9 Best Facebook Messenger Ad Examples of All Time

As a relatively new advertising tool, there aren’t as many examples to pick and choose from. However, we’ve identified what we believe to be the absolute best Facebook Messenger ad examples of all time. And we’re going to show you what the special sauce is that gives them their unicorn status.

There are three key components that make Messenger ads so successful:

• Messenger is where conversations happen, and nothing beats a conversation for closing sales.
• Consumers would rather chat in real-time with businesses than talk on the phone or email.
• Businesses can scale conversations in Messenger thanks to chatbot automation.

There are two types of Facebook Messenger ads. The first type of Messenger ad is called a Click-to-Messenger ad. Where a normal ad would send people directly to a landing page, this Messenger-style ad will engage customers without directly asking them to buy – meaning you don’t have to scare away cold, non-brand-aware users with a heavy ask.

The second ad type is called a sponsored message ad. These ads allow you to deliver specifically crafted messages directly to a user’s inbox.

Messenger sponsored messages are a great tool for driving strategic engagements and actions relating to your business while keeping a user on the platform and reducing the risk of a bounce.

Instead of a typical call to action like “Shop Now,” users see “Send Message.”

Customers already spend a lot of time there chatting with family and friends and consuming content. So this new way of talking to customers means retailers increase their exposure and growth potential much quicker.

Another bonus is the chance to offer customers access to more personalized service than ever before. Retailers can sound more conversational, like a friend, than a brand just trying to sell something.

The Best Facebook Messenger Ad Examples

Use these 9 best Facebook Messenger ad examples to inspire and experiment with Messenger ads for your own business:

1. The best click-to-Messenger ad example
2. Using Messenger ads for promotional offers
3. Messenger for increasing event registrations
4. Send a Messenger ad to all your Facebook contacts
5. Increase engagement and gain user insights
6. Messenger ads for bookings and online sales 
7. Instagram Messenger ad example
8. Retargeting and re-engagement Messenger ads
9. Click-to-Messenger menu-based chatbot example
10. 5 Facebook Messenger ad benefits

Best Facebook Messenger ad examples #1: Click-to-Messenger Ads

Messenger ads are the ultimate way to increase engagement on Facebook with ads.

To promote our latest video for Customers.ai, we created a highly informational Messenger ad. See it for yourself in the Facebook News Feed, click-to-Messenger ad below!

Once the viewer of this Messenger ad clicks on the “Learn More” button, there are personalized chatbot experiences for each of our customer personas. You can experience this Click-to-Messenger ad for yourself, here!

If you didn’t watch the video, here are some still images that demonstrate how interactive the Messenger experience can become once someone clicks-to-Messenger from your ad.

Using our own chatbot software at Customers.ai, we’ve tested Click-to-Messenger ads for lead generation compared to Facebook traffic ads and produced a 97% better CPA from Messenger ads.

With traffic ads, we spend about $3 to $5 per click. And our average website traffic conversion rate is 2%. Do the math and we’re looking at $300 to $500 for 100 visitors.

And since we convert 2 out of 100 visitors, the cost per acquisition is $150 to $250 per lead.

With our new Facebook Messenger ads playbook we cut the cost to $5 a lead:

• Switched to the Facebook ad campaign objective optimized for messages.
• Send users to a Facebook Messenger chatbot.
• Save leads to the contact database in the Customers.ai Facebook Messenger marketing platform.

After executing Facebook click-to-Messenger ad chatbot marketing campaigns, here’s what our latest click-to-Messenger campaign reports look like:

So, instead of $4 per result for anonymous website traffic that converts at 2%, our CPA is between $3 and $6 for a lead with a name and direct line of contact.

There are some monumental benefits of click-to-Messenger Facebook ads:

• Reduction of CPL (cost per lead) at an average of 30-50X.
• Turns every interaction into a named contact.
• Drives users to a mobile-friendly and ultra-engaging conversion funnel experience.

