【IG Automation】Set Up Auto-Reply on Instagram DMs

According to Hootsuite data, Instagram is the world’s third most-used social platform. As businesses’ exposure on Instagram continuously increases, the volume of DMs (direct messages) and post comments grows significantly, often making manual replies difficult to manage and leading to missed potential customers. By setting up Instagram auto-reply, brands can respond to customers instantly, converting every interaction into a business opportunity. This article will provide a detailed overview of IG automation strategies, examples, and how to connect to the Instagram API to set up chatbots.

What is Instagram Auto-Reply?

IG Auto-Reply is a system configuration that enables the automatic detection and response to various types of customer messages on Instagram. This includes automatically replying to post comments or stories and sending DMs to customers, replying to pre-set messages within DMs, and utilising chatbots for interactive conversations. To enable comprehensive Instagram Auto-Reply functionality, businesses must use an Instagram Business Account.

Benefits of IG Auto-Reply

Instant Response Accelerates Purchase Decisions

Ensure your service operates 24/7 year-round, so customers receive instant replies regardless of time zone or non-business hours, fundamentally preventing customer churn caused by long waiting times. Quick responses accelerate customers’ purchasing decisions: the Chatbot can instantly qualify leads, filter intent, and seamlessly transfer high-potential customers to a live sales consultant, accelerating the overall sales process.

Save Customer Service Manpower

IG Auto-Reply completely automates repetitive and standardised common inquiries (FAQs). This significantly saves the valuable time and human resource costs of the customer service team, allowing live agents to focus on more complex, high-value tasks such as sophisticated problem-solving, sales consultation, and even strategic marketing planning, thereby greatly optimising overall human resource allocation.

Increase Customer Engagement and Cultivate Loyalty

Through instant and accurate interaction, customer satisfaction and engagement are significantly boosted. The Chatbot can provide personalised product recommendations and service information based on the customer’s conversation history and interests, giving customers a one-on-one, exclusive experience. This humanised interaction helps build long-term trust and loyalty, gradually developing general users into loyal brand advocates.

Instagram Post Comment Automation Strategy

Since Instagram posts lack the ability to directly embed hyperlinks, brands looking to effectively monetise traffic can utilise the Post Comment Auto-DM strategy. When customers leave a comment on a post, the system instantly directs them to a private message thread where they can click a link to complete several marketing goals:

• Building remarketing lists: Publish a WhatsApp subscription post and automatically DM the WhatsApp Official Account link to rapidly accumulate a list of potential customers.
• Sending product referral links: For product feature posts, an automatic DM is sent with the purchase link, significantly shortening the customer’s decision-making journey and improving online conversion efficiency.
• Driving traffic to physical stores (O2O): For promotional event posts, the auto-DM sends a redeemable in-store gift voucher or exclusive offer, encouraging customers to visit a physical store for purchase or experience, realising effective online-to-offline traffic conversion.

Instagram DM Automation Examples

Initial Conversation Message

When opening a conversation with a customer for the first time, send a warm welcome and confirmation that the message has been received immediately to effectively establish brand affinity.

Example: “Hello! We are delighted to connect with you on Instagram! We have received your message. Are you looking to inquire about products, place an order, or seek technical support?”

Offline Message

During non-business hours or holidays, proactively set an automatic reply that clearly communicates the customer service hours and the expected time service will resume. You should also provide an emergency contact email or website to effectively manage customer expectations.

Example: “Hello! Our customer service team is available Monday to Friday from 09:00 – 20:00. Please click the link to refer to our FAQs. We will follow up immediately on the next business day.”

Marketing Campaign Message

When a brand publishes a new product post, users typically leave comments asking about price or discounts. Under the premise of not requiring human agent intervention, set up an automatic reply message that DMs the commenting user with product links or coupons, instantly directing the customer to the sales page.

Example: “Thank you for your comment! We appreciate your interest in our new product line! Click the link below immediately to claim an exclusive 20% discount for new customers and get early access to the latest product!”

Order or After-Sales Message

For the most common inquiries regarding order status or after-sales issues, set up an automatic reply that guides the customer to provide more order information, thereby accelerating the processing workflow for the subsequent live agent.

Example: “Hello, thank you for contacting our customer service team. Are you looking to inquire about order tracking or a return/exchange request? Please provide your order number or tracking code so we can expedite your request.”

Instagram Auto-Reply Setup Tutorial

Using Meta Business Suite for IG Auto-Reply

1. Login the desktop version of Meta Business Suite and go to “Inbox”, then click “Automations” in the top right

2. Click “Custom keywords”, name the reply and select Instagram as the channel

3. Add up to 5 keywords or phrases (An automated response is sent when an incoming message includes any of the keywords.)

4. Input the automated reply message，which can add an image or video

5. Preview the message effect on the right side

6. Click “Save Changes” when complete

Connecting Instagram API for Advanced Chatbot Automation

Since the native Instagram auto-reply feature is highly limited, businesses must integrate the Instagram API through a Messenger API Technology Provider (e.g., Omnichat) to use advanced chatbot features. This allows the chatbot to automatically interact with customers, guide them through product catalogs, answer questions, and qualify leads.

Omnichat Advanced Setup Steps:

1. Enter Omnichat’s admin panel: ‘Advanced Automation’ > ‘Bot Builder’

2. Add New Bot (no need to rebuild if transferring from another channel)

3. Choose the social channels and build the blocks

4. Select the Instagram account at ‘Advanced Automation’ > ‘Keyword Autoreply’

• Trigger keywords: Leave it blank (it means all messages will trigger this rule and start the Chatbot flow.)
• Replies with: Select the welcome message block you just set up

What Omnichat’s Instagram Integration Enables:

• Configure keywords to automatically trigger replies and direct messages in post comments, stories, and live streams.
• Tag your brand account in stories to activate automatic direct message replies, enabling real-time delivery of promotional messages and product referral links.
• Easily build a 24/7 automated no-code chatbot with drag-and-drop tools, accelerating customer service response times and reducing costs.
• Connect product catalogs to Instagram DMs, allowing customers to easily browse and receive personalised product recommendations and track the performance of each store and salesperson.
• By analysing the number of messages sent and received on Instagram, as well as customer interactions, you can quickly understand consumer behaviour and leverage it to boost business performance.