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How to auto-reply to Instagram DMs for your store: by hand, with canned replies, or with an AI agent
Short answer: to answer Instagram DMs automatically you need a Business or Creator account with message access turned on, and something that replies for you. Canned replies cover a greeting or your opening hours; for "how much is it?", "do you have it in a medium?" or a screenshot of a product, you need an agent that reads your catalog. In Super Agent you connect the account from Integrations, with no Facebook Page required, and the agent answers DMs using your instructions and your store's live prices and stock, and hands the chat to you when a person is needed.
The problem: Instagram sells, but customers ask in the DMs
A store that sells on Instagram gets the same DMs over and over: the price, the size, shipping, "is this one still available?" with a screenshot of the Reel. The person asking wants to buy now, and if the answer arrives tomorrow they have already messaged another store. There are three ways to handle those messages, and they do not solve the same thing.
The three options, side by side
| By hand | Canned replies | AI agent with your store | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers at night and on weekends | No | Yes | Yes |
| Current price and stock | If you look each one up | Only if you keep the text updated | Yes, it checks the store on every question |
| Understands questions phrased any way | Yes | Only the ones you anticipated | Yes |
| Understands a photo or a voice note | Yes | No | Yes, if you turn it on |
| Carries the chat through to payment | Yes | No | Yes, with a checkout link |
| Knows when to hand the chat to a person | n/a | No | Yes, by your rules |
By hand is the best answer there is while someone is watching the phone; the limit is time.
Canned replies (prepared messages sent the same way to everyone, or when a message contains a keyword) work for what never changes: your hours, your address, "we'll be right with you". They fail at everything else: customers do not type the exact keyword, and the text does not know what you have in stock today.
An AI agent reads the message the way you would, checks the store and answers with real data. You give it the instructions and decide when it hands the chat to you.
How Super Agent handles Instagram
- It answers DMs on the connected account with the agent you choose, using the same instructions it follows on WhatsApp or Messenger. A long answer is split across several messages.
- It reads your store. With Shopify connected it looks up products, variants and stock, and can create a checkout link for what the customer asked for. A WooCommerce store can be queried too.
- It understands photos and voice notes. With "Describe images" and "Transcribe voice notes" on (they start on), the agent gets a description of the photo or the text of the audio and answers about it.
- It sends photos from your library in the same Instagram chat, never over another channel. You pick and describe them once, as the product photo guide explains.
- It hands the chat to you when your instructions say so, or you pause it yourself in Conversations and reply from the console, the same way as on WhatsApp.
- It follows up with someone who asked and went quiet, about what they asked. The follow-up cancels itself if they reply, if you take the chat, or if the 24-hour window closes.
That window is Meta's rule: a business can reply freely for 24 hours after the customer's last message. The agent replies when the customer writes, so it is always inside it; a message you send later is not delivered. If Meta changes the rule, Meta's rule applies.
Step by step
- Get the Instagram account ready. It has to be a Business or Creator account, and in the Instagram app, under Settings → Privacy → Messages, message access must be on. Without it, Instagram does not deliver messages to any app.
- Create your agent from your website's address and review its instructions: what you sell, shipping, returns and the tone you want. If you have a store, connect it.
- Connect Instagram. In Integrations, press "Connect Instagram", confirm the "Before you connect Instagram" checklist and continue with "Continue to Instagram" to authorize the account. No Facebook Page is needed. If Instagram shows as not switched on for your account, write to us and we will enable it.
- Check the account's card: the "Assigned agent", "Auto-reply", "Transcribe voice notes" and "Describe images".
- Choose the agent's tools, for example querying Shopify products, creating a checkout link, sending a photo, asking a person to step in, and classifying and following up.
- Test it from another account: send a DM the way a customer would and watch the conversation appear in Conversations.
An example: a Reel screenshot and "do you have it in silver?"
A Shopify accessories store posts a Reel showing several rings. The customer, the products and the details are made up for the example. A DM arrives with a screenshot of the Reel:
The agent understood the screenshot, found the product, confirmed which sizes are in stock, sent the photo you uploaded and created a checkout link for that variant. It cannot make up a price or a discount: Shopify works those out. Had the customer asked for something you keep for a person, such as a wholesale order, it would have handed you the chat.
Frequently asked questions
Does it answer replies to my Stories?
Not today. Story replies and Story mentions are not answered by the agent: they stay in the conversation for you to handle. It answers direct messages, whether text, photos or voice notes.
What about comments on my Instagram posts?
Not those either. Automatic comment replies work with Facebook Pages, not Instagram.
Can I keep replying from the Instagram app?
Yes, but if you are taking a chat over, pause the AI on that chat in Conversations first, so the agent does not answer at the same time as you. You can also reply from the console itself.
Do I have to reconnect the account every so often?
No. Super Agent renews the connection before it expires. If Instagram asks you to sign in again, for example after a password change, the card tells you and asks you to reconnect.
Before you connect
Work out what slow replies cost you with the missed replies calculator, turn the questions you get most into instructions for the agent with the FAQ generator, and plan your posts with the 30-day Instagram content calendar.
Never leave a DM unanswered
Create your agent from your website's address, connect your Instagram account and let it answer prices, sizes and photos while you sell.
Start for freeFree plan, no credit card.