How to Use SendPulse to Turn Instagram DMs Into Email Leads

The short answer: switch your Instagram account to business and allow message access, connect it in SendPulse's Chatbots section, register a second account as the bot's owner for testing, build a flow triggered by a keyword or comment, ask for an email address with the Wait for the subscriber's response toggle saving it to a variable, then start an Automation 360 flow on the mailing list SendPulse creates for the bot; the free chatbot plan covers the first 500 subscribers.

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People who comment "info" under a post or send a DM are warmer than anyone on a cold list, and most of them are lost because the reply comes a day later from a person. A chatbot answers in seconds; the useful part is what happens next, when the conversation turns into an address you can email next month. For what SendPulse costs, see the SendPulse glossary entry.

Before you connect anything:

• Check the free limits against your volume. The free Basic chatbot plan covers 3 bots, 500 subscribers and 10,000 messages a month (chatbot pricing, checked on 24 October 2026). For example, a five-message lead flow uses 5 messages per person, so 10,000 / 5 = 2,000 conversations, but the 500-subscriber cap binds first.
• Start from the post that already gets questions. The comment or keyword people already use is your trigger; there is no need to invent a campaign for the bot.
• Decide the count that matters. The number of addresses collected per week in the bot's mailing list is the measure; reactions inside the chat are not.

Step 1: Prepare the Instagram account

You need an Instagram business account. For a direct connection that is all, according to the Instagram chatbot guide; the older route via Facebook Business also needs a linked Facebook page and a personal Facebook profile with admin rights to it. In Instagram, open Settings and privacy, Messages and story replies, Message controls, and make sure Allow access to messages is on, or the bot cannot reply.

Step 2: Connect the bot

In SendPulse, open Chatbots. With nothing connected yet, click Connect; otherwise go to Bot management, Add bot. Select Instagram and click Continue via Instagram, log in, grant the permissions and authorise message access. If the account is still personal, the flow asks you to switch it to Creator or Business first.

Step 3: Add a test owner

Log in to a second, personal Instagram account and send the business account the code shown in SendPulse, by scanning the QR code or following the link. The code changes when the page reloads, so send the current one. If it worked, you receive the welcome flow, and your contact shows the Owner label in the bot's audience (Instagram chatbot guide).

Step 4: Choose the trigger

Every bot starts with Welcome message, Standard reply and Unsubscribe flows. Create a new flow and set its trigger: a keyword in a DM, a mention in a Story, or a comment on a post or live stream. One trigger per promise keeps the reporting readable: "guide" for the guide, "price" for the price list.

Step 5: Ask for the email, plainly

In the flow, add a Message element that says what the person will get by email and how often, and asks for the address. Turn on Wait for the subscriber's response and choose the variable to save the reply in, as the data saving guide describes. Article 7(2) of the GDPR (EUR-Lex) asks that a request for consent be clearly distinguishable from other matters and in clear, plain language, so make this its own message rather than a line buried in the answer to their question.

Step 6: Find the list SendPulse creates

The first time a subscriber shares an email address or phone number, SendPulse creates a mailing list named after the chatbot under Email, Mailing lists. It stores the address, the name from the app, the source app, the last activity and the date added, plus any non-empty variables. A bot with the same name on several apps feeds one list.

Step 7: Send the welcome email automatically

Go to Automation, Create a flow. In the Flow start element, pick the Add subscriber trigger and select the chatbot's mailing list. Then add an email element with the promised content, and if useful an Action element that tags the contact by source (data saving guide). Test it end to end from your owner account: comment the keyword, give an address, check the inbox.

Step 8: Have an agent review the conversations

SendPulse's MCP server connects Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor to the account. Its own example prompt fits this job: ask the agent to go through the last 100 conversations of your Instagram bot, find the three biggest drop-off points and recommend fixes. Read the recommendations, then edit the flow yourself. SendPulse says its agent asks for approval at key steps and may not always recognise its own limits, which is the case for keeping it on analysis until you trust it.

What the knowledge base warns about

• Message access off. Without Allow access to messages in Instagram's settings the bot does not work.
• A stale owner code. The code changes on every reload of the page.
• Admin rights on the Facebook route. The connecting Facebook user must be an admin of the brand's page.
• No address, no email contact. Subscribers reach the mailing list only after sharing an email address or phone number.

SendPulse's sample prompts include scheduling campaigns across email, Facebook and WhatsApp straight from the chat. An agent that sends is the vendor's showcase; an agent that reports is the safer place to start, because a wrong send to a chatbot audience is hard to take back.

FAQ

Can the same flow run on WhatsApp or Facebook?

The chatbot page says flows can be reused across messaging platforms, and a bot with the same name across apps saves contacts to one mailing list, per the data saving guide.

Do I need a Facebook page?

Not for a direct Instagram connection, which needs only the business account. The Facebook Business route needs a linked page and an admin profile.

What triggers can start an Instagram flow?

Keywords in a DM, Story mentions, and comments on posts or live streams, according to the Instagram chatbot guide.