Facebook announced that they will be changing their messaging guidelines on March 4th, 2020.
Here's everything you need to know.
What is the Current Facebook Messenger Policy?
Your subscribers are currently eligible for promotional messages within 24 hours of interacting with the bot. Within the 24 hour period, you're able to send customers an unlimited amount of messages that are promotional in nature. This means you can send them promotional broadcast messages or abandoned cart flows for example. Once the 24 hour period has passed, you're able to send a one-time promotional message with one line of content.
What is the New Facebook Messenger Policy?
As of March 4th, 2020 the ability to send customers a one-line promotional broadcast message after the 24 period will no longer be available, but you'll have two alternatives available to still message subscribers after the 24-hour period.
Customers will still be able to receive messages like browse and cart abandonment on Messenger, but each reminder will have to be sent within 24 hours of the customer interacting within Messenger. Currently, over 86% of all abandonment reminders through our system are sent before the 24-hour period is up!
How to send messages after the 24-hour period
Although the 24+1 rule is changing, you can still send promotional messages beyond the 24 hour period using Octane AI's One-Time Notifications or Facebook's Sponsored Messages feature.
What are One-Time Notifications?
One-Time Notifications are an Octane AI feature that allows you to ask a customer if they would like to receive a one-time notification. You can then send those who requested to be notified a one-time notification outside of the 24-hour window at no cost.
In order to do this, your Facebook page must request access to one-time notifications from the Facebook back-end. You can request access easily. Go to advanced messaging within your Facebook page settings:
And select Request for one-time notifications:
You can also send messages outside of the 24-hour window using Facebook's Sponsored Messages.
What are Sponsored Messages?
Sponsored messages are a type of Facebook ad that can be sent directly as a message to anyone who has messaged your Facebook page in the past, even if they aren't subscribed to your bot. With sponsored messages, you're able to reach a larger audience than with regular promotional broadcast messages.
One of the greatest advantages of sponsored messages is that you can target any custom audience on your Facebook Ads Manager.
With sponsored messages, you can send messages outside of the 24-hour window that can reach a larger audience with more in-depth targeting.
How to Send a Sponsored Message
You can set-up sponsored messages easily from the Octane AI back-end. By connecting your Facebook Ads Manager, you can create new sponsored messages and create the conversation you wish to send.
Get Started Today
Start running follow-up campaigns with sponsored messages to reach a larger audience with more in-depth targeting beyond the 24 hour period.
To get started, follow the steps below:
- Add Octane AI to your Shopify store
- Access your Octane AI dashboard
- Connect to your Facebook Ads Manager
- Learn About How To Set-Up A Sponsored Message
- See the Advanced Ways to Target Your Sponsored Message
The 250+ Page Playbook on Facebook Messenger & SMS Marketing for Ecommerce
This article originally appeared in the OctaneAI blog and has been published here with permission.
