How to add an AI chatbot to your Facebook Page

A dog groomer's Facebook Page gets the same messages every week: how much for a cockapoo, is there anything on Saturday, do you do nail trims on their own. This guide connects that Page to an AI assistant that answers those in Messenger from your own price list, books into your calendar if you want it to, and leaves the rest to you. The steps and screen names are those of ChatPal, our product (the Messenger chatbot page has the overview).

You need two things: a Facebook Page you're an admin of, and a ChatPal account. The free plan needs no card. Your first sign-in creates an assistant and opens a Setup page that drafts its instructions from your website. Click Skip for now if you'd rather write them yourself in step 1.

What it answers on your Page, and what it can't

The assistant answers people who message your Page in Messenger.

• Questions, from your information. Prices, services, opening hours, address, policies: whatever you add in step 1, and your website. It reads each message together with the earlier ones in that chat, so "and on Sundays?" is understood, and it replies in the language the customer writes in.
• Photos. A customer can send up to 4 per message, say a matted coat with "what would this cost?", and the assistant answers from the photos and the text together. If you'd rather price from photos yourself, say so in its instructions (step 1).
• Bookings. With Google Calendar, Calendly or Altegio connected, it offers free times as buttons under its message and books the one the customer taps. Messenger fits up to 13 buttons with labels of up to 20 characters, so long service names are shortened and any extra times are listed in the text. Only one booking integration can be active per assistant, and Calendly books in the chat only on a paid Calendly plan; on the free one the assistant sends your Calendly link. The Google Calendar page explains the setup.
• Products. With a Shopify or Horoshop store connected, it shows matching products as a carousel of up to 10 cards, each with a photo, the price and a link. See the Shopify page.
• Who wrote. When Facebook shares the customer's profile name, the chat in Chats shows it.

And what it can't do:

• It can't send the first message. The customer writes and the assistant answers. It sends no welcome message on Messenger either, so the welcome message you set in ChatPal isn't used here.
• It replies only within 24 hours of the customer's last message, Messenger's rule for every business. The assistant answers in seconds, so this matters only when you take a chat over (step 5).
• Voice messages, videos, files and stickers get no reply.
• It sends no booking reminders on Messenger.
• It works for a Facebook Page only. Chats with your personal profile, and Marketplace chats on a personal profile, can't be connected.

Step 1: give it your information

Do this before you connect the Page: the assistant starts answering the moment it's connected.

Open Configuration in the left navigation. On the Files tab, click Upload files to add a PDF, Word or plain-text document. On the Links tab, click Add Link and paste your website's address. Each file or link is marked Ready once the assistant can use it.

The document that works best answers questions in the words customers use:

• each service with its price, what changes the price (size, coat, matting) and how long it takes;
• opening hours, the address and where to park;
• deposits, late cancellations and no-shows;
• what you don't do, so the assistant can say so instead of guessing (cats, for example).

On the Basic tab, the Instructions field tells the assistant how to behave, for example: "You are the booking assistant for Muddy Paws Grooming. Answer only from the prices and policies you're given, in two or three short sentences. Don't quote a price from a photo: say a groomer needs to see the dog. If the answer isn't there, say a groomer will reply." Click Create, or Update if instructions are already saved.

Then open Playground in the left navigation and ask ten questions customers sent you last month. Where an answer is wrong, fix the document and ask again. Test replies count toward your monthly messages.

Step 2: connect your Facebook Page

1. Open Integrations in the left navigation and choose Messenger.
2. Click Connect Facebook Page.
3. Facebook opens. Log in if it asks, choose your Page and allow the permissions it lists, which let ChatPal read and answer the Page's messages.
4. You're taken back to ChatPal. If you chose more than one Page, pick the one this assistant should answer for.

Back in ChatPal, the Messenger screen shows your Page as Connected. If ChatPal says no Page was shared, check that you're an admin of the Page: Pages where you can't manage messages aren't offered.

Each Page connects to one assistant, and each assistant answers for one Page.

Step 3: turn off the Page's other automatic replies

Meta Business Suite has automated responses of its own, such as an instant reply or an away message. If one is on, the customer gets it as well as the assistant's answer. A second chatbot connected to the Page causes a different problem: ChatPal reads its replies as your team taking over, and the assistant stops answering that customer. Turn both off before customers start writing: the automated responses in Business Suite, the other chatbot in whatever tool runs it.

Step 4: test it and share the link

Under the connected Page, ChatPal shows the Link to start a conversation with your Page, an m.me address such as https://m.me/123456789012345, with Copy link next to it. Whoever opens it lands in a Messenger chat with your Page.

Open the link from a personal Facebook account, yours or a colleague's, and send a few questions from step 1, one of them with a photo. Each conversation appears in Chats, where you can read what the assistant answered and fix the document where it was wrong.

Then put the link where customers already find you: your website, your email signature, the booking confirmation you send. People who come across your Page on Facebook can message it the usual way.

Step 5: decide when you step in

A chat reaches you in one of two ways.

The assistant hands it over. In Configuration, open the Settings tab and switch on Enable human-in-the-loop. It's off by default. With it on, when a customer asks for a person, you get an email alert, the chat appears in the Handed off to a human view of Chats, and the assistant stays silent in it until you click Return to AI. The customer sees the message you set with Set Escalation Message on the Attributes tab, for example "A groomer will reply here today." To hand over a whole topic, such as complaints or questions about a dog's skin or health, click Add under Categories on the Settings tab, describe those messages in Description, choose Human escalation and click Create.

You reply from Meta Business Suite. You don't have to open ChatPal to answer. When anyone on your team replies to a customer from the Page's inbox in Business Suite, the assistant stops answering that customer. It comes back after 24 hours with no reply from your team, or as soon as you click Return to AI on the chat in ChatPal. To change the 24 hours, set Return the assistant after (hours) on the Settings tab.

Messenger's 24-hour rule applies to your replies from ChatPal too. A chat handed over at 11 pm can wait until morning, but not past 11 pm the next day: once 24 hours have passed since the customer's last message, ChatPal replaces the reply box with a notice, and you can answer again only after the customer writes. Put your reply hours in the document from step 1 so the assistant can tell customers when to expect you.

For message limits by plan, see pricing. To take bookings on Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram as well, see how to book appointments from your messages.