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

Learn how to convert Instagram interactions into email, SMS, and WhatsApp subscribers with Social Auto-replies. Customers can submit their contact information directly in Instagram messages.

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

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

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Step 1: Connect Instagram

Connect your Instagram with Klaviyo in order to set up Social Auto-replies that grow your subscriber list. For a detailed step-by-step on connecting Instagram, see the guide “Connect Instagram to Klaviyo”.

Step 2: Create your auto-reply and trigger keywords

Set Instagram keywords and a series of auto-replies that prompt customers to join your email, SMS, or WhatsApp list from their Instagram direct messages (DMs).

1. Navigate to Social in the left navigation.
2. Select Auto-replies, then click Create auto-reply.
3. Enter your trigger keywords in Keywords. The default template uses “access,” which you can promote in your Instagram bio and general marketing. Select Direct message, Comment, or both to choose where Klaviyo listens for these keywords.

1. Choose whether to collect an email address, a phone number, or both. Use Add message to add a missing Collect email or Collect phone number message.

Step 3: Collect subscriber information

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

If a channel setup prompt appears, complete setup before configuring the phone collection message.

1. If you are collecting email, open Collect email, review or edit the message and select the Subscribe List for email submissions.
2. If you are collecting phone numbers, open Collect phone number, select a Phone channel:
   • Text message collects SMS consent only.
   • WhatsApp collects WhatsApp consent only.
   • Text message and WhatsApp collects consent for both channels.
3. For phone collection, review or edit the message, select its Subscribe List, and choose the Country Code used for phone numbers submitted without an international country code.
4. If you see placeholders like [Company Name] and [Privacy Policy], update the text.
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 include a link back to your website.

Klaviyo validates contact information before continuing to the next message:

• Email: Klaviyo verifies the format (e.g., name@domain.com).
• Phone:
  • Klaviyo uses the Country Code you selected when a phone number does not include an international country code. Customers submitting a number from another country should include its international country code.
  • Users can enter phone numbers with dashes, periods, or no spaces. If Klaviyo can't understand the message, it prompts the user to try again.

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

Save your auto-reply

1. Set Status to Ready to turn on a new auto-reply. If you are editing an auto-reply that has already started receiving interactions, select Live. Select Draft if you want to save it without turning it on.
2. Click Save.

Once the auto-reply is saved as Ready or Live, promote its keyword in your Instagram bio, posts, or stories. Ask customers to DM the keyword or comment with it, according to the triggers you selected.

Step 4: Understand the opt-in flow

The selected list’s opt-in settings determine whether customers need to confirm their marketing subscription. A contact submission or confirmation message in Instagram is separate from a double opt-in confirmation.

• Email - If the list you chose uses double opt-in (DOI), the user must confirm via the link sent to their inbox.
• SMS: For a list with double opt-in, customers confirm their SMS marketing subscription by replying to a text. The confirmation is skipped in countries where you use a branded sender ID, which cannot receive replies.
• WhatsApp: Customers confirm in WhatsApp if WhatsApp double opt-in is enabled for your account and the selected list uses double opt-in. Otherwise, WhatsApp marketing consent uses single opt-in.

Step 5: View the subscriber profile in Klaviyo

When a customer submits a valid email address or phone number, their profile is created or updated in Klaviyo. If double opt-in is required, check that they have confirmed before treating them as a marketing subscriber.

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

Instagram profile properties, such as username and follower count, refresh when a customer DMs your brand. The keyword property updates when they trigger an auto-reply. You can use these properties to build targeted segments.

Once a customer has gone through an Auto-reply, you can also use Engagement events (Posted UGC, Social Comment, Social DM) to track their ongoing Instagram activity. Engagement events are included in the paid version of Social Marketing.

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.
• To build a segment of profiles who submitted contact information through an auto-reply, select Create segment from that auto-reply’s menu. Review the prefilled email and/or phone submission conditions in the segment builder before creating the segment. The menu option appears once the required submission metrics exist.

• Review Completion Rate on the auto-reply list. Klaviyo divides the email submission count or phone submission count by the number of started auto-reply interactions and shows the result as a percentage. If both are collected, it uses the larger submission count. It may take up to 15 minutes 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 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.

Additional resources