Offering something valuable for free is one of the most effective ways to turn Instagram followers into contacts you can actually reach. This playbook builds a freebie flow that collects emails, optionally confirms a follow, and hands over the goods automatically. The same pattern is how you build an email list you own, so this article covers both.
What you'll build
A scenario that triggers when someone DMs a keyword or comments on a post. It welcomes them, optionally asks them to follow you, collects their email, and delivers the freebie. Everyone who completes the flow lands in a folder you can market to later.
Step 1: Pick your entry point
Go to Automation → Scenarios → Create new scenario. There are three ways into a lead-capture flow, and you can combine the first two in one scenario:
DM keyword. Add the Someone sends you a DM trigger and filter by a keyword like "GUIDE" or "LIST". Your caption tells followers to DM that word.
Comment keyword. Add the Someone comments on your post trigger with the same keyword, to catch people who comment instead. Both triggers can feed the same flow.
Campaign. To collect emails from contacts already in your inbox, run a DM campaign to people who don't have an email saved yet. See Creating Your First Campaign: Step-by-Step.
Turn on strict matching on the DM keyword if you want to avoid accidental triggers from longer messages that happen to contain your word.
Step 2: Send a welcome message
Add a Send message action that sets expectations: "Hey {{contact.first_name}}! You're in the right place. I'll send your freebie over in a sec, I need a couple of quick things first."
Step 3: Ask them to follow you (optional)
Add an Ask for follow action. It sends a message with a button the contact taps to follow you. It branches:
When the contact clicks and follows you: continue to email collection.
If they don't follow in time: send a gentle reminder, then end the flow.
Skip this step if growing followers isn't the goal: fewer gates means higher completion.
Step 4: Collect their email
Add an Ask for information action and set the property to collect to Email. Inrō asks for the email and waits for a valid reply, then saves it to the contact's profile automatically. It branches into When the information is collected and a timeout branch for no valid reply. Email is a built-in contact property, so you don't need to create it. See Contact Actions: Folders, Properties & Data Collection.
Step 5: Deliver the freebie
On the collected branch, add a Conversion link action with the download. Set the button to something like "Download now". The URL can be a direct file, a landing page, or a Notion or Drive link. The conversion link branches on When the link is clicked, If the link hasn't been clicked after a set time, and Continue. See Conversion Actions: Links, Payments, Bookings & Surveys.
Step 6: Confirm, sort, and follow up
On the clicked branch, add a short thank-you and an Add or remove folder action to file the contact in "Freebie leads" or "Email subscribers". On the not-clicked branch, send one follow-up after a day with the link again, then stop.
Variations
Email-list building (no freebie). Frame the exchange as a newsletter: tell them what they'll get and how often, then run the same welcome → Ask for information (Email) → confirm → folder flow. The folder becomes your list segment inside Inrō.
Skip the follow gate. For pure email collection, drop step 3. Completion usually climbs, though you won't grow followers from the flow.
Push emails to your platform. After the email is collected, add an HTTP request action to POST {{contact.email}} to your email tool (Mailchimp, ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign), or use Make to handle the sync without code. See HTTP Requests: Connect Inrō to Any External API and Make: Connect Inrō to 8,000+ Apps.
Double opt-in. For marketing lists, follow the email step with an Ask a question ("Add me to your list") and save the confirmation to a property, so you have a record of explicit consent.
Collect a phone number too. Add a second Ask for information step set to Phone after the email, clearly optional, for an SMS list.
Giveaways. Swap the freebie for an "you're entered" message and ask contacts to tag a friend on the post for a bonus entry.
Affiliate links. Replace the freebie with a conversion link to a partner product, plus a short note on why you recommend it.
Results to expect
Freebie flows with both a follow gate and email collection commonly complete (trigger to email captured) around 40 to 60 percent; dropping the follow gate often lifts that to 60 to 75 percent. First-DM open rates run high (70 percent and up) because the contact triggered the flow themselves. The people who finish tend to be your most engaged segment.
🐾 Netsuke's Tips
Name the freebie clearly in your caption. "DM me GUIDE for my free 10-page Instagram audit checklist" converts better than a vague "free resource".
Keep it to two gates or fewer before delivery. Every extra step loses a slice of contacts.
Don't rely on a separate hate-and-spam action to keep bots out (it's a developer-only feature). Instead, lean on the comment trigger's Exclude hateful and negative comments toggle and strict keyword matching.
After a few weeks, filter contacts by Email exists to see your Instagram-sourced list, and route different freebies into different folders so follow-ups stay targeted.
What's next?
Once your "Freebie leads" folder fills, put it to work. See Re-engagement Campaigns for Cold Leads to reach contacts who went quiet after the freebie, or Community Feedback & Surveys to learn what your new subscribers want next.