DM templates · Instagram and Facebook
Win clients and run their inboxes: DMs for agencies
Agencies send two kinds of DMs: their own, to win and onboard clients, and their clients', answering customers in someone else's voice. The 14 templates below cover both. Meta's rules split the work: official tools can only reply to people who got in touch first, so outreach is typed by hand and automation handles everything that comes in.
Updated 6 October 2026 · 14 templates
14 messages to copy
Tap a card to copy the message. Swap anything in braces, like {name}, for your own words before you send it.
Opening message to a business you've studied
Hi {name}, I found {brand} through your {post} Reel. A few people in the comments asked about prices and are still waiting for an answer. I set up comment and DM replies for {type} businesses. Would it help if I sent two quick ideas for catching those?
Only send it if the detail is true for that account. One real observation proves you looked; praise anyone could paste proves the opposite. If they don't follow you, it lands in their message requests.
Reply to a business that enquires
Thanks for the message! Two quick questions so I can point you to the right option: which account is this for, and what takes most of your time right now, posting, comments or DMs?
Ask about the problem before sending prices. The answer tells you if the client is a fit and which piece of past work to show next.
Sending the review you promised
As promised, here's the review of {brand}'s account: {link} The quickest win is {finding}, which you could fix today without us. Happy to talk through the rest on a 15-minute call. Does {time} suit you?
Give away one fix they can make alone. It's the strongest evidence that the rest of your advice is worth paying for.
The one follow-up
Hi {name}, just checking the review reached you. If now isn't the right time, no problem at all, and the ideas in it are yours to use either way.
Send it once, by hand, about a week later. If there's still no answer, leave it there: a second nudge reads as pressure.
Asking for access, not passwords
Welcome aboard! Two things so we can start. If {brand}'s Instagram is still a personal account, please switch it to a professional one. Then add us as a partner in Meta Business Suite with our business portfolio ID: {id}. Please don't send passwords in this chat; where a tool needs a login, we'll do it together on a call.
Partial access can be limited to tasks such as responding to messages, so the client decides exactly what you can touch, and nobody's password changes hands.
Collecting the facts automatic replies will use
Before any automatic replies go live, could you send us your current prices, opening hours, delivery or service area, booking link, and the five questions customers ask most? The automated answers will only say what's on this list, so it's worth getting right.
In DMFast, AI replies are written only from the business info you enter, so this list sets the limit on what they can say. Ask the client to tell you before a price changes.
Agreeing what goes straight to the client
One last thing before launch: which messages should come straight to you? We'd suggest refunds, complaints, press and anything about a booking that's already paid. We'll answer everything else within {time} and include it in the weekly summary.
Get the list in writing. When a refund request arrives at 9pm, nobody on your team should have to guess whether they're allowed to promise one.
Approval before a campaign goes live
Here's what customers will see on the {campaign} post: the public reply, the first DM and the card that follows once they answer. Screenshots are above. Could you approve them, or send changes, by {time}? Nothing goes live without your OK.
Take the screenshots from a real test on an account that doesn't follow the client, so they see exactly what a stranger sees, including which folder the DM lands in.
A reply signed by a team member
Hi {name}, it's {agent} from the {brand} team. Thanks for waiting! Yes, we deliver to {area}, and orders placed today arrive by {time}. Is there anything else I can check for you?
A first name tells the customer a person is answering, and tells the client who replied when they read the thread later. Sign with the brand's name, never the agency's.
Checking with the business owner
That one's for the owner, so I'm checking with them now rather than guessing. You'll have an answer here by {time}.
Give a time you can keep. If the owner takes longer than a day, the answer has to be typed by a person, because automated messages stop 24 hours after the customer's last message.
Handing a complaint to the client
Thank you for telling us, and I'm sorry it happened. I've passed your message and order details to {owner}, who handles these personally and will reply in this chat today.
Say who will reply and when, then make sure they do. One promise kept beats two different answers from two different people.
