When a shopper asks about products in your Instagram DMs or Facebook Messenger, your AI replies with scrollable product cards — each one showing the product image, name, price, and a View product button that opens the item on your store. When the AI needs to narrow things down first, it offers tappable options so the shopper can pick a size, colour, brand, or category without typing a word.
It’s the same guided product discovery your shoppers get in the chat widget on your website, running natively inside Meta’s messaging apps.
What your shoppers see
1. The shopper asks for a product.
Something like “do you have anything for dry skin?” or “I’m looking for a gift for a 6-year-old.”
2. Your AI offers tappable filter options.
When there are too many possibilities to answer well, the AI asks a narrowing question and attaches the choices as buttons the shopper can tap — for example Disney, Marvel, Pokémon. Shoppers who prefer to type can simply type their answer instead; both work exactly the same way.
3. Your AI sends a product carousel.
Matching products arrive as a swipeable row of cards. Each card shows the product image, the product name, the price in your store’s currency, and a View product button.
4. The shopper taps a product.
The card opens your product page in the browser. The conversation carries across with them, so the chat on your website picks up exactly where the Instagram or Messenger conversation left off — the shopper never has to repeat themselves.
5. The conversation is marked resolved.
Once the shopper lands on your store, Rep AI records the visit and marks the conversation as resolved by AI. If the shopper doesn’t tap anything, Rep AI follows up and then closes the conversation on its own, the same way it does for every other Instagram and Messenger conversation.
What you need
There’s nothing to switch on. Product cards and filter options appear automatically for every store that meets these conditions:
- Your Instagram or Facebook page is connected to Rep AI, with AI Answering turned on for that channel. (Settings → Integrations → Social Integrations.)
- Your products have images. A product needs a product image to appear as a card. Products without one are still recommended — they arrive as a text link instead.
- The conversation hasn’t been taken over by a person. Once one of your team replies to a thread in Instagram or Messenger, Rep AI steps back from that thread and stops sending cards.
- You have an active Omnichannel AI plan for the conversation to be counted and marked as resolved by AI.
No extra Meta permissions, app review, or product catalogue setup is required — Rep AI builds the cards from your own product images and product pages.
Where to see it in your Console
Open Conversations and pick an Instagram or Messenger conversation. Alongside the messages you’ll see:
- The product cards your AI sent, replayed in the thread so you can see exactly what the shopper was shown.
- “Opened on the website:” followed by the product the shopper tapped through to.
- “Ticket resolved by AI”, with the time it happened.
Good to know
Up to 10 products per carousel. When more products match, your AI sends the 10 most relevant ones. If the shopper wants to go further, they can keep narrowing the search in chat or browse from the product page they opened.
Up to 13 filter options per question. Longer option labels are shortened to fit inside the button, so the shopper always sees a clean, tappable choice.
Cards link to your product page. Shoppers choose variants — size, colour, and so on — on your product page, where all your usual options and stock information live. Adding to cart directly from an Instagram or Messenger card isn’t part of the Meta messaging experience, even if in-chat add-to-cart is enabled for your website widget.
The button text follows your store. The View product label uses your store’s default language, and you can change the wording in your system messages if you’d like it to say something else.
Instagram and Facebook Messenger. Product cards and filter options are available on these two channels. WhatsApp conversations continue to receive product recommendations as text with links.
Troubleshooting
Shoppers are getting text links instead of product cards.
The most common cause is a missing product image. Check the recommended product in your Products page and confirm it has an image synced from your store. Also confirm AI Answering is switched on for that channel — with AI Answering off, the channel replies in Classic Mode, which sends shoppers to your website rather than answering in the DM.
Cards appear, but the conversation isn’t marked resolved.
The conversation is marked resolved once the shopper actually opens your store from the card. Two things can hold it up: the shopper never tapped through, or your Rep AI chat isn’t loading on the product page they landed on. If your widget is restricted to certain pages, make sure product pages are included.
A conversation stopped getting cards partway through.
If someone from your team replied to that thread directly in Instagram or Messenger, Rep AI hands the conversation over and stays out of it from then on.
A product a shopper asked for didn’t come up.
Your AI recommends from your synced catalogue. If the product is new or was recently changed, check that it has finished syncing and that it isn’t excluded from your Product Groups.