Best Facebook Messenger ads #2: Promotions and special offers 

Absolut has always been known for its great advertising. So it’s no surprise that Absolut was one of the first major brands to jump headfirst into Messenger ads. Not to mention, the results of their Messenger ad campaigns have been nothing short of impressive.

With this Facebook Messenger ad example, users can find a free drink in their area by chatting with the bot.

Here’s how it worked:

• Customers chose one of three cocktails.
• Got a promo code.
• They showed the code at a local bar to get their free drink.
• Then they waited for a notification confirming they got their free drink.
• Then Lyft sent a note offering a ride home.

According to Absolut, the campaign significantly boosted brand awareness and far exceeded Absolut’s projections. Cocktail pick-ups were 2x what they expected. Messenger ads proved to be a great option to see immediate results.

Best Facebook Messenger ads #3: Event registrations ad

The 3rd and 4th best Facebook Messenger ads of all time were used in tandem for Customers.ai’s Chat Marketing Conference Virtual Summit 2020. And it truly is one of the best Facebook Messenger ads you’ll see, based on its performance.

The first ad, shown in the video below, is a Click-To-Messenger ad where we targeted different lookalike audiences.

You can experience this Click-to-Messenger ad for yourself, here!

To learn how to build a Click-to-Messenger ad, check out this article where we show you how we built the above Messenger ad, step-by-step in Customers.ai: Click-to-Messenger Ad Example

For this particular Facebook Messenger ad campaign, we were able to get our CPA (in this case cost per event registration) down to $1.79.

Once we were able to consistently keep our CPA at this level, we went all in and got half of our 5,000+ registrants from this one Click-to-Messenger ad campaign. And we were able to do so at an average below $2 per registration.

Best Facebook Messenger ads #4: Sponsored messages ad example

In addition to the 3rd best Facebook Messenger ads example, we used this 4th Messenger ad example to send Messenger ads directly to our Facebook contacts. The results were amazing, as we were able to get back a large majority of our registrants from the previous year.

You should use Messenger Sponsored Messages Ads to send promotions directly to your Messenger contacts list or highly targeted segments of your Messenger contacts list. Sponsored message ads are great for retargeting and keeping your engaged audiences up to date on the latest announcements from your business.

With this ad, we were able to get more than 80% of our previous year’s Chat Marketing Virtual Summit attendees to return:

You can experience the dialogue portion of the sponsored messages Facebook ad for yourself, here: Experience Messenger Sponsored Messages Ad

To send ads directly to a mass list of individuals, you need to use Facebook Sponsored Messages ads for Messenger. The capabilities to create extremely interactive, as well as dynamic content in Messenger are virtually limitless.

This particular Facebook sponsored messages ad was sent directly to a segment of our Messenger contacts and it produced some amazing results:

• Average event registration cost from sponsored message ads = $0.73 per registration.
• Sponsored message ad conversion rate = 2.64%.
• Over 80% of our existing Messenger contacts that attended our event in 2019 also attended our event in 2020.

Use these two links to learn how to create and get excellent results using a combination of Facebook Click-to-Messenger ads, as well as Facebook Messenger sponsored message ads.

Best Facebook Messenger Ads #5: Increase engagement and gain user insights

Shop Spring has done a great job of targeting and engaging top of the funnel users with Messenger ads. And by asking lots of questions in Messenger. They get to know their potential customers better.

As people ask more questions in Messenger, Shop Spring builds a better picture of each person’s preferences. For the customer’s part, they gradually build trust as recommendations in Messenger get more in line with their preferences.

Marketers have to choose a series of questions to ask in Messenger that will help them paint a better picture of each customer. As each question’s answered and the profiles update, group similar customers together, and run new Messenger ads that are specifically targeted to them.

This goes a long way to building their trust in you and your relationship with them. It also leads to more strategic and structured advertising when you know what types of customers you’re talking to.

