How to convert Instagram followers into subscribers with Social Auto-replies

Discover how to turn social interactions into subscriber growth with Social Auto-replies. You can now set up Instagram campaigns that grow, email, text and WhatsApp lists directly from Instagram messages.

Popular campaigns with this strategy include Instagram giveaways, early access offers, and evergreen campaigns.

This is the first of many exciting new social features from our Gatsby acquisition, a social automation platform.

Watch the setup video, or scroll down for step-by-step instructions.

Step 1: Connect Instagram

Connect your Instagram with Klaviyo in order to set up Social Auto-replies that grow your subscriber list.

1. In Klaviyo, open Social in the left-hand navigation.
2. Click Connect to Instagram.
   • If your Instagram was already connected, you'll automatically skip this screen and go straight to the Auto-reply builder.
     

3. In the modal that appears, leave all permissions toggled on. If any are off, your Instagram account will still appear connected in Klaviyo, but Auto-replies will not fire.
   

4. Click Allow to continue.

Once connected, you will see your connected Instagram account in the list within the settings page.

Step 2: Create your auto-reply trigger

Set an Instagram keyword and series of Auto-replies that prompt your followers to join your email, text or WhatsApp list right from their Instagram direct messages (DMs).

1. Navigate back to Social in the left nav.
2. Select Auto-replies.
3. By default, your first auto-reply uses the keyword “access,” which is ideal for publishing in your Instagram bio and general marketing.

1. Pick whether you want this auto-reply to request the customer’s email address or phone number for SMS and/or WhatsApp.

Step 3: Collecting subscriber information

After setting the trigger, scroll down to review the message content.

1. Start by editing or leaving-as-is the default text and default Subscribe List for “Collect email address”
2. For Collect phone number, select a channel:
   1. Text message – opts the subscriber in to SMS only.
   2. WhatsApp – opts the subscriber in to WhatsApp only.
   3. Text message and WhatsApp – opts the subscriber in to both channels with a single phone number submission.
      1. Select the Subscribe List for phone number submissions. The list you pick controls the subscription rules that apply (single vs. double opt-in).
3. If you see placeholders like [Company Name] and [Privacy Policy], update the text.
4. On formatting:
   • Email: Klaviyo verifies the format (e.g., name@domain.com).
   • Phone:
     • Klaviyo checks that the phone number format matches the country you selected while setting up this auto-reply; phone numbers from other countries need a country code to receive auto-replies.
     • Users can input phone numbers with dashes, periods, no spaces - it's pretty flexible but Klaviyo doesn't understand the message it will prompt the user to try again.
5. Customize the confirmation message.
   • The confirmation message is the last message they receive from this DM sequence, and it typically drives them to look at their emails, check their text messages, or visit a page on your website. This is a great place to insert a hyperlink back to your website.

After submission, Klaviyo starts the opt-in process for that channel.

Step 4: Understand the opt-in flow

Klaviyo’s existing list subscription rules apply to all new subscribers:

• Text messages - If the list you chose uses double opt-in (DOI), the user must reply YES over text message to confirm subscription.

• Email - If the list you chose uses double opt-in (DOI), the user must confirm via the link sent to their inbox.

Step 5: View the subscriber profile in Klaviyo

Once submitted, the subscriber's profile will automatically be created or updated in Klaviyo:

The profile will contain the following:

• Subscription Method: SOCIAL_INSTAGRAM_MESSAGE
• New events, including:
  • Started Automation
  • Submitted Email via Automation
  • Submitted Phone via Automation
  • Ended Automation
• New custom profile properties, including:
  • Instagram Username
  • Follower count
  • Whether they follow your account
  • The keyword(s) they used to trigger the auto-reply

These new social properties allow you to build targeted segments and leverage Instagram data as part of your broader marketing strategy.

Testing Auto-replies

To test:

• Send your account a DM with your keyword and follow the DM prompts
• Search for your new or updated subscriber profile in Klaviyo and confirm the new Instagram properties are there
• Monitor subscriber growth from Instagram in your Subscriber Growth Report and Lists & Segments dashboard.
  • You can easily create a segment of subscribers who engaged with your campaign. Select the option to "Create Segment" from the menu to the left of each Auto-reply.

• Review completion rate, defined as the number of profiles who trigger the keyword and then provide at least one piece of contact information (email address or phone number). It may take up to 15 minutes for the completion rate to update after a submission.

Troubleshooting

Auto-replies aren't firing

If your Instagram is connected in Klaviyo but auto-replies are not triggering on test DMs or comments, it usually means one of the required permissions has been toggled off. Check the following places:

1. Facebook Page > Advanced Messaging

These permissions are on by default but can be disabled at the Facebook Page level.

1. Open your Facebook Page.
2. Go to Settings > Page Setup > Advanced Messaging.
3. Under Connected Apps, find Klaviyo-IG and click Edit.
4. In the Klaviyo-IG Settings modal, confirm that both Access standby channel and Take control of conversations are both turned on.
5. Click Save.

2. Instagram Business Account > Apps and Websites

The permissions you accepted when first connecting Klaviyo can also be edited from inside Instagram.

1. In the Instagram app or on instagram.com, open Settings.
2. Go to Website Permissions > Apps and Websites.
3. Find Klaviyo-IG in the list and tap View and edit.
4. Confirm all permissions are turned on (basic business info, business message info, content, insights, comment info).

3. Reconnect from Klaviyo

If the permissions look correct in both places and auto-replies still are not firing, disconnect and reconnect Instagram from your Klaviyo settings.

When the auth modal appears, leave all permissions toggled on before clicking Allow.

If the issue persists after these checks, contact Klaviyo Support.

Thanks for testing our new feature! We appreciate your patience with any bugs you may encounter. To share feedback, just click Share Feedback at the top of the Auto-replies list view.

Additional resources