What an auto reply can answer
The questions you already answer twenty times a week, in the same words each time:
- Price and what is included
- Where to buy, and the link
- Opening hours and location
- Shipping, delivery and returns
- Whether you are taking bookings
- The link to a guide, menu or catalogue
- How to join a waitlist
- Which plan or size to pick
Each one becomes a keyword and a saved reply. Anything that does not match still arrives in your inbox untouched, so you are not handing your whole conversation over to a robot.
How it works
Three steps, and the middle one is the only one you configure:
- They send a DM
- Keyword matches
- Your reply goes out
How keyword matching works
By default a keyword matches when it appears anywhere in the message, ignoring capitals and accents. So PRICE catches “price?”, “What's the price”, and “PRICE PLEASE”. Good keywords are short and unambiguous:
- price
- link
- hours
- book
- shipping
- menu
For a very short or common word, put it in quotes in the keyword field. A quoted keyword only matches when the whole message is that word, so “yes” fires on a message that is exactly yes and not on “yes but what about delivery”.
Set up your first auto reply
About five minutes from a standing start:
- 1
Connect your account
Log in with Meta and choose the Instagram professional account or Facebook Page. Komently uses Meta's official login, never your password. - 2
Create a DM auto-reply automation
Pick the automation type that answers incoming messages. This also covers Story replies, which arrive as DMs. - 3
Add the keyword and the reply
One keyword, one message. Write it the way you would type it yourself, and keep it under a few lines. - 4
Add the extras you need
On paid plans: a button, an email ask before the link, a follow check, or an image or voice note after the message. - 5
Test from another account
Send yourself the keyword. The reply should arrive within seconds. Then add the rest of your keywords one at a time.
Auto reply templates
Copy these and change the specifics. Short beats clever:
Price question
- Post says
- “Any DM containing PRICE”
- They comment
- PRICE
- Komently sends
- “Hi! Everything starts at $X and includes A, B and C. Full list here 👉 link. Happy to answer anything else.”
Booking
- Post says
- “Any DM containing BOOK”
- They comment
- BOOK
- Komently sends
- “Yes, we're taking bookings. Pick a time that suits you here 👉 link. It takes about two minutes.”
Where to buy
- Post says
- “Any DM containing LINK”
- They comment
- LINK
- Komently sends
- “Here you go 👉 link. Use code HELLO10 for 10% off your first order.”
Opening hours
- Post says
- “Any DM containing HOURS”
- They comment
- HOURS
- Komently sends
- “We're open 9 to 6, Monday to Saturday. We're at 12 Example Street, and here's the map 👉 link.”
When a template is not enough
Templates answer the question you expected. They cannot answer “do you ship to Ireland and how long does it take”. On paid plans you can hand the conversation to AI, which writes each reply from a one-line instruction about your tone and offer, with 50 conversations a month included.
The AI Instagram DM bot guide shows what to write in that instruction and where AI should stop and hand over to you.
The rules worth knowing
Auto replies are allowed. These are the boundaries:
- They message first. Meta only allows an automated reply to someone who contacted you. Nothing here sends cold DMs.
- Official API only. Komently connects through Meta's login. Tools that ask for your Instagram password break the terms and put the account at risk.
- Sending is paced. If a post brings hundreds of messages at once, they are queued and sent in safe batches rather than all at once.
- One tool per keyword. Two tools connected to the same account with the same keyword means two replies to the same person.
The account safety guide has the full picture, including what happens when a post goes viral.