Passing a lead to the client's sales team
Thanks, {name}! To get you a proper quote, I'd like to pass your details to {brand}'s {team}, who can call you on {day}. Is that OK, and what time of day suits you best?
Ask before handing on anyone's details, and say who will contact them and how. A surprise call from a stranger undoes a good conversation.
Weekly numbers for the client
Here's this week on {brand}: {comments} comments got an automatic DM, {replies} people replied, {clicks} tapped the link and {emails} left an email address. The {post} Reel did best. Next week we'd like to try {idea}. OK to go ahead?
Report the chain from comment to click, not likes. Tracked links count the taps, and emails collected in DMFast export as a CSV the client can keep.
Handing over when the contract ends
It's been a pleasure working on {brand}. Before we finish, we'll switch off the automations we built on {date} and send you a list of every keyword and reply that was running. You can remove our partner access in Meta Business Suite whenever suits you.
Flag any keywords still sitting in old captions. Customers will keep commenting them, and silence after a keyword feels like being ignored.
Set it up in DMFast
Comment AUDIT, get a free account review
Someone comments on your post
AUDITPublic reply under their comment
Thanks! We've sent you a DM about the review 📋First DM (plain text)
Hi! You commented AUDIT, so this message is automatic. Each week we review a few business accounts and send back the three changes we'd make first. Want one for yours? Reply with your business's Instagram handle.Yes pleaseBook your free account reviewPick a timeNo official tool can send cold pitches, so the post does the prospecting and only businesses that ask get a message. Asking for a handle instead of a YES means every reply comes with an account to look at, and the booking card follows inside the 24 hours that answer opens.
Pick a post
Connect your Instagram account or Facebook Page, then choose the post or Reel it runs on, or every post.
Set the word: AUDIT
Anyone who comments AUDIT gets a reply under their comment and a DM. Capitals don't matter.
Paste the message
Add the public reply and the first DM shown here. Once they answer, your link follows as a card.
Free plan, no card. Instagram professional accounts and Facebook Pages.
Rules to know
- No official tool can start a conversation. Meta's API only lets an account reply to people who messaged it, commented, or replied to or mentioned it in a Story, so prospecting DMs are typed by hand.
- Each comment can get one private reply within 7 days of the comment. Anything more waits until the person responds, and must go within 24 hours of that response.
- Instagram's cap of 750 private replies an hour applies to each account separately, so one client's busy launch doesn't use up another client's replies.
- Automated messages must go out within 24 hours of the customer's last message. Meta's human agent tag lets a person on your team reply by hand for up to 7 days, for support rather than marketing.
- Where the law requires it, automated chats must say they're automated: at the start of a conversation, after a long gap, and when a chat moves from a person to automation.
- Only professional Instagram accounts (Business or Creator) and Facebook Pages can use Meta's messaging API, so a client on a personal Instagram account has to switch before anything is automated.
Sources
Finding clients: typed by hand out, automated in
Every official automation tool, DMFast included, works through Meta's messaging API, and that API can only reply. So the prospecting half of agency work is manual: pick a business, study its account and write one message about something you actually saw. The other half can run on its own, because the people writing to you started the conversation.
| Where it starts | Typed or automated | What works |
|---|---|---|
| A DM to a business that never wrote to you | Typed by hand | One specific observation and one easy question |
| A comment word on your own posts, like AUDIT | Automated | A useful post, then a first DM that asks for their handle |
| A DM keyword on your account, like PRICING | Automated | Your packages or a booking link, sent inside the 24 hours their message opens |
| A reply to a Story showing a client's results | Automated or by hand | A short answer and a link to the full case study |
| No reply after a week | Typed by hand, once | A light check-in, then stop |
Instagram doesn't publish how many messages an account can send before it's limited, and lots of near-identical messages sent quickly look like spam. A few researched messages a day is a safer pace than a hundred pasted ones, and each has a better chance of a reply.
Onboarding a client's DMs, step by step
- Check the account type. Instagram needs to be a Business or Creator account, and on Facebook the automation runs on a Page, not a personal profile.
