How to Use Instagram Quick Replies & Other Direct Message Automation Tools for Business

Instagram direct messages (DMs) have been one of the top 10 most used forms of communication between brands and consumers over the past decade. Recognizing the power of the DM, Instagram has recently shifted more attention to improving the usefulness of direct messages. with new tools, such as Instagram Quick Replies, now known as Saved Replies. 

Nobody wants to answer the same question over and over, which is why Instagram Quick Replies are useful.

Using Quick Replies (Saved Replies) not only saves you time, but allows you to be consistent when responding to customers.

However, Instagram Quick Replies are extremely limited, which is why Instagram has partnered up with companies like Customers.ai to build DM automation tools that fulfill far more needs for business. 

Today we’re going to cover both how to use Instagram Quick Replies, as well as how to use more advanced Instagram automated DM tools, such as InstaChamp.

Here’s our agenda:

• What Are Instagram Quick Replies (Saved Replies)?
• How to Use Quick Replies on Instagram.
• New Instagram Automated DMs: Best Alternative to Instagram Quick Replies.
• Differences between Instagram Quick Replies and Instachamp auto-replies.

What Are Instagram Quick Replies (Saved Replies)

Instagram quick replies are responses that you set up in advance to answer frequently asked questions (FAQs) you receive via Instagram Direct Message. 

Once you’ve set up a quick reply, you can automatically insert it into a DM to quickly respond to a question.

Quick Replies work great for common questions such as your hours of operation, commonly asked questions, directions, rates you offer for different services, or even contact information.

However, Quick Replies are available only to Instagram business profiles. Personal profiles and Creator profiles don’t have this functionality.

How to Use Quick Replies on Instagram

Let’s get into how to use Quick Replies to save time.

First of all, you’ll need an Instagram business account to use Quick Replies. Yes, that’s annoying and there are better options you’ll find in this article, but for now, if you want to use Quick Replies, switch to a business account.

Once you have an Instagram business account, here’s where you’ll find the option to create Instagram Saved Replies:

Use Quick Replies to save time by quickly responding to frequently asked questions. With Quick Replies, you can select an answer you’ve previously written instead of retyping the answer again.

First, identify your most frequently asked questions (FAQs)

If you are looking for some ideas, here are some examples you can start with:

• For products, what colors or sizes do your products come in?
• For services, what are all the services you offer?
• How much do your products or services cost? What are your payment options?
• What are your shipping options? What is your return policy?
• If you have a physical store, what are your business hours?

You can even draft the answers to these questions so you can easily integrate them into your Quick Replies.

Now you’re ready to create your Quick Replies (Saved Replies)

Time to start writing your Instagram Saved Replies! Here’s how to do it:

#1. Go to Settings > Business > Saved Replies 

Go to ‘Settings’ the same way you already have to create your Frequently Asked Questions..

Then, Scroll down and select ‘Business’ then select ‘Saved Replies’.

#2. Create a Saved Reply Message (Quick Reply Message)

Tap on the plus (+) sign in the top right corner to create a saved reply message.

#3. Add Shortcuts

Once you’ve written your message, type a shortcut in the box above. 

For instance, you can add the shortcut ‘hours’ for the response, ‘Our business hours are 9 am – 5 pm on weekdays and 10 am – 6 pm on weekends.’

When sending a message, whenever you type the shortcut word, a saved reply icon will appear in the message box. 

Tap on the icon, and the message will appear for you to send

? Hot Tip: You can create multiple saved replies for each of your most frequently asked questions.

Add the shortcut that you can enter for the response. 

#4. How to Save Responses as Quick Replies

If you have previously answered a frequently asked question, you can also save your response as a Quick Reply. 

Open the message thread where you’ve previously answered a frequently asked question. Then, tap and hold the message you want to save. 

You can edit the response and shortcut before saving it.

#5. Sending Quick Replies

Once you add a response to your Quick Replies, you can just add it the next time you get a frequently asked question. 

Tap the Quick Reply (three-dot chat bubble) icon on the bottom of your screen and choose from one of the responses you’ve integrated, or type the shortcut for the Quick Reply you want to use.

New & Better Alternative to Instagram Quick Replies

In 2021, Facebook partnered with Customers.ai to bring even more features and functionality to Instagram DM automation. 

