Set Up Messenger Ice Breakers

Ice breakers (UI label: Ice breakers / conversation starters) are suggested questions shown at the start of a Messenger chat with your Facebook Page — before the customer types. They tap a prompt (price, delivery…), and the bot replies from the Reply Message Template you mapped. Setup lives inside Get started settings in Bot manager (same panel as the welcome message) — not a separate card. This is Facebook/Messenger; Instagram has its own card: Set Up Instagram Ice Breakers.

Sidebar path: Facebook Tools → Bot manager → select the Page → Get started settings → Change settings → panel Get started & welcome message → section Ice breakers.

Before you start (prerequisites)

1. Sidebar: Integrations → Connect Accounts. Confirm the Page appears under Page list.
2. Turn on Enable Bot Connection (plug icon). Without it, suggestions will not appear. Walkthrough: Connect Facebook and enable the bot.
3. Prepare Reply Message Templates for common intents (prices, delivery, branch, hours, talk to agent).
4. Draft 2–4 short questions in your customers’ language.
5. Prefer a clean lab Page (e.g. صفحة اختبار) before production.

1) Open Bot manager and select the Page

1. Sidebar: Facebook Tools → Bot manager.
2. Select the Page and wait for the settings cards (including Get started settings).



3. Confirm the correct Page — ice breakers are per Page.

2) Open Get started & welcome message

1. Click Change settings on Get started settings.
2. The panel title is Get started & welcome message: top has Get started button status and Welcome message; lower section is Ice breakers with FAQ : Frequently Asked Questions.



3. Get Started and Ice breakers share this panel and save together. Full Get Started template guide: Set Up the Facebook Get Started Template.

3) Enable Ice breakers status

Enabling is a dropdown — not a separate Switch.

1. Scroll to Ice breakers.
2. Set Ice breakers status to Enabled. If it shows Disabled, customers will not see suggestions.



3. When Enabled, the question block area appears. When Disabled, it hides.

4) Add questions and map each to a Reply Message Template

1. In each Question Block, type the customer-facing text in Type your question (e.g. “What is the delivery fee?”).
2. Under Reply Message Template, pick the template that runs when they tap. Without a mapped template, enable-on-save will fail.
3. Need a new template? Click Add Message Template, then Refresh List after closing so it appears in the dropdown.
4. Add another with Add more question. Remove a block with Remove.

Practical limits

• ChatLik’s Messenger UI allows up to about 10 questions (Add more disables after the cap). Prefer 2–4 clear prompts — Meta’s API may reject extras beyond its limit.
• Keep each question short and focused.
• To set status to Enabled you need at least one question paired with a reply template — otherwise you get a validation message.

5) Page profile priority (when Get Started also conflicts)

Click the info icon beside Ice breakers to open Ice Breakers Reference.

1. Client Requirements: Messenger for Android/iOS +v240.
2. Under Page Profile Priority: Ice breakers and Get Started can conflict. Priority highest→lowest: API Ice Breakers → Get Started button → Custom Questions set via the Page Inbox UI.



3. If both are enabled, always test from a fresh account — Meta may show one element over the other.

6) Save and test in Messenger

1. Click Save at the bottom and wait for success (e.g. “Ice breakers has been enabled successfully.”).



2. Test: Open a new Messenger thread with the Page (old threads may hide suggestions). Tap a question and confirm the mapped reply.
3. If nothing appears: Bot Connection on? Status Enabled + saved? Question+template present? Fresh thread / test account? Messenger app version?

Practical tips

• Map each question to a useful path (prices / delivery / agent).
• Complete Get Started via the Get Started guide when you need a full welcome with buttons.
• A Persistent menu usually requires Get Started enabled first — see Persistent menu.
• Do not mix this path with Instagram Ice Breakers.

Common mistakes

• Leaving Ice breakers status on Disabled after drafting questions.
• Saving without a Reply Message Template on each filled question.
• Testing an old thread instead of a new conversation.
• Editing a lab Page then testing a different production Page.
• Expecting Page Inbox custom questions to override API-set ice breakers (Inbox editing is disabled when ice breakers are set via API).

Related: Facebook Get Started · Persistent menu · Instagram Ice Breakers · Connect Facebook and enable the bot.

Next step

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