Best Facebook Messenger ad examples #6: Bookings and Online Sales

You can use Messenger ads to provide an omnichannel shopping experience and drive sales. Here’s an example chat with an Expedia chatbot about booking a hotel room:

The entire search process was done through Facebook Messenger with the bot returning a few hotels which you can view by visiting their website.

The Messenger bot experience even allows you to change your search criteria in real-time with no human assistance.

You can use Messenger ads to build high-quality, fully automated sales funnels that run 24/7 and increase the number of daily conversions on your site.

Best Messenger ads #7: Instagram Messenger ad example

Ads placed in the Instagram News Feed and Instagram Stories are a big part of the Facebook Ads ecosystem, providing a competitive ROAS (return on ad spend) for advertisers.

But Instagram ads are about to get a lot more interesting in 2021 with the introduction of both Facebook Shops and Messenger for Instagram.

In both the above and below images, the ad on the left is a typical Facebook ad example viewed in the Instagram feed.

And when you click on this Instagram click-to-Messenger ad’s call to action “Send Message” here’s what you’ll see (← Link opens in Messenger).

The new Instagram support in the Messenger API enables new capabilities for businesses to handle messaging at scale on Instagram.

Here is a peek of the new Instagram messaging tools coming to Customers.ai soon.

As Messenger continues to roll-out functionality of the Messenger API, Customers.ai will expand its OmniChat^Ⓡ  platform with easy-to-use tools for leveraging customer communication opportunities.

Best Facebook Messenger ad examples #8: Retargeting and re-engagement

Sponsored messages are another way to boost re-engagement. This group includes customers who’ve shown an interest in the brand in the past. Either they bought a product or subscription, or they messaged you with questions but didn’t follow through with a purchase.

Rather than lose these people if they don’t come back to interact on some level, brands can reach out and try to get them to come back for another look.

The Wall Street Journal uses a Messenger bot that sends their opt-ins breaking news on a number of topics each day.

It first asks if the user would like to opt-in to alerts and topics they would like to receive.

Once selected, the bot sends relevant news articles and presents the user with more topics to choose from.

Best Facebook Messenger ad examples #9: Click-to-Messenger mobile ad menu-based chatbot example

Facebook Click-to-Messenger Ads: Use click-to-Messenger ads to reach new audiences. See this Facebook click-to-Messenger ads example to learn more about how to create and run click-to-Messenger ad campaigns.

You can experience this Click-to-Messenger ad for yourself, here!

Here’s a closer look at that experience.

If you want to, you can build and run a Facebook Messenger ad campaign through Facebook’s Ads Manager.

However, that won’t get you the unique benefits I mentioned earlier, such as instant lead capture in a contact database or automated follow-ups for lead nurturing.

For that, you’ll need Customers.ai’s Facebook advertising tools, and ability to create a menu-based chatbot.

So, learn how we made the above Facebook Messenger ads example in just five minutes using Customers.ai’s Facebook ad chatbot builder.

Here’s how to create a Facebook Click-to-Messenger ad for your business!

5 Facebook Messenger Ad Benefits

#1. Instant lead capture

The number one reason why performance marketers and advertisers need to adopt Facebook Messenger ads is that you’ll undoubtedly capture more leads, and you’ll do it instantly via marketing automation tools.

When you send your Messenger ad traffic to an automation platform like Customers.ai, your business automatically receives a bucket of contact info for everyone who strikes up a conversation.

Facebook’s lead contact data your business receives by default:

• First and last name
• Locale (country and language)
• Timezone
• Gender
• Profile photo

Check out this guide to learn how to get more leads on Facebook. 

#2. Respond to people faster on their preferred medium

Customer support is moving towards messaging.

If you aren’t using a live chat service in some way, shape, or form, you risk losing out on conversions. Because it’s no secret that responding to a potential lead faster will only increase your odds of closing a deal.

