DM buttons and follow to unlock

01What changed

When someone comments a keyword on your post, Askenly sends them a DM. Until this release that DM was plain text: a message and a link pasted into it. It worked, but it didn't look like the messages people get from the brands they already follow, and links in plain text are easy to miss.

This release turns the DM into a short, tappable conversation:

• The opening DM has a button. The person taps it to get what they asked for.
• Links go out as buttons, with your own label, instead of long addresses in the text.
• Follow to unlock checks with Instagram whether the person already follows you before it asks them to.
• Follow-up messages go out on their own timers, inside Instagram's 24-hour messaging window.

All of it is live in the automation builder today, on every plan. You turn each part on or off per automation, and the preview shows exactly what your follower will see.

02Why a button first

It can seem like an extra step: why not send the link straight away? There are three good reasons.

First, a tap is a reply. When someone taps the button in your opening DM, Instagram treats it as them answering you. That opens the conversation properly and gives you room to send the content, the follow-ups and anything else the automation does, inside the messaging window Instagram allows.

Second, it reads like a real conversation. "Thanks for commenting! Tap below and I'll send it over" followed by a button feels personal. A wall of text with a link in it feels like a bot.

Third, you can see who was interested. Every tap is counted on the automation's page, so you know how many people moved from a comment to an open conversation.

If someone replies with words instead of tapping, Askenly treats that as the tap and carries on, so nobody gets stuck.

03The opening DM

The opening DM is the first message your follower receives after commenting, replying to your Story or sending your keyword. You write it in your own words in the builder, and you choose the button's label, such as "Send me the guide", "Show me" or "Yes please".

When Instagram can show a button, the message goes out as a message with a button under it. If a button can't be shown, for example because the message is too long for one, the same words go out as plain text, so the message always arrives.

04Links as buttons

When the content goes out, each link you add becomes its own button with your label: "Download the guide", "Book a call", "Shop the look". Labels are clearer than addresses, they don't break across lines on small screens and they look the same on every phone.

You can add more than one link when it makes sense, for example a free guide and the full course, and each gets its own button, up to the number Instagram allows in one message.

Link clicks from these buttons are counted per person, and clicks from bots and link previews are left out, so the number on the automation's page reflects real people.

05Follow to unlock, now checked with Instagram

Follow to unlock is a popular way to grow while you give something away: the follower gets the content once they follow you. The old version had to take people's word for it. Now Askenly checks with Instagram.

How it works

When the follower taps your opening button, Askenly asks Instagram whether they already follow your account.

• If they already follow you, they never see the ask. They get the content straight away, as a thank-you for being there already.
• If they don't, they get a short message with two buttons: one that opens your profile so they can follow, and one that says they are following now.
• When they tap "Following", Askenly checks again. If they now follow you, the content goes out.
• If they still don't follow you, they are asked once more. If it still doesn't work out, the chat is handed to you in the Inbox, so a person can sort it out instead of a loop of bot messages.

When Instagram can't answer

Instagram's service is reliable, but it isn't perfect. If Askenly can't get an answer about whether someone follows you, it sends the content anyway. Your post promised it, and we would rather give one person the guide without the follow than leave a real follower empty-handed because of a technical hiccup.

Counting followers you gained

Every time someone is asked to follow and then does, it counts as a follower gained on the automation's page. You can see how many new followers each post brought in, not just how many comments it got.

06Follow-up messages

People are busy. Someone may tap your button, open the link and then get distracted. Follow-ups give them a gentle second chance.

Up to five follow-ups

Each automation can send up to five follow-up messages. Each one has its own text and its own timer, counted from the message before it. For example: a reminder after 2 hours, a short tip after 6 hours and a last nudge after 20 hours.

Inside Instagram's 24-hour window

Instagram lets a business message someone for 24 hours after they last messaged it. Follow-ups always go out inside that window, and the builder keeps the total time of all your follow-ups within 23 hours, so the last one never misses the window by a few minutes.

Follow-ups know when to stop

A follow-up is skipped when the person has replied to you since the content went out. If they are already talking to you, a scheduled reminder would only get in the way. And if someone replies STOP on its own, every automation and follow-up leaves them alone from then on, until they send START.

07Where buttons appear

Buttons work in every place an automation can start a conversation:

• Comments on posts and Reels. Someone comments your keyword and gets the opening DM with its button. You can also reply to their comment publicly, so others see that you answered.
• Story replies. Someone replies to your Story and the same flow begins inside the chat they already opened.
• DM keywords. Someone sends your keyword straight to your inbox, for example after you mention it in a Reel or a Live.

