Instagram auto-replies for nail technicians

A nail tech's DMs are mostly pictures, each with a question attached: a set saved from Pinterest, a broken nail, a screenshot of your own post from last spring. The questions repeat even when the pictures don't. Automate the repeats, and spend your own replies on the designs.

Tip: If you use AI replies (Growth and Business plans), write your policies into the business information: deposit, late arrivals, repair window and whether you infill other salons' work. “Can I come 15 minutes late?” then gets your actual policy.

• A full set from bare nails to top coat in 30 seconds, with the art tier shown on screen and PRICES in the caption.
• Six shapes on six fingers, with SHAPES.
• This month's designs as a Story, with MENU as the reply word.
• A nail peeled at home beside one removed properly, with REMOVAL.
• Gel lifting at the edge, filmed close up, with AFTERCARE for how to avoid it.
• A student's first acrylic set beside their final assessment, shared with their consent, with COURSE.

Tip: Avoid NAILS, SET and CUTE as triggers. They appear in nearly every comment you get, and people who only wanted to praise the colour would receive your price guide.

The busy weeks come round on schedule: December parties and New Year, Valentine's Day, prom and wedding season, summer holidays, and in India, Diwali and the wedding months. Post the MENU Story a couple of weeks before each one, so the set designs are booked before the diary fills.

1. PRICES, MENU or a comment word sends the guide. Commenters get a plain-text message first, and the card arrives once they answer it.
2. The card opens your booking page. Take the deposit there and put your late policy beside it, since back-to-back appointments leave little slack.
3. Ask about allergies to nail products on your booking or consultation form, not in DMs, and note any reaction a client has had before.
4. After the appointment, the story-mention auto-reply sends aftercare as soon as the client tags you.
5. Regulars book their next infill before they leave your desk. That habit fills a diary more reliably than any message could.

Teaching nails in India? The DMFast store can sell a recorded nail art course as a digital product, give away the starter kit list for an email and phone number, and take bookings for paid 1-on-1 video lessons. Payments go through Razorpay, with no DMFast fee on sales.

• Allergies. The British Association of Dermatologists has warned of an epidemic of contact allergy to (meth)acrylates, the chemicals in acrylic, gel and gel polish. Sensitisation can happen when uncured product touches skin, and the same or similar chemicals are used in white dental fillings and some medical devices.
• In practice: keep product off the skin, cure it fully with a lamp suited to the product, and never let an auto-reply tell someone with itching, swelling or loosening nails that it's normal. Suggest they stop and see a doctor.
• Hygiene. Use single-use files and buffers, or tools you can disinfect, and show your clean-down between clients. Licensing for nail work differs by country, US state and city, so check what applies to you.
• Photos. Hands feel anonymous, but a tattoo, a ring or a scar can identify someone. Ask before posting.
• Limits. One private reply per comment, sent within 7 days of it, and at most 750 private replies an hour per account; DMFast stays below 700 and works through the rest in order. Comments made during a Live can only be answered while it's running.