Agents

Messenger

Import a Facebook Page and connect it to an agent so it answers the messages people send the Page on Messenger.

Connecting Messenger puts an agent behind a Facebook Page's inbox. Anyone who messages the Page on Messenger gets the agent's reply, every exchange is recorded as a conversation on the agent, and each reply is charged as a text turn. One Page is one connection, and one connection answers for one agent.

What the agent can do on Messenger

Capability Supported
Voice No
Text Yes
Inbound Yes. A text message, or the payload of a quick reply or button the Page offers, arrives as the person's message
Outbound Yes, as a reply to a message the person sent. The agent never starts a conversation
Handoff No
Media No. A message that carries only an image, audio, a sticker or a file gets no reply, and the agent sends text only

A reply is always plain text. Each person who messages the Page gets one conversation, and the conversation keeps going while the gap between messages stays under 24 hours; the next message after a longer silence starts a new one. In Conversations the person appears as Visitor followed by # and the last four characters of their Messenger id. The Page's own replies are not treated as incoming messages, and a message Meta delivers twice is answered once.

Prerequisites on the provider side

  • A Facebook Page. The agent answers that Page's Messenger inbox.
  • A Facebook account that manages the Page, ready to grant three permissions: to send and receive the Page's messages (pages_messaging), to manage the Page's settings (pages_manage_metadata) and to list the Pages you manage (pages_show_list).
  • Until Meta approves EchoNova's app, that Facebook account needs a role on EchoNova's Meta app.
  • A Page belongs to one EchoNova workspace at a time. If it is already connected in another workspace, connecting fails with That page is already connected to a different EchoNova workspace.

Connect

Step 1: Open the agent's Channels tab

Open the agent and choose Channels. The tab is headed Connected Channels. Press Add Channel, pick Messaging if you want a shorter list, and choose the Messenger card. The dialog Connect Messenger Account opens on its Configure tab, beside Triggers and How To Connect.

The Triggers tab has nothing to set. It reads Incoming messages: Messages to this connected account are handled by the linked agent.

Step 2: Name the connection and pick a Page

On the Configure tab:

  • Name: used only when you pick an already-imported Page under Credential and press Connect; the row then takes this name. A Page you import here is named after the Page itself.
  • Credential: a dropdown of this workspace's already-imported Facebook Pages, or a way to connect a new one.

If the workspace has no Pages yet, this reads You have no Facebook Pages. Import a Page here., with here as the link. If it already has some, the dropdown lists them with the placeholder Facebook Page, and a separate Import another account link sits below it. A Page already bound to this agent or to another one is listed but disabled, marked (on this agent) or (on another agent).

Step 3: Connect a Page

Press here or Import another account. Meta's own window opens; sign in with the account that manages the Page and approve the three permissions. Back in EchoNova:

  • One Page granted: it connects to this agent straight away, with the toast Messenger connected.
  • Several Pages granted: the Choose what to connect dialog opens. Tick every Page to connect; a Page already connected here can be ticked again to refresh it (Connected here), and a Page connected in another workspace cannot be ticked (In another workspace). Press Connect, read the result line next to each Page, and press Done.

To reuse a Page you already imported, pick it from the Credential dropdown instead. Picking one fills in Name with the Page's saved name, if Name is still empty. Press the dialog's Connect button to bind that Page to this agent.

If the connect ends with an error instead, the table below has the message and what to do about it.

Message What happened What to do
Access was declined. No changes were made. You declined the permissions on Meta Connect again and approve
The connection didn't complete. Please try again. Meta did not hand over a usable sign-in Connect again
No message. You land on the Agents list with nothing connected More than 10 minutes passed, or the sign-in finished in a different browser from the one that started it Open the agent again and start from its Channels tab
We couldn't resolve that page. Please try again. Meta returned no Page for the account you signed in with Sign in with an account that manages the Page
That page is already connected to a different EchoNova workspace. The Page belongs to another workspace Disconnect it there first
We couldn't create the webhook. Check the app's permissions, then reconnect. The Page was found but Meta refused to send its messages to EchoNova, so nothing was saved Sign in again with an account that is an admin of the Page and approve all permissions
Something went wrong connecting this channel. Please try again. Meta did not hand over the Page's access at sign-in, or the connect failed for a reason with no message of its own Connect again
This choice expired. Start again. More than 10 minutes passed since signing in for several Pages, or that list was already used Press Import another account and sign in again
Move this channel? The Page is already connected to another agent in this workspace Move binds it here and closes its open conversations; Cancel leaves it where it is

Get it right

Pick which Page to connect by name in Choose what to connect, not by order. A sign-in that grants several Pages lists every one you manage; tick the Page you mean rather than the first one on the list.

