How to Change Send Message Button on Facebook Ad

Thinking about changing the 'Send Message' button on your Facebook ad? It's a small change that can have a big impact on your campaign's performance. This article will show you exactly how to change your call-to-action (CTA) button and guide you on choosing the best one for your specific goal.

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What is a Facebook Ad Call-to-Action (CTA) and Why Does it Matter?

The call-to-action button is the clickable button on your Facebook ad that tells people what you want them to do next. While "Send Message" is a popular choice for encouraging conversations, it's just one of many options Facebook offers. The CTA you choose plays a huge role in setting expectations for your audience. A user clicking "Shop Now" expects to see a product page, while someone clicking "Learn More" is prepared to read more detailed information. Your goal is to guide the user seamlessly from the ad to the action you want them to take.

Choosing the right CTA can dramatically improve your ad's click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate. It bridges the gap between seeing your ad and becoming a lead or customer, making it one of the most critical elements to get right.

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Key Reasons to Change the 'Send Message' Button

If your ads are running with the default or misaligned CTA, you could be leaving money on the table. Here are a few common reasons to swap out that "Send Message" button for something more effective.

• Mismatch with Your Campaign Objective: The "Send Message" CTA is designed for the Engagement, Leads, or Sales objectives with Messenger as the destination. If your actual goal is to drive traffic to a blog post, sell a specific product, or get webinar sign-ups, another CTA will perform much better by aligning with your true objective.
• Optimizing for Different Funnel Stages: Not everyone who sees your ad is ready to buy immediately. Using "Learn More" for a cold audience viewing top-of-funnel content makes more sense than "Shop Now." As you retarget warmer audiences, you can switch to more direct, action-oriented CTAs.
• A/B Testing for Better Performance: You should never assume one CTA is the best. Running A/B tests with different buttons ("Shop Now" vs. "Learn More," for example) can give you data-backed proof of what your audience responds to most, helping you lower your cost-per-result.
• Clarity and User Experience: The best ads are clear and simple. If your ad creative is about downloading a free guide, the CTA should be "Download," not "Send Message." This alignment reduces confusion and makes the user journey frictionless, leading to higher conversion rates.

How to Change the CTA Button When Creating a New Facebook Ad

When you're building a new ad from scratch, setting the call-to-action is a straightforward part of the process. Here’s how you do it step-by-step in the Facebook Ads Manager.

1. Choose Your Campaign Objective: Start by going into your Facebook Ads Manager and clicking the "Create" button. The first thing you'll need to do is select a campaign objective (e.g., Sales, Leads, Engagement, Traffic). The CTAs available to you will depend on the objective you select, so choose the one that best fits your ultimate goal.
2. Set Up Your Ad Set: Continue through the setup process at the Ad Set level, defining your audience, budget, and placement options.
3. Design Your Ad: At the Ad level, you'll upload your creative (image or video), write your ad copy, including the Primary Text and Headline. This is where you set the CTA.
4. Select Your Call-to-Action: Scroll down to the "Call to Action" section. You'll see a dropdown menu. Click on it to see all options available for your campaign objective.
5. Choose the Best Fit: Simply click on the CTA that best aligns with your ad creative and desired user action, whether that’s "Shop Now," "Sign Up," "Learn More," or something else.
6. Confirm Your Destination: Ensure the destination link (like your website URL, landing page, or instant form) matches the intent of your new CTA button. A "Contact Us" button shouldn’t lead to a product page. Once everything looks good, you can publish your ad.

How to Change the CTA Button on an EXISTING Facebook Ad

This is where things get a bit tricky and where many advertisers get stuck. Can you simply click an "edit" button on a live ad and swap the CTA? The short answer is no, not without consequences.

The Right Way: Duplicate Before You Edit

Once an ad is published, you can't change the creative, copy, or CTA button without completely resetting its engagement data and social proof (likes, comments, and shares). Facebook locks these elements to maintain the integrity of the ad that users have been interacting with.

