Instagram auto-replies for skincare brands

Skincare DMs mix shopping questions with skin questions. The first kind has a fixed answer that can go out in seconds. The second can drift close to medical advice, and that belongs with a trained person or a doctor.

DMFast can't see your shop or your courier, so it can't look up an order. Put the tracking page on a DM word such as TRACKING, and on the Growth and Business plans let AI replies answer delivery-time questions from the shipping details you write.

1. Teasers: a close-up of the new texture, with a word that adds people to the early-access list. It works like RESTOCK: the first DM asks for an email.
2. Launch day: email the list first, then post a Story with a reply word, since anyone who answers a Story can get the product link straight away.
3. First week: switch ROUTINE on under the launch Reel, so people see where the new product fits with what they already use.
4. Sale periods such as Black Friday, or the festive sales around Diwali in India: run CODE only for the sale dates, and change the message the day it ends so nobody is sent a dead code.
5. Sold out: swap the launch word for RESTOCK the moment stock runs out.

Once someone answers the first message, the follow-up can be a product carousel rather than a single card: cleanser, serum, moisturiser and SPF side by side, each linking to its own product page. It suits ROUTINE and MINIS, where people choose a set rather than one product.

Tip: When a customer tags you in an unboxing Story, a mention reply can send your how-to-start guide: which products go on morning or night, and how slowly to bring in the strong actives. It arrives before they try everything at once and blame the product for the irritation.

• Cosmetic or medicine? In the US and the EU, a product that claims to treat acne, eczema or another condition is regulated like a medicine rather than a cosmetic. Talk about how skin looks and feels, and leave treatment claims to products licensed for them.
• Sunscreen: in the US, sunscreens are regulated as over-the-counter drugs, so SPF and broad-spectrum wording follows FDA rules. In many other markets they're cosmetics with their own testing and labelling rules.
• Filters: in 2021 the UK's advertising regulator ruled that filters which exaggerate what a beauty product can do make an ad misleading. Shoot before-and-afters in the same light, with no filter.
• Creators: in the UK, the US and many other markets, gifted or paid posts have to be disclosed. Brief creators on it before the parcel goes out.
• Auto-replies are marketing too. “Clears breakouts in a week” is a claim whether it appears in an advert, a caption or a DM.

Big launch posts can collect comments faster than a team can read them, but Instagram only lets a business keep messaging someone for 24 hours after their last message. Email capture on RESTOCK, CODE and the early-access word turns that rush into a list you can still reach next month, exported as a CSV for your email tool.

• Ask for an email only when you'll use it, and say what for: the restock, the code, the launch date.
• On Instagram, “Only send to followers” can put a free guide or a code behind a follow. Use it for extras, not for answers people need, such as ingredient lists.
• Comments that are only links or promo spam are skipped, and each person hears from an auto-reply once a day, so bot-filled launch posts don't use up your hourly limit.

Selling from India? The DMFast store can give away a digital routine guide in exchange for an email and, if you ask, a phone number, and take free or paid 1-on-1 calls such as a routine consultation, with payments through Razorpay. Physical products still sell through your own shop.