The Harvard Business Review conducted an impactful study a few years ago to see how a company’s response time to leads would impact their qualification rate.

They wanted to see if response time played a role in conversion rates. Can you guess the results?

If you don’t respond in the first five minutes of a customer reaching out to you, you decrease your odds of converting them to a lead by 400%.

#3. Send personalized messages directly to your Messenger contacts

You can essentially send personalized messages to users who you aren’t connected with and land them straight in the user’s inbox.

Sponsored message ads are great for retargeting campaigns. You can get your message directly to a user within their messaging app, so you’re not restricted only to the news feed, meaning you can (somewhat) naturally reach out via a direct, personalized message.

But the kicker here is being able to scale this effort to huge lists – you can retarget thousands of people with these semi-personalized messages.

Typical display advertising conversion rates aren’t great. And the Facebook News Feed is already cluttered.

With these ads, you also don’t run the risk of being seen as creepy or overreaching because you’re only targeting people who’ve already shown interest in your brand. And sending a personalized message gives you a better shot at landing conversions than a basic, mass-produced remarketing ad on their feed.

Personalizing a conversation is easy using a smart chatbot builder that funnels users to different conversation dialogues depending on what they select.

Add Messenger to your website by using chatbot software with Facebook live chat capabilities. This way you’ll be able to send Facebook sponsored message ads to the people who interact with your website chatbot in addition to your contacts on Facebook and Instagram.

#4. Facebook Messenger ads are great for starting conversations

If getting leads to converse with you is tough, which it probably is, these ads should be your bread and butter (yes, I’m hungry).

Qualifying leads and gauging interest is critical when it comes to producing real sales. Nobody wants to spend five weeks talking to a lead before finding out that they don’t even care about your product.

And when you can’t simply ask a user to convert instantly (meaning cold traffic), you need to start a casual conversation to assess their needs and interests. Otherwise, you’re going to have to run tons of remarketing ads with your fingers crossed, hoping to land a sale.

Facebook Messenger Ads are a perfect balance between ads and real sales conversations.

#5. Messenger ads outperform other ads by 2X-10X

At the end of the day, every ad is going to be judged a success or flop by key metrics: lead volume, cost per lead, and sales.

All the bells and whistles don’t mean anything if the ad doesn’t add up on paper.

So here’s where Facebook Messenger ads win the title of the best ad out there.

Four unique benefits of Facebook Messenger ads:

• Instant lead capture
• Mobile-friendly
• Automated qualification and follow-up
• Highly personalized and relevant
• The results? An increase in Facebook ad performance.

Getting Started With Facebook Messenger Ads

Now you’ve seen some examples and you’re gearing up to launch your own Messenger ad campaigns.

Here’s our best practices for getting started with Facebook Messenger Ads.

• Convert an existing lead form ad into a Messenger ad: If you’re a Facebook advertiser, there’s a good chance you’re running Facebook Lead Ads. Awesome, it’s a quick test to run that same ad as a Messages objective ad. Replicate the lead form in Customers.ai’s bot builder and clone your existing ad and ad set into a new Messages objective campaign.
• Replicate a lead form from your website into a Messenger ad: If you are sending traffic to a lead collection form on your website or other platform, convert that experience into a Messenger experience with a Messages ad objective. Replicate the lead form in Customers.ai’s bot builder and build a new Messages objective campaign to send traffic to that bot.

I hope you’ve learned a ton from these Facebook advertising examples. Take what you’ve learned here to create the most successful Facebook Messenger ads for your business.

And now that you’re finished with our Facebook Messenger ads example, definitely check out these 10 Facebook ad examples for even more ideas!

If you’re looking for more amazing Facebook ad ideas, check out the Facebook campaign examples found in Larry Kim’s top Facebook ad hacks of all time.

Lastly, here are 5 Facebook Messenger Ad tips to help you get started with the best performing ads on Facebook!

Important Next Steps

FAQs about Facebook Messenger Ad Examples