Keyword replies: answer a DM that contains a word

How a keyword reply works

The trigger is Someone DMs a keyword. It answers in any thread, new or old, with two exceptions: a thread you've taken over in the Inbox, and a thread where a flow or automation is waiting for that person's answer. Those go where they were already heading.

They messaged you first, so your links go straight into the reply. And a keyword reply answers every time the keyword arrives: someone who sends PRICE twice gets your price list twice. If you want branching or a wait between messages, that's a flow (lesson 5.1).

Set it up

1. Go to Automations and click the Keyword → DM starter card, or New automation and choose Someone DMs a keyword under What starts it.

   

2. Leave Detect keywords selected. Recognize intention is a different matcher, covered in lesson 5.3.
3. Enter up to 5 keywords, comma-separated, e.g. PRICE, PRICES, COST. Case is ignored.
4. Choose contains the keyword (anywhere in the message) or is exactly the keyword (the message is the keyword alone, apart from punctuation around it).
5. Optionally click + Exclude words and add up to 5 but doesn't contain words, e.g. wholesale. A DM containing one is skipped even when the keyword matched.

   

6. Write the DM. Insert variable adds Their first name, Their last name, Their @username or one of your custom fields. Add up to 3 links, one per line, tracked by default.

   

7. Optionally switch on Capture their email under Follow-up.

   

8. Name it and click Publish.

   

To test, DM the keyword from a different Instagram account. The Test on Instagram button names the account to send it to, and the reply shows in that account's inbox and in your Inbox.

Keywords people use

Tell people the word. Put it in your bio, a story or a caption, because nobody DMs a keyword they've never seen.

Heads up. Some words are taken. STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT and OPT OUT, sent as the whole message, opt the person out of messages from you. START, UNSTOP and RESUME opt them back in. Don't build a keyword reply on any of them; use BEGIN or GUIDE for a getting-started link.

With contains the keyword, a keyword inside an everyday sentence fires too, and so does a short one inside a longer word. For a word like BOOK, is exactly the keyword stops "I loved your book" from setting it off.

Which reply wins

Each incoming DM goes to one trigger at most, checked in a fixed order:

1. Opt-out (STOP) always wins. It blocks every message to that person, your own hand-typed Inbox replies included.
2. Opt-in (START).
3. Your keyword automations, in priority order.
4. Keyword flows.
5. Recognize intention automations.
6. The AI agent, only if you've switched it on. It's off by default, and until then an unmatched DM lands in your Inbox for you.

Within your own automations, first match wins, top to bottom in the Automations list. Move up and Move down in each row's ⋯ menu set the order; they appear in the Priority sort with nothing filtered, and the order only matters when two automations share a keyword. You can add your own opt-out and opt-in words under Settings → Channels → Keywords.