Instagram is where the interest lives. This playbook closes that interest in the same place it started: routing an engaged follower through a short qualification and sending them straight to checkout or a booking link, without ever leaving the conversation.
What you'll build
A scenario that starts when someone comments or DMs with buying intent. It asks a quick qualifying question, delivers a payment or booking link, confirms the purchase, and files the contact in the right folder for follow-up.
Step 1: Set your trigger
Go to Automation → Scenarios → Create new scenario. Three trigger setups work well for selling:
Comment keyword: someone comments "COURSE" or "TICKETS". Use Someone comments on your post with a keyword filter, good for launches announced in a post.
DM keyword: someone DMs "JOIN" or "ENROL". Use Someone sends you a DM with a keyword filter.
AI-detected intent: for a conversational entry, use AI-detected intent on the DM trigger ("wants to buy a course", "interested in booking a session").
⚠️ AI-detected intents aren't always exact. For high-volume scenarios, keyword triggers are more reliable.
Step 2: Ask a quick qualifying question
Before dropping a payment link, add an Ask a question action to confirm fit and warm up the conversation. Write the question and add 2 to 3 reply buttons:
Question: "Quick one before I send the details: where are you at right now?"
Options: "Complete beginner", "Some experience", "Ready to go pro"
Each button routes to its own branch, so you can tailor the follow-up or converge on the same link. See Ask a Question & Wait for Reply.
Step 3: Deliver the offer
Add the conversion action that fits what you sell. All three are covered in Conversion Actions: Links, Payments, Bookings & Surveys.
Courses and digital products: a Payment link action. It's a Pro feature, works during your trial too, and needs Stripe connected first (see Stripe: Connect Your Account to Accept Payments in DMs). The link branches on whether the payment is made, pending, or fails.
Services and consultations: a Calendly link action (Pro, needs Calendly connected). Inrō continues the flow when a booking is confirmed.
Events and tickets: a Conversion link to your ticketing page (Eventbrite, Luma, your own site), with a short message before it.
Step 4: Confirm the purchase
On the success branch, add a Send message that's warm and practical and tells them what happens next:
After a course: "You're in! Check your email for login details. Any questions before you start, reply here."
After a booking: "You're booked! You'll get a calendar invite with the call link shortly."
Step 5: Segment by what they bought
Add an Add or remove folder action to file the contact in "Customers", "Course students", or "Coaching clients". This keeps them out of future top-of-funnel campaigns and sets up a follow-up sequence later.
Variations
Webinar and free-event sign-ups. Swap the payment link for a conversion link to your registration page, and use Ask for information to capture emails first.
Post-purchase upsell. After the confirmation, add a short delay, then send a conversion link to a related offer: "If you want to go deeper, I also have a more advanced option."
High-ticket handover. For offers that need a real conversation, skip the payment link and end with Hand over to AI Agent. The agent qualifies and books the call when they're ready. See AI Smart Actions in Scenarios.
Test the question. Use the A/B testing action (Pro) to split contacts between two qualifying questions and see which leads to more completed payments.
Results to expect
Conversion through DM funnels varies by offer and audience warmth. Contacts who self-trigger (by commenting or DMing a keyword) convert at 10 to 30 percent from trigger to purchase; contacts sent in via a campaign after prior engagement tend to land at 5 to 15 percent. Booking flows for free calls usually complete higher than direct-payment flows, since no money changes hands at that step.
🐾 Netsuke's Tips
Keep qualifying-question buttons to 2 to 4 words. Long labels get truncated on mobile Instagram.
Send the payment link as a Payment link action or a Conversion link with a real button, never a raw URL. Tappable cards convert far better.
Add a follow-up on the payment link's timeout branch for abandoned checkouts. One nudge offering to answer questions recovers a real share of distracted buyers.
Build a separate scenario per product or event. They're easier to test, read in history, and measure per offer.
What's next?
Once you have customers in a folder, put that segment to work. See Community Feedback & Surveys to collect testimonials and product feedback from your buyers.