The flow after the first message is the same in all three: button, optional follow check, content with link buttons, then follow-ups.

08Three examples

A creator giving away a guide

A creator posts a Reel that ends with "Comment GUIDE and I'll send it". Each commenter gets: "Thanks for asking! Tap below and the guide is yours" with a Send me the guide button. Follow to unlock is on, so anyone who doesn't follow yet is asked to. The guide then arrives with a Download the guide button. Two hours later, a follow-up asks whether they found it useful and points to the full course.

A salon answering Story replies

A salon posts a Story about new evening appointments. People reply "times?" and get a friendly opening DM with a See times button. The content shares the booking link as a Book now button. One follow-up after six hours reminds anyone who hasn't booked that evening slots go quickly.

A coach collecting interest

A coach posts about a free workshop. Commenters get an opening DM with a Save my seat button, then the registration link as a button. A follow-up the next morning shares one tip from the workshop to keep the interest warm.

09Reading your results

Each automation has its own page with its results for the last 30 days. With buttons in place, it shows more than how many DMs went out:

• Delivered and failed sends, so you know every DM arrived or why it didn't.
• Qualified leads: people who tapped a button or passed the follow check, plus anyone who shared an email.
• Followers gained from follow to unlock.
• Link clicks from your link buttons, counted per person.

You can also try two versions of the opening DM and see which one gets more taps, and choose to send an automation only once per person, so someone who comments on the same post twice doesn't get the flow twice.

10What stays the same

Some things haven't changed, and they matter:

• You write every word. Askenly never rewrites your messages.
• Only people who contacted you first are messaged. Askenly replies to comments, Story replies and DMs. It never cold-messages anyone.
• Every message is sent once. If something goes wrong while a message is being sent, Askenly checks with Instagram before trying again, so nobody gets the same DM twice.
• Asking for a person still works. If someone asks to talk to a human, automations step aside for that person for 24 hours and the chat moves to your Inbox.

11Trying it before you go live

The automation builder shows a live preview of the whole flow: the comment, the opening DM with its button, the follow ask if you use it, the content with its link buttons and each follow-up. It updates as you type, so you see your own words as your follower will.

Once the automation is saved, its page has a Test automation button that plays the flow as a dry run on an Instagram-style screen. Nothing is sent to anyone.

12Writing messages that get taps

A few habits make the difference between a DM people tap and one they ignore:

• Thank them first. "Thanks for commenting!" acknowledges that they reached out, and sets a friendly tone.
• Say what happens next. "Tap below and I'll send the guide" leaves no doubt about the button.
• Make the label an action. "Send me the guide" or "Book my spot" works better than "Click here".
• Keep it short. Two or three lines read well on a phone. Save the detail for the content itself.
• Sound like you. Use the words and emoji you use in your captions, so the DM feels like it came from the same person.
• Make follow-ups useful. A tip, an answer to a common question or a reminder of a deadline is welcome. "Just checking in" rarely is.

13Common questions

Do buttons work on every phone?

Yes. Buttons are part of Instagram's own messaging, so they look and work the same in the Instagram app on iPhone and Android. On the rare occasion a button can't be shown, the message goes out as plain text instead.

Can I change the button text later?

Yes. Open the automation, change the label and save. New conversations use the new text straight away.

What if someone taps the button twice?

They get the next step once. Every message Askenly sends has its own record, so a second tap never sends the content a second time.

Does follow to unlock work with private accounts?

It works the same way. The check asks Instagram whether the person follows your account, not whether their own account is public.

Will follow-ups annoy people?

Follow-ups stop as soon as someone replies to you, and anyone who sends STOP never gets another automated message unless they send START. Keep them short, useful and few, and they read as a helpful reminder rather than a chase.

Do follow-ups count towards my monthly DMs?

Yes. Every automated message Askenly sends for you counts towards your plan's monthly DMs, including the opening DM, the content and each follow-up.

14How to start using it

Every new automation uses buttons automatically. For automations you already have:

• Open the automation and check the opening DM. Give the button a clear label that says what happens next.
• Add your links in the content step so they go out as buttons, and give each one a short label.
• If you want to grow while you give, switch on follow to unlock.
• Add one to five follow-ups if you want a second chance at people who went quiet, and check the timers.
• Save, then use Test automation to see the whole flow.

If something isn't working as you expect, open a ticket from Help in the app. A person on our team will look at the automation with you, and we aim to reply within 8 hours.