Facebook Messenger Follow-Up for Facebook Lead Ads
Facebook lead ads collect a name, email and a few answers in a form inside Facebook or Instagram. The follow-up decides whether that lead turns into a sale. AeroChat carries the follow-up into Messenger or WhatsApp: it finds the form answers in HubSpot, Pipedrive or GoHighLevel, or through a Zapier or Make workflow, picks up from what the lead already told you, and writes the outcome back to the CRM.
What happens today
Leads sit in Meta’s lead centre or a CSV download until someone exports them. Someone calls the next day, gets voicemail, and sends an email that lands in a promotions tab.
The person calling often hasn’t read the form answers, so the lead repeats themselves. Leads that never pick up stay in the export file and never reach the CRM.
How it runs on Messenger
- Your lead form sends each entry to your CRM, through Zapier, Make or your CRM’s own lead ads connection.
- The form’s thank-you screen and your confirmation email carry a “Message us on Messenger” link and a WhatsApp link, so the lead can carry on in chat. Your Page can only message the lead once they have messaged it.
- The lead opens the chat. AeroChat asks for the email they used on the form, since Messenger does not pass it, and searches your CRM for the lead.
- If your forms run through Zapier or Make, AeroChat sends the email to your webhook, and the scenario returns the form answers.
- AeroChat confirms what the lead asked for, answers their questions, and only asks for what the form did not cover.
- It updates the lead with a new status and a note of the conversation, or books a call or visit into your calendar.
- When the lead wants to talk to someone, it hands the conversation to the lead owner in the AeroChat inbox.
On WhatsApp the steps are the same. If your form asks for a WhatsApp opt-in, your team can also message the lead first with an approved template, and AeroChat takes over when they reply.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When someone messages us after filling in our Facebook lead form, follow these steps.
- Ask for the email they used on the form. On WhatsApp, search by their phone number first.
- Search HubSpot for the contact with that email. Read the form answers in the Service, Budget and Preferred Date properties (example). Do not ask those questions again.
- Thank them for their interest and answer their questions about the service they chose, from our knowledge base.
- Ask for anything the form did not cover that we need, such as their area for a site visit (example).
- Update the contact: set the lead status to In Conversation (example), set Lead channel to Messenger or WhatsApp, and add a note with a short summary of the chat.
- If they want to talk to someone, hand the conversation to the contact owner, or to our sales team if there is no owner.
If no form entry is found, help them anyway and create a new contact. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the property names and the lead status to the ones your CRM uses. If your forms go through Zapier or Make, replace the second step with “Send their email to our form lookup webhook and use the answers it returns”.
Connect the systems behind it
- HubSpot: AeroChat finds the contact your lead form created, reads the answers, and updates the status and notes.
- Pipedrive: AeroChat finds the lead, adds a note of the chat and schedules a call activity for the owner.
- GoHighLevel: AeroChat reads the contact, moves the opportunity to the next stage and books into your calendar.
- Zapier: if your lead forms run through Zaps, AeroChat sends the lead’s email to a Zapier webhook and uses the answers your Zap returns.
- Make: AeroChat sends the email to a Make custom webhook, and your scenario returns the form answers.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
Meta’s rules on Messenger
A lead form does not open a Messenger conversation. Your Page can message the lead only after they message it, and for most replies only within 24 hours of their last message. Replies typed by a person on your team have a separate 7-day window, which automated replies cannot use. Meta expects automated replies within 30 seconds of a message, or it can limit your messaging. On WhatsApp, messaging a lead first needs their opt-in and an approved template.
Also on WhatsApp, TikTok and web chat
The same follow-up runs on WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok (direct messages and TikTok Shop buyer chat), Telegram, web chat and email. A lead who fills in a form and messages on any of them gets the same lookup and the same record update.
Who uses it
- Property agents: lead form enquiries qualified in chat before an agent calls.
- Tuition centres: lead form sign-ups booked into a trial class.
- Aircon and home services: quote requests from forms followed up with the details the technician needs.
Questions
Can I message Facebook lead ads leads in Messenger automatically?
Not first. Messenger only lets your Page reply after the person messages you. Put a Messenger link on the form’s thank-you screen and in your confirmation email, and AeroChat answers as soon as they open the chat.
Can I follow up lead ads leads on WhatsApp instead?
Yes. Add a WhatsApp link to the thank-you screen so the lead messages you, or add a WhatsApp opt-in to the form so your team can send an approved template first.
Does the lead have to repeat what they put in the form?
No. AeroChat reads the form answers from your CRM or your Zapier or Make workflow, and only asks for what is missing.
How do lead ads leads get into my CRM?
Through Zapier, Make, or your CRM’s own lead ads connection. AeroChat then updates the same record with the chat, so the form and the conversation sit together.
Follow up your next lead form while the lead still remembers it
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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.
Related: Messenger CRM integration and click-to-Messenger ads.