Instagram auto-replies for hair salons

Salon DMs arrive while every stylist has foils in or scissors moving and the receptionist is at the till. Most have a standard answer. The rest need a stylist's eye, and the automation should make them easy to spot.

Tip: AI replies, on the Growth and Business plans, answer from the salon information you write. List who does curly cuts, colour corrections and extensions, and “who should I book with?” gets a straight answer rather than a promise that someone will reply.

Colour is where most salon complaints begin. Let the automation gather the facts, and leave every promise about the result to a stylist.

1. A comment word or PRICES sends the guide or the price list. A commenter's first message is plain text, and the card follows once they reply.
2. The card opens the consultation form: colour history, photos in daylight and what they hope for. Ask about henna, since some henna products contain metallic salts that react badly with lightener.
3. A stylist reads the form and replies personally with a price range, asking for a strand test if the hair has a complicated history.
4. Colour manufacturers' instructions generally call for a skin test 48 hours before colouring. Many salons insist on one for new colour clients and repeat it for regulars at set intervals, so book it in before the appointment.
5. Reminders come from your booking system. Instagram only allows automated messages within 24 hours of the client's last one, which rules out a reminder the day before.

Clients often tag the salon in a Story after a colour appointment. A story-mention auto-reply can thank them and send the aftercare guide for their service. If you sell the shampoos and treatments you use online, a product carousel can follow the guide, so the advice and the products arrive together.

• A colour transformation filmed by the same window before and after, with BLONDE and the number of sessions in the caption.
• A consultation, filmed with the client's agreement, showing the questions you ask before mixing colour, with CONSULT.
• A grey-blending reveal three months in, with GREY.
• A dry curly cut from start to finish, with CURLY.
• An extension weft held against the client's own hair during a colour match, with EXTENSIONS.
• A Story posted the moment a cancellation comes in, with TODAY in large letters.

Diaries fill in waves: December's party season, wedding season and summer, when people want to go lighter. In India, the run-up to Diwali and the wedding months bring their own rush. Have each auto-reply ready before its rush begins rather than during it.

Tip: Use both COLOUR and COLOR if you set either as a keyword. Matching works on whole words, so a salon listening only for COLOUR misses every client who spells it the American way.

• Consent. Ask before filming or photographing a client, and keep anyone who says no out of shot. For children, ask a parent.
• Promises. A guide can explain what a treatment does. It shouldn't promise that damaged hair will be repaired, that hair will grow faster, or that a colour will last a set number of weeks.
• Model nights. Say in the sign-up form that trainees do the work and that it takes longer, and book colour models in for a skin test first, as you would any new colour client.
• Meta's rules. Each comment can receive one private reply, within 7 days. Instagram caps an account at 750 private replies an hour, and DMFast stops short at 700 and sends the remainder afterwards, which matters when a transformation Reel takes off.