DM templates · Instagram
Grow your newsletter from Instagram comments and DMs
To get newsletter sign-ups from Instagram, ask people to comment one word, then collect their email in the chat or send your sign-up page once they reply. The first message after a comment has to be plain text, so all it does is ask whether they want in. The 13 templates below cover that DM, the email question, the confirmation and what people ask before subscribing.
Updated 6 October 2026 · 13 templates
13 messages to copy
Tap a card to copy the message. Swap anything in braces, like {name}, for your own words before you send it.
First DM after a keyword comment
Hi, thanks for commenting! This reply is automatic. Every {time} I send one email with the longer version of tips like this one, plus the tools I'm using that week. Would you like it? Reply YES.
Tie the newsletter to the post they just reacted to. “More like this, every week” is an easier yes than a general pitch, and their reply is what Instagram needs before anything else can be sent.
Asking for the email
Lovely. Which email address should it go to? You'll get one issue every {time}, and each has an unsubscribe link at the bottom if it ever stops being useful.
Repeat how often you'll write at the moment they type the address. Nobody should hand over an email without knowing what it's for.
Confirming an address taken in the chat
Got it, you're on the list. The next issue goes out on {time}. If you can't find it, search your inbox for the newsletter's name, then look in Promotions and spam and move it across, so later issues land where you'll see them.
Promise the next issue, not an instant email. In DMFast, an address collected in the chat reaches your email tool when you import the CSV, so nothing arrives the moment they reply.
Sending your sign-up page instead
Here's the sign-up page: {link} Pop your email in, then look for a confirmation email from us and tap the button inside it. That last tap is what actually subscribes you.
Use this when your newsletter tool asks new readers to confirm by email. People who don't know about that step think they're done after typing the address and never tap the button.
Answer to “what's in it?”
Each {time} you get one thing I tried that week, what worked and what didn't, and a reader question answered. It's about a five-minute read. Here's a recent issue so you can judge for yourself: {link}
A real past issue persuades better than any description. Many newsletter tools publish each issue as a web page you can link to.
Answer to “how often?”
Once a week, on {time}, and that's all. If there's ever a launch or special news, it goes inside the regular issue rather than in an extra email.
Give a day and a number. “Regularly” means daily to some readers and monthly to others.
Answer to “is it free?”
Yes, the weekly issue is free. There's also a paid edition with {extra}, but you'll never need it to keep getting the free one.
If a paid tier exists, mention it now. Finding out after subscribing feels like a catch, even when it isn't one.
Fixing a typo in the address
Thanks! I think there might be a typo in that one: it says {email}. Could you send it again? I'd hate for your first issue to go nowhere.
Look out for gmial.com, gmail.co and missing dots. Correct them before you import the list, because an email sent to a misspelt address never reaches them.
Confirmation email hasn't arrived
Sorry about that. Confirmation emails often land in Promotions or spam, so search your inbox for our name first. Still nothing after ten minutes? Send me the address you used and I'll check it went through.
Most of these turn out to be a typo or a spam folder. With the address in hand, you can tell which in a minute.
Unsubscribe request sent by DM
Done, I've taken you off the list, so no more issues will arrive. Sorry it wasn't for you, and thanks for reading.
Remove them the same day in your email tool. Someone who asked you directly shouldn't also have to hunt for the unsubscribe link.
Sign-up from a Story reply
Thanks for replying! This answer is automatic. The newsletter is free and goes out every {time}. Which email address should I add?
A Story reply arrives as a message, which opens the 24-hour window straight away. You can ask for the address in your very first answer.
Sign-up with a welcome gift
Join this week and I'll send my {gift} here in the chat as soon as you're on the list. The newsletter itself comes every {time}. Which email should I use?
Say plainly that the gift comes with a subscription, and send it straight away rather than with the first issue. A freebie that turns into surprise weekly emails feels like a trick.
Already a subscriber, sent by hand
You're already on the list, thank you for reading! If issues haven't been reaching you, tell me which address you signed up with and I'll check it.
Send this one yourself. An automatic DM can't tell readers from newcomers, so the automated version has to make sense to both.
Set it up in DMFast
Comment LETTER to join the newsletter
Someone comments on your post
LETTERPublic reply under their comment
Your invite is in your DMs 💌 Not there? Check your message requests.First DM (plain text)
Hi! This DM is automatic because you commented LETTER. The newsletter is one email every Sunday morning, about a five-minute read, and it's free. Shall I sign you up? Reply YES and I'll ask which email to use.Yes pleaseWhile you wait: last week's issueRead it nowInstagram allows only this message until they answer, so it says what they're joining and how often, then asks. With “Ask for their email first” switched on, the address question follows their YES and throwaway inboxes are refused. The card gives them a recent issue to read, since the next one may be days away.