- Get access without passwords. In Meta Business Suite the client opens Settings, goes to Partners and adds your business portfolio ID, then chooses full control or partial access.
- Collect the facts: prices, hours, area, booking link, policies and the questions customers ask most. No automated reply should say more than this sheet.
- Write down the voice: formal or casual, emoji or none, words the client never uses, and how replies are signed.
- Agree what goes straight to the client, such as refunds, complaints, press and anything legal.
- Test every trigger from an account that doesn't follow the client, so you see what a stranger sees, message requests included.
- Launch one automation first, usually the most-asked question, and add the rest once the client trusts it.
Tip: Keep a one-page sheet for each client listing every live keyword, the post it belongs to and when it should end. It's the first thing to check when a customer says “I commented and got nothing”.
Writing in a client's voice
The customer believes they're talking to the business, and in every way that matters they are. These habits keep it that way.
- Sign as the brand's team, with a first name: “Sam from the {brand} team”. Never sign as the owner unless the owner wrote it.
- Match the client's own captions. If they write “Hiya” and use 🌸, a reply starting “Dear customer” sounds like a stranger has taken over the account.
- Say when something is automatic. Where the law requires it, Meta's policy asks for this at the start of a chat and whenever it moves from a person back to automation, which is easy to miss in a shared inbox.
- Never improvise facts. If a price, date or policy isn't on the sheet, check with the client before you answer.
| Client | Saturday is free, in their voice |
|---|---|
| Dental clinic | “Thank you for your message. We have appointments on Saturday morning. Would 9:30 or 11:00 suit you better?” |
| Barber shop | “Saturday works 👊 9:30 or 11, which one?” |
| Boutique hotel | “Thank you for getting in touch. We do have availability on Saturday. May I ask how many guests will be staying?” |
Running several client accounts without mix-ups
- Name every automation by client, post and word, like “Bakery client, summer menu Reel, ORDER”. Six months later, nobody remembers what “Auto-reply 7” did.
- Open every link from the test account before launch. Another client's link in a customer's DM is an easy mistake and an awkward one to explain.
- Write reply times in the customer's time zone. “We'll answer by 10” means little when the client is in Dubai and the team is in Pune.
- Retire keywords when offers end. Old posts keep collecting comments, and each one still triggers the old reply until you switch it off.
- Give each team member their own seat rather than one shared login, so removing someone who leaves doesn't mean changing every password.
What to report to a client
Likes say little about DMs. The numbers a client can act on follow one person from comment to sale: how many comments used the word, how many people answered the first DM, how many tapped the link, and how many booked, bought or left an email. A big drop between two steps shows where the wording needs work.
Add one human number: how long customers waited for a person after the automation handed over. If the instant reply promises two hours and the real wait is six, the client should hear it from you first.
Questions people ask
Can an agency automate cold DMs to find clients?
Not with any official tool. Meta's messaging API only lets an account reply to people who contacted it first, so prospecting messages have to be typed by hand. What you can automate is the inbound side: a comment word on your own posts, a DM keyword for pricing, and replies to people who answer your Stories.
Does a client need to give us their Instagram password?
No. In Meta Business Suite, the client can add your agency as a partner using your business portfolio ID and choose what you can do, such as responding to messages. If a tool needs someone to log in to Instagram, do it on a call where the client types the password themselves.
Should replies mention the agency?
Usually not. Customers messaged the business, so replies come from the business's team, signed with a first name. Don't sign as the owner when the owner didn't write it, and keep saying when a reply is automatic.
How many client accounts can one DMFast plan run?
The Business plan covers 10 accounts and 5 team seats. On Instagram, each account also has its own limit of 750 private replies an hour, so a busy launch for one client doesn't slow down another.
Can we answer a client's customer after 24 hours?
Not automatically: automated messages must go out within 24 hours of the customer's last message. A person on your team can still answer by hand for up to 7 days with Meta's human agent tag, in tools that support it. It's meant for helping with what they asked, not for marketing.
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