Trying to edit it directly would essentially create a brand-new ad, wiping out all the valuable performance history. Instead, the best practice is to duplicate the ad.

Here’s how to do it correctly:

1. Go to Facebook Ads Manager: Navigate to the ad account and find the active campaign you want to change.
2. Find Your Ad: Drill down from the Campaigns tab to the Ads tab and locate the specific ad whose CTA you want to change.
3. Duplicate the Ad: Check the box next to the ad and click the "Duplicate" button in the menu bar. An identical, editable draft of your ad will be created.
4. Edit the Duplicated Ad: Now you’re working on the copy. In this draft, scroll down to the "Call to Action" section just like you would for a new ad.
5. Select Your New CTA: Open the dropdown menu and choose the new call-to-action you want to test or implement.
6. Publish the New Ad: Review the rest of the ad to make sure everything is correct and click "Publish."
7. IMPORTANT: Pause the Original Ad: Once your new ad is approved and running, remember to go back and turn off the original ad. This prevents you from competing against yourself and splitting your budget and audience between two very similar ads.

This duplication method allows you to change the CTA while keeping the original ad's historical data intact for your records and analysis.

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Choosing the Right Call-to-Action for Your Goal

Not sure which button to choose? Here is a breakdown of common Facebook CTAs and when to use them to get the best results for your campaigns.

• Shop Now: This is your go-to for e-commerce. It's direct, to the point, and signals to users that they'll be taken to a product or category page where they can make a purchase. Use it when the primary goal is immediate sales.
• Learn More: "Learn More" is one of the most versatile and low-pressure CTAs. It’s perfect for top-of-funnel campaigns where you're driving traffic to a blog post, a detailed service page, or an article. It’s less committal and great for educating your audience first.
• Sign Up: Use this CTA when you are offering something in exchange for an email address. This is ideal for newsletter subscriptions, webinar reservations, course registrations, free trials, or lead magnet downloads like checklists or ebooks.
• Book Now: Primarily for service-based businesses like salons, consultants, travel agencies, or car mechanics. "Book Now" prompts users to schedule an appointment, consultation, or reservation.
• Contact Us: This is a great CTA for B2B companies or businesses with a longer sales cycle. It encourages prospects to reach a form or see a contact page, signaling they have questions and are ready to talk to a salesperson.
• Download: Use this when you are directly offering a downloadable asset, like a whitepaper, case study, an ebook, or a mobile app. It's more specific than "Sign Up" and clearly sets the expectation of receiving a file.

Best Practices for Your Facebook Ad CTA

Beyond just choosing the right button, keep these tips in mind to get the most mileage out of your call-to-action.

1. Maintain Consistency

Your ad, your CTA, and your landing page must tell the same story. If your headline reads "Get 50%-off Sale!" and your creative shows our products, your CTA should be "Shop Now," and it should lead directly to a product on sale.

2. Always Be Testing

Don't just set it and forget it. What works for one audience might not work for another. Use Facebook's A/B testing function to compare two different buttons head-to-head and determine which drives better results. Sometimes a seemingly simple change can significantly increase your CTR.

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3. Align with User Intent

Consider where your target audience is in their buyer journey. For a cold audience, "Learn More" may be less intimidating and perform better than "Buy Now." With a remarketing target that has previously visited the site, a clear, welcoming "Buy Now" reminder can be effective.

Final Thoughts

Changing the 'Send Message' button isn't just a minor tweak, it's a strategic move to better align your Facebook ads with your marketing goals. Whether you’re setting up a new ad or adjusting an existing one by using the duplicate trick, choosing the right call-to-action is essential for guiding users efficiently and improving your campaign ROI.

While optimizing CTAs is crucial on the front end, understanding which campaigns drive revenue requires connecting data from all your platforms. Manually pulling reports from Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, and your sales platform is time-consuming. We built Graphed to solve this issue. You can instantly create real-time analytics reports out of all your tools using simple queries. It connects to the systems you are already using, such as Facebook, and provides a comprehensive performance overview across all your campaigns without relying on spreadsheets.