The result: InstaChamp

Realizing that Quick Replies wasn’t enough for most businesses on Instagram, Facebook/Instagram called in the pros. ? 

In fact, InstaChamp has multiple Instagram quick reply tools for Creators, Influencers, and businesses to take advantage of. 

Let’s start with an example of a fully automated Instagram auto-reply from InstaChamp.

InstaChamp Page Welcomer (Instagram Greeting Message)

The first of three Instagram Quick Replies I’m going to share with you are essentially auto-replies to any incoming DM (direct message).

Take what’s commonly referred to as a welcome message or greeting message, for example. A welcome message is an automated response to someone who sends you a DM for the very first time.

Ever read a “choose your own adventure” book?

If you take a closer look at the bottom of the chat conversation above, you’ll notice multiple options for the user to choose from, which come in the form of buttons. 

InstaChamp allows you to use multiple buttons at once, which allow for multiple user journeys one could take. Naturally, depending on which button is selected, a different follow-up message is triggered.

Buttons are quick and easy for the user to navigate their way to the information they’re most interested in.

At the end of each path a prospect or customer chooses, you can add a CTA, such as a link to your most relevant landing page.

With InstaChamp DM Replies, it’s incredibly easy to nurture people down your funnel, capture email addresses, phone numbers, and other important contact information.

Test it out for yourself on the Customers.ai Instagram page by clicking the Message button, then say ”Hello”.

InstaChamp Comment Auto-Responder

Instagram comment auto-responders allow you to send private automated messages to people who comment on your posts. So think of them as Quick Replies that actually help you boost your posts on Instagram for free. Here’s why…

The message is sent to the commenter immediately after the comment is published.  

To trigger a comment auto-responder, users need to comment on a post using a specific keyword. For example, below you’ll see an Instagram post with a CTA (call-to-action) to comment with the word SATURN to enter into an Instagram giveaway. 

Comment auto-responders are extremely powerful and viral in nature because comments equal engagement. More engagement triggers Instagram’s algorithm, which results in more impressions of your post. 

Prior to the launch of this tool, we already have an all-star example of virality from Customers.ai Founder, Larry Kim. 

Larry has a large social media presence with millions of followers across the major social networks. His most successful Instagram post, by far, uses a comment auto-responder.

Here’s Larry’s post, which has received over 550 comments!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Larry Kim (@kim_larry)

If you swipe or click through the carousel, you’ll see that the CTA (call-to-action) in the captions and the last slide of the carousel is to: 

“Type “AUTODM” in the comments section below to get instant access to all 15 Instagram auto DM use cases.”

And this isn’t a one time occurrence. Since using InstaChamp, Larry’s engagement numbers have quadrupled and his reach has nearly increased by 10x.

For example, here’s another post using the Comment Auto-Responder that reached 20,000 people, 89% of which are outside of Larry’s followers. That’s incredible and by far the cheapest way to get more views and reach new followers on Instagram I’ve ever seen!

Clearly, one of the best use cases for comment auto-responders is to tease your content and then ask for a comment for access to the full article, infographic, white paper, etc.

There are multiple challenges faced by Instagram marketers addressed with this one solution: 

• Lack of locations where you can place clickable links. 
• Variety of effective CTAs marketers can place in their content.
• Getting people to comment and engage with your posts.

Think about it, where can you place links on Instagram? Most marketers ‘go-to’ call to action is, “Click my bio link for more information.”

However, you can always include a clickable link in a DM. Therefore, by sending a DM to users when they comment on your post, not only do you have an easy CTA for followers to complete, but you also have an opportunity to share a link and drive traffic to your site.

Additionally, the more comments you get on your post, the more visibility your posts will receive.

This is just the tip of the iceberge for InstaChamp. Check out all of the tools and features you get with InstaChamp, here!

5 Differences Between InstaChamp and Instagram Quick Replies (Saved Replies)

There are some major differences between Instagram’s native Quick Replies (Saved Replies) and InstaChamp’s auto-reply tools, which are 100% Instagram-approved and safe to use at scale. 

#1. Instagram Saved Replies (Quick Replies) are Static and Non-Conversational

The biggest difference between Instagram Quick Replies and InstaChamp is that Quick Replies are static responses and lack any dynamic qualities.

