Guide · The first message · For the owner who wants the chat to open with the right questions
WhatsApp ice breakers, commands and ad welcome messages: the first thing a customer sees in your chat
When a customer opens a chat with your business number for the first time, WhatsApp can show them up to four tappable prompts instead of an empty message box. Tapping one sends it as their first message. A customer who types a forward slash can see a menu of commands you defined. And a customer who arrives from an ad that clicks to WhatsApp can be greeted with a short sequence of your choosing. All three are configured on the number, not written into any template, and none of them costs anything to set up.
Published 1 October 2026 · Updated 8 October 2026
Ice breakers: the four prompts
Meta calls them ice breakers: short, tappable lines that appear in the thread the first time a WhatsApp user chats with your number. "Get a quote", "Track my order", "Opening hours". Meta's page suggests them for service, where a customer knows they want something but not how to ask.
- How many
- Up to four on a business phone number.
- How long
- At most 80 characters each. Emoji are not supported.
- What happens on tap
- The prompt's text is sent as an ordinary message from the customer. Your system receives it exactly as if they had typed it, so each prompt can route to a different person or reply.
- If they type instead
- The keyboard covers the prompts, but the customer can dismiss it and the menu is there again.
Ice breakers and prefilled links do not mix
Commands: the slash menu
A customer who types a forward slash in the chat sees a list of commands you defined, each with a hint. Meta's own example is an image-generating bot, but a plain business can use the same mechanism: a command for a balance, one for the next delivery slot, one for a human.
- How many
- Up to 30 commands on a number.
- How long
- The command itself at most 32 characters, its hint at most 256. Emoji are not supported.
- What happens on use
- The command and whatever the customer typed after it arrive as one ordinary text message. Your system has to recognise it and act; WhatsApp only shows the menu.
Commands are only worth defining when something on your side answers them. A menu of commands that lead to a human reading them an hour later is worse than no menu.
The welcome message on an ad that clicks to WhatsApp
An ad that clicks to WhatsApp opens a chat with your number, and Meta lets the chat open with a welcome message sequence built in the system that runs your number. Meta's page describes what a sequence can hold.
- Text
- A greeting from the business, shown when the customer lands in the chat.
- A prefilled message
- Words already waiting in the customer's box, so that one tap on send starts the conversation.
- Up to three quick replies
- Meta calls them FAQs in the ad flow and ice breakers in the data: three tappable answers to the greeting, each becoming the customer's first message.
- Where it is chosen
- In Ads Manager, in the ad's message template section, by selecting the partner app that runs your number and then the sequence by name. Your system has to have created the sequence first.
- It is locked while the ad runs
- Meta's page says a sequence linked to an active ad cannot be changed or deleted. To edit the greeting, disconnect it from the ad or create a new sequence.
- Your system knows which ad
- The customer's first message arrives with a referral attached: the ad's headline, body and identifier. A proper system files the lead against the campaign without anyone asking where they saw you.
A sequence from your system is not the only way. Meta's Business Help Center also describes writing the greeting inside Ads Manager: with Send message chosen as the call to action, the Message template section offers Create New, where you complete a greeting and questions and select Save and Finish, or Use existing, which reuses one made earlier. The ad starts showing once Meta has reviewed it. Meta notes that its newer recommended campaign setup may show slightly different steps for some objectives.
Our reading: two meanings of template
Setting them up, and what comes next
- Ice breakers and commands are set on the number. Meta's page puts the switch in the developer app's WhatsApp configuration, under the number's settings, in a section called Automations. Meta says a solution partner with access to your account can set them for you. In plain terms: ask whoever runs your system, and give them the four lines.
- Testing needs a fresh thread. Ice breakers show only on a first chat. Meta's page says to clear and delete your existing chat with the number before you look for them.
- Write prompts that start the right conversation. The tapped text is the customer's message. "Get a quote" tells your team nothing; "Quote for printed packaging" tells them who to hand it to.
- Then the ordinary rules apply. A tapped prompt is a customer message, so the 24-hour window opens and your replies inside it need no template. What Meta charges after that is in the guide to how Meta charges.
Questions
Can we write the ad's greeting in Ads Manager instead of in our system?
Yes. Meta's Business Help Center says that for ads that click to WhatsApp, the Message template section in Ads Manager offers Create New, where you write a greeting and questions, or Use existing to reuse one. A sequence your system created is chosen from the same section.
Can we show a greeting to every customer who messages us first?
Not through these features. Ice breakers are prompts the customer taps, not a message you send, and the welcome message sequence belongs to ads that click to WhatsApp. An automatic reply to a first message is something your system sends inside the window the customer just opened; that is a system feature, not a Meta setting.
Why don't our ice breakers show up when we scan our own QR code?
Because the code carries a prefilled message, and Meta's page says a wa.me link with prefilled text dismisses the ice breaker menu. Test with a plain chat to the number, in a thread you have cleared and deleted first.
Can we use emoji in the prompts?
No. Meta's page says emoji are not supported in ice breakers or commands.
We changed the greeting but the ad still shows the old one. Why?
A sequence linked to an active ad cannot be changed or deleted. Pause or disconnect the ad, or create a new sequence and select it in Ads Manager.
Sources
- Meta's developer documentation: Conversational Components, read 1 October 2026.
- Meta's developer documentation: Welcome Message Sequences, read 1 October 2026.
- Meta Business Help Center: create a new template for ads that click to message, read 8 October 2026.
- Meta Business Help Center: select an existing template for ads that click to message, read 8 October 2026.
More plain-language notes like this one are on the guides page.
Want the chat to open with the right four questions?
We set up a business's WhatsApp number on a proper system, write its ice breakers so each one lands with the right person, and file every ad lead against the campaign it came from. A short call is the easiest way to see whether it fits your business.
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