Pick a post
Connect your Instagram account, then choose the post or Reel it runs on, or every post.
Set the word: LETTER
Anyone who comments LETTER 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
- A comment can get a single private reply, sent no more than 7 days after it was posted. Nothing else can follow until the person answers, so the email question has to wait for their reply.
- If the commenter doesn't follow you, the private reply lands in their Requests folder rather than the main inbox, which is worth mentioning in your public reply.
- Their answer opens 24 hours for automated messages, including the email question, a sign-up link and one reminder, and the clock restarts every time they write.
- No automation can DM each new issue to your subscribers. Automated messages need the person to have written in the last 24 hours, and Meta's API has no way to message every follower at once.
- Meta's policy asks automated chats to say so at the beginning of a conversation, so “this DM is automatic” belongs in the first line.
Sources
Ask for the email in the chat, or send the sign-up page?
There are two ways to turn a DM into a subscriber. Which suits you depends on what your newsletter tool does when someone joins, and on how much typing you're asking of the reader.
| Question | Email in the chat | Link to your sign-up page |
|---|---|---|
| What the reader does | Types the address in the chat | Taps the card, types the address, confirms if asked |
| Where the address goes | Your DM tool's list of leads, exported as a CSV | Straight onto your newsletter list |
| First email from you | Only after you import the list | Whatever your tool sends new subscribers |
| Suits | Fewer taps, or a newsletter with no sign-up page | A welcome sequence you rely on |
If you collect addresses in the chat, import them on a fixed day, for example every Friday before a Sunday issue, so nobody waits more than a week. Check whether your tool sends imported contacts a welcome email. If it doesn't, the next issue is their first contact with you, so it should make sense to someone new.
Tip: If your tool supports tags, tag imported addresses with where they came from, such as “instagram”. Later you can compare how those readers open and stay against everyone else.
Picking the word, and the posts that bring readers
NEWSLETTER is the obvious keyword, but readers who already subscribe use it in ordinary comments (“loved this week's newsletter”), and each of them would get an invitation to something they're already on. In DMFast, matching is by whole word, so a shorter word inside a longer one doesn't count: LETTER isn't triggered by “newsletter”. A short word only new readers would type, or the newsletter's name if it's a single word, works better.
- A Reel with three of your ten tips, ending “the other seven are in Sunday's letter, comment LETTER”.
- A carousel whose last slide shows the top of a real issue, so people see what they'd get.
- A Story on the morning an issue goes out, asking people to reply LETTER to read it. Each reply is a message, so the link can go straight back.
- A pinned post that explains the newsletter for people who find your profile later.
Keeping the list honest
Email has its own rules, separate from Instagram's, and they vary by country, so check what applies where you and your readers live. Whatever the law says, these habits keep a list that people actually want to be on.
- Say “newsletter” before they type the address. An email given for a freebie isn't permission for weekly emails unless you said so first.
- Take people off the day they ask, whether they use the unsubscribe link or send you a DM.
- Scan new addresses for typos before each import. DMFast refuses throwaway addresses, which keeps out people who never meant to read, but a slip in a real address is a separate problem.
- Check each import against your unsubscribes, so nobody who left is added back without asking.
Numbers worth watching
Follow the chain: comments with the word, replies to the first DM, addresses given and, a month later, how many of those readers still open the issue. A big drop between replies and addresses means the email question needs a clearer promise. A drop after the first few issues means the post promised something the newsletter doesn't deliver.
Compare posts too. The Reel that collects the most comments isn't always the one that brings readers who stay.
Questions people ask
Can I send my newsletter by Instagram DM instead of email?
Not by automation. Automated messages only reach people who wrote to you in the last 24 hours, so a weekly issue can't go out that way. Instagram's broadcast channels are the built-in way to post updates to many followers at once, but people join them inside the app, and you can't take that audience with you the way you can an email list.
How do emails collected in DMs reach my newsletter tool?
DMFast saves each address it collects as a lead. You export the leads as a CSV and import that file into your newsletter tool, which most tools accept. If you'd rather people land on your list directly, send your sign-up page as the card instead of asking for the address in the chat.
Can I add people who downloaded my freebie to the newsletter?
Only if you told them before they gave the address. A post that offers a free checklist, followed by weekly emails nobody mentioned, fills a list with people who unsubscribe or report you as spam. Say “you'll also get my weekly newsletter” in the email question, or offer the newsletter separately.
Why do some people stop after replying YES?
Typing an email address on a phone is more effort than tapping a word, and some people won't do it for a vague promise. Say what they'll get and how often in the email question, and ask nothing else. On paid plans, DMFast can send one reminder to people who stop at the email step, while their 24 hours are still open.
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