How to Optimise Messaging Ads for Purchases on Meta

Meta says this performance goal delivers ads to people more likely to purchase through messaging and measures campaigns by purchases made after a chat starts. Meta can only do that if it sees the sales happening inside your chats, so the work is mostly about reporting purchases back to Meta until your account qualifies, then switching the performance goal.

How many purchases does Meta need first?

At least 10 purchase events shared with Meta within 30 days; Meta states this requirement separately for Messenger, Instagram Direct and WhatsApp. Meta adds that businesses in Thailand and Vietnam are eligible to optimise click-to-message campaigns for purchases without sending purchase events.

How do you report purchases from each app?

Destination	Ways Meta accepts purchase events
Messenger	Orders created in Meta Business Suite and confirmed by the customer in Messenger; messaging events through the Conversions API; Meta payment features (Thailand only)
Instagram Direct	Purchases reported from Instagram professional inbox, with data sharing on and chats labelled Ordered, Paid or Shipped
WhatsApp	The WhatsApp Business app, or the Conversions API for business messaging, for example through a messaging partner app

How do you set up WhatsApp purchase reporting?

1. In the WhatsApp Business app, tap Tools, then Your customers’ activity.
2. Turn on Allow Meta to receive information about events.
3. Label chats that came from your ads as New order, Pending payment, Paid or Order complete.
4. Apply the label within 7 days of the customer clicking your ad.
5. Alternatively, create an order or update its status, such as Paid, in the app’s orders feature.

Meta says custom labels may not be attributed, and the orders feature is not available in India, Malaysia and Pakistan. If you run click-to-WhatsApp ads for more than one Facebook Page, each Page must qualify separately. If your Page has more than one WhatsApp number, sharing activity from all of them can help you qualify sooner.

How do you turn on the purchase goal?

1. Create a campaign in Ads Manager with the Engagement objective; Meta’s article also names Sales in one section and Leads in another.
2. At the ad set level, open the Conversion section.
3. Under Performance goal, choose Maximize number of purchases through messaging from the dropdown.
4. Finish the ad set and ad, then publish.

Meta says this dropdown is where you confirm access: if the goal is not listed, you do not have access to it yet.

Can you optimise for purchase value instead?

For ads that click to Messenger, Meta offers Maximize value of purchases through messaging. Its setup uses the Sales objective, an ad set budget, Messenger as the only messaging destination, an end date at least two weeks after the start, a custom or lookalike audience and Advantage+ placements. Meta’s best practice is that your Page has received at least 100 attributed purchases with values over the past 21 days.

FAQ

What should I measure once I optimise for purchases?

Meta says to measure these campaigns on Meta purchases and cost per on-Meta purchase rather than conversations started. Conversations started tells you how many chats opened, not how many ended in a sale, so it cannot show whether the purchase goal is working.

How long should a purchase-optimised messaging campaign run?

Meta recommends running these campaigns for at least 7 days to give the system time to optimise for purchases. It also suggests sharing every relevant purchase event that happens in business chat threads, which Meta says can improve both ad performance and reporting.

Can one campaign optimise purchases across Messenger and Instagram?

Yes, if you are eligible to optimise for purchases on Messenger. Meta says that eligibility also lets you maximise purchases when launching ads that click across both Messenger and Instagram Direct in a single campaign, so the Messenger rules are the ones to meet first.