InstaChamp, on the other hand, can fascilitate fully automated back and forth conversations, chat menu buttons, links to your most relevant offers, images, and much more.

Instagram Quick Replies require users to manually select answers. Yes, you can quickly find those answers via shortcuts, but this still requires a person to be ready to answer questions, which nearly defeats the purpose entirely.

InstaChamp instantly replies to user questions and inquiries and runs 24/7, making sure you never keep anyone waiting or miss out on a great opportunity.

Unlike Instagram Saved Replies, InstaChamp uses keyword-based Q&A triggers and NLP (natural language processing) technology to answer FAQs, which eliminates virtually all manual work. 

All you need to do is create your auto-replies, monitor their performance, and optimize them over time. 

#2. With InstaChamp you can Add a Chat Menu to Guide Instagram DM Conversations

You can take conversations a step even further with InstaChamp. 

In this Instagram automated messages example, you’ll see what’s known as a menu-based chatbot, which is like a mini-website built into your Instagram DM inbox.

Menu-based chatbots allow you to guide a conversation, kind of like a phone tree, which can branch off in many different directions, based on the interests of the prospect or customer.

Here’s an example of how @TheInstagramExpert Sue Zimmerman is using a menu-based chatbot:

Sue has adopted the menu-based chatbot in her Page Welcomer to provide multiple options for first time messagers to choose from:

The next step is to provide value with one of your most popular offers or additional information about a product or service. 

When I click on the “3 Keys Training” button, Sue has a high quality image with information about her online course with a link to learn more and/or signup. 

At the end of a short chat dialogue, Sue’s CTA is to check out her online training course on the “3 Keys to Getting Engaged Instagram Followers and Buyers.” When I click on the link, I arrive on Sue’s landing page for her free training course. 

Once you learn your way around Customers.ai’s user friendly chatbot builder, creating highly engaging Instagram auto DM’s like Sue’s is a piece of cake.

Here’s what Sue (@TheInstagramExpert) has to say about her experience using Customers.ai:

“Customers.ai has been a game-changer. As someone who has been using the Instagram DM for 8 years for building relationships and getting new clients, it has saved my team and me so much time on a daily basis. We’ve been able to reply to clients quickly and get the information they are looking for back into their inbox — without lifting a finger or spending hours upon hours replying manually to each message.”

Sue B. Zimmerman, Instagram Expert & Business Coach

Are you an established or aspiring Instagram influencer? Discover the 10 best tools for Instagram influencers in 2021!

#3. Get In-Depth Instagram DM Analytics with Customers.ai

If you’re using Customers.ai and have attached your Instagram account in order to get all the features of InstaChamp, you’ll have the benefit of detailed chatbot analytics. 

Customers.ai even tells you what visitors to your Instagram pages are asking, so you can easily identify and program instant answers for all your FAQs. As opposed to guessing, which is step 1 when creating your Instagram Saved Replies.

#4. Visual Chatbot Builder & Chatbot Widgets

It’s easy to build both straightforward and complicated chat dialogues in the InstaChamp (or Customers.ai) drag-and-drop visual chatbot builder.

#5. InstaChamp Doesn’t Require a Business Profile

You can use InstaChamp from any Instagram profile you wish, whereas Instagram Saved Replies require an Instagram Business account.

Important Next Steps: Getting Started with Instagram Quick Replies

Want to get started with InstaChamp and new Instagram DM automation tools?

Learn how to:

• Increase the reach of your posts on Instagram using Comment Auto-Responders.
• How to get more Instagram Story Mentions, from Neil Patel on how to use his new favorite tool for Instagram!
• Boost conversions on Instagram with these 15 brilliant Instagram auto DM examples.

Are you an affiliate? Get in on the madness that is InstaChamp while it’s still brand new and become a Customers.ai affiliate partner, today!

Instagram accounts that use MoibileMonkey’s Instagram marketing tools, will generate automated activity and interactions which are perceived as entirely organic. And because you’re able to generate organic engagement at scale, this translates into a huge increase in genuine followers.

Best of all, with Customers.ai, you’ll be working with 100% Instagram-approved engagement tools.

The proof is in the numbers. 75% of consumers also prefer to engage with brands using private messaging channels vs traditional channels.

✅ Get early access to Instagram messaging tools for free!