Recommended

  • Read every label in Choose what to connect and tick the exact Page.

Less effective

  • Ticking the first Page in the list without checking its name, then finding the row answers for the wrong Page.

Send the first message

Open Messenger and send the Page a message, for example "Do you deliver on Fridays?". The agent replies in text, in the same Messenger thread, using the Personality and Greeting message you set on the Persona tab. The greeting is not sent on Messenger; the agent's first message is its answer.

In the portal, open the agent's Conversations tab: the exchange is listed under the Messenger channel. The channel's own detail page, opened from its row on the Channels tab, counts it under Conversations and Messages and lists it on the Conversations section. Each reply is priced as a text turn; see What a turn costs.

If the workspace has no credits left, the person's message is recorded in the conversation and no reply is sent. If a reply cannot be produced, the person receives "Sorry, I can't respond right now. Please try again shortly."

Provider limits that affect you

Limit Value Effect
Pages per connection 1 Connect each Page separately
Workspaces per Page 1 A Page connected elsewhere must be disconnected there first
Agents per connection 1 Use Assign to another agent to move it
Meta sign-in window 10 minutes Finish the sign-in within that time, once, in the browser that started it
Choose what to connect Valid 10 minutes, or until used once After that, sign in again
Page access Does not expire Nothing to reconnect on a schedule
Message content in Text, quick-reply and button payloads Anything else is not answered
Message content out Text The agent sends no images, buttons or attachments
Conversation gap 24 hours A message after a longer silence opens a new conversation

Disconnect

Open the row's menu on the Channels tab and choose Disconnect, or open the channel's detail page, press Test and choose Disconnect from the menu. The dialog Disconnect channel? reads "This permanently deletes {name} and its saved credential. Reconnecting later starts a brand new connection." Confirm with Disconnect; the toast Channel disconnected follows.

Disconnecting also stops EchoNova receiving the Page's messages once no other channel in EchoNova, such as an Instagram account linked to the same Page, still uses it.

To keep the connection but stop this agent answering, choose Assign to another agent from the row's menu instead. Open conversations are closed and the next message goes to the agent you picked.

Troubleshooting

The agent never answers a message

Check, in this order:

  • The row is on this agent's Channels tab. A connection with no agent drops every message it receives.
  • The message has text. Images, audio, stickers and files alone are not answered.
  • The workspace has credits. With none left, messages are recorded and no reply goes out.
  • The message was sent by a person. The Page's own messages are ignored.

The person got "Sorry, I can't respond right now. Please try again shortly."

The agent could not produce a reply for that turn. The message is kept in the conversation; ask the person to send it again.

The row is named after the wrong Page

Disconnect the row, then press Import another account and tick the exact Page in Choose what to connect.

Pause Channel does nothing

Pause Channel on the channel's detail page does not stop the channel today. To stop the agent answering, disconnect the channel or assign it to another agent.

FAQ

Does the agent send the greeting on Messenger?

No. Greeting message is spoken on voice conversations. On Messenger the agent's first message is its answer to what the person wrote.

Can the agent hand the conversation to a person?

No. Messenger has no handoff. Write the Personality so the agent tells the person how to reach your team when it cannot help.

Can one Page talk to two agents?

No. A Page is one connection, and a connection answers for one agent. Move it with Assign to another agent.

Does the Page's access ever expire?

No. Unlike WhatsApp, a Messenger Page's access does not expire, so there is nothing to reconnect on a schedule.

What does Test on the channel page do?

It opens the channel's action menu, with Pause Channel and Disconnect. Test the channel by sending the Page a message from Messenger.