Why doesn't this work? Additional action is not continuing the workflow

Question

I use facebook to get leads for my real estate business and have people comment on my videos to get the real estate listings. The problem I’m running into is that i saw a drop in responses to the “I can make you a custom list...” message when I started using manychat. I think that’s largely because people immediately know they’re talking to a bot when they have to click a button before getting the link. (See pic 1) So this morning I tried changing the workflow to what you see in pic 2.

I have the button redirect to the listing link and I have the button do an additional action that tags the lead so the following message doesn’t get sent twice if they click the link twice and then I have that action lead to messaging the “I can send you a custom list...” message. I don’t see a reason why this shouldn’t work, I even previewed it in messenger and it worked, but it isn’t working on real leads. The first message with the link sends, they can open the link, but the “I can send you a list...” message never sends. Is it because only actions can follow a private reply?

The reason I want to have the workflow start as soon as they click the link is because I have the rest of the workflow set to follow up with them 3 more times in 24 hours in case they don’t respond to the first message. Is there any way to give them the link immediately but also have the rest of the workflow start as soon as they click the link?

I’m pretty new to this so please go easy on me. Thanks for your help!

Fabio Gaulke · Answer

Hello, ​@SteelWolfGrey!This happens because of Meta's messaging window rules...When someone comments on your post, Manychat can deliver that initial Private Reply. However, in order to send any subsequent messages or run follow-up sequences, Meta requires the contact to interact with that message first. That interaction must be an action within Messenger, such as sending a text reply or clicking a button that triggers another message inside the chat.In your updated flow, the button redirects directly to an external website link. Meta does not recognize clicking an external URL as an interaction inside Messenger, so the messaging window never opens. Even though the additional action successfully applies the tag, any message block that follows is blocked by Meta because the contact is outside the messaging window.The reason it worked when you previewed it is likely because your personal account already had an open messaging window or active conversation history with your page. For real leads, that window has not been opened yet.Unfortunately, this is a rule set by Meta itself, so there is no way around it. If you want the rest of the workflow and the follow-ups to trigger, the contact needs to click a button that keeps them inside Messenger or reply with text before receiving the link.Here you find more details about the messaging windows =https://help.manychat.com/hc/en-us/articles/23358636027932-Understanding-messaging-windowsI hope this helps! 😉

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