not necessarily the problem the key test is whether, after tapping Send message, the user gets your first ManyChat message and can continue the flow.

    jasondupreept
    • jasondupreept
    • Author
    • Up-and-comer
    • April 1, 2026

    ​@Devtrest I want the user to be sent to DM, I know it’s possible because I clicked an ad that did this and opened the DM and started an automation flow. Right now, the users clicking my ad aren’t getting the flow, or if they are, they are not seeing it. Maybe it’s in their message requests. But, I have one friend that clicked on my ad and confirmed that only the modal opened, they didn’t get the first message from the manychat flow.

    1. I am using Send Instagram Message and Partner App = Manychat (confirmed by screenshot in original post)
    2. the first ManyChat message has a quick reply (confirmed by screenshot in original post)
    3. Converstation routing is set so Manychat is default, and can take control of conversations (not in screenshots but I have checked this).

    From a user experience standpoint, opening a modal and not seeing a message from me after clicking the link is really confusing.

    So am I doing something wrong? Is there a better way to set up ads to get the result I’m looking for?

    cata_rendon
    Forum|alt.badge.img+5
    • cata_rendon
    • Community Moderator
    • April 13, 2026

    Hi ​@jasondupreept , did you were able to solve it?. From your images it seems the Add configuration is ok. You are selecting the correct IG Partner Ad trigger.

     

    Try to re connect and check your IG account, sometimes this helps!  you can follow the following steps: 

    1. Instagram permissions A quick fix that often helps is refreshing your Instagram permissions in ManyChat.
      You can do this by going to your ManyChat account and clicking Help → Refresh Permissions.
    2. Follow the official IG automation troubleshooting guide
      This step-by-step guide covers several edge cases that can cause comment automations to stop firing and is very helpful for diagnosing issues like this:
      https://help.manychat.com/hc/en-us/articles/14281308423452-Instagram-automation-troubleshooting
       

    TIP: Regarding your welcome message try just to include the clic button option as you need the user to clic on it in order the automation to trigger, this is way Meta sees the user is giving you permission to interact.

    Hopefully one of these points helps you pinpoint the issue

    Cheers,
    Cata Rendon

    https://www.dominariai.com | www.linkedin.com/in/catalina-rendon-gamboa
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