You run an Instagram giveaway, get 500 comments, and end up with nothing. No emails, no qualified leads, just a short-lived reach spike. This template fixes that: the flow automatically collects email addresses, verifies follower status, and runs without any manual intervention.
TL;DR: This DM automation template combines Instagram giveaway engagement with automated email lead capture. From 3,174 comments, 1,965 email leads were collected, an end-to-end conversion of 62%. The flow is ready to use immediately in replient.ai.
What this flow does
As soon as someone comments on your giveaway post, the entire process runs automatically, from the public reply to the email confirmation. You don't have to write a single DM manually.
The five core steps at a glance:
- Trigger: A user comments the keyword "GIVEAWAY" on your post → the flow starts immediately
- Auto comment reply: replient replies publicly with one of five variants (e.g. "Check your DMs 👀"), so others can see that something is happening
- Follower check via DM: The flow automatically checks if the person follows your page. If not, they will be gently reminded up to five times
- Email collection: Once follower status is confirmed, the flow asks for the email address directly in the chat, with automatic validation
- Confirmation + bonus: Anyone who leaves their email receives an immediate confirmation message and three minutes later a personal bonus message (e.g. a video or audio from the account owner)
The key difference from traditional giveaways: you don't leave Instagram. No external landing page, no form link. Everything happens in the DM chat, where the person's attention already is.
Who is this template for?
E-commerce brands and D2C shops use this flow to quickly scale their email list before a product launch or seasonal campaigns. The collected emails go directly into Klaviyo, Mailchimp, or ActiveCampaign and are used for the actual sales campaign.
Creators and influencers with an engaged community use giveaways to turn followers into real subscribers, people you can reach outside Instagram too, if the algorithm doesn't cooperate.
Local businesses (restaurants, gyms, beauty salons) use the flow seasonally, at Easter, Christmas, or anniversaries. The collected emails serve as the basis for local newsletter campaigns.
Musicians and artists combine giveaways with album or single launches: whoever comments receives an exclusive pre-save link or an audio preview by DM, and is added to the fan email list.
Why regular giveaways don't work
A standard giveaway on Instagram looks like this: you post a nice photo, ask for a like, a follow, and to tag two friends. 800 comments. 300 new followers. And then?
In three weeks the follower numbers are back to where they were. Most "giveaway hunters", accounts that systematically enter contests, unfollow you right away after the giveaway ends. According to a Tailwind study that analyzed over 60,000 Instagram posts, accounts with giveaways do grow 70% faster in the first three months. But sustainable growth only happens if you turn the engagement into an owned asset.
The real problem is not the giveaway itself, it's that you can't reach the participants afterwards. Once someone is on your email list, they stay there. Someone who only follows you on Instagram might see about 3% of your posts. With this flow you build both at the same time, Instagram reach and a direct connection via email.
Collecting emails in the DM chat has another advantage, it acts as a natural filter. Anyone willing to type their email address into the chat is serious. These are not bot accounts or giveaway hunters who comment on everything.
Case study: Bioferdl Easter giveaway 2026
Der Austrian organic fruit and vegetable provider Bioferdl used exactly this flow in March 2026 for their Easter giveaway. They raffled a Thermomix TM7, and used the template from replient.ai to turn the hype into real leads.
Result: 4,481 comments on the post, on Instagram alone. The flow ran fully automatically, not a single manual DM. All participants who passed the follower check and left their email were immediately confirmed and transferred into Bioferdl's email system.
The numbers speak for themselves
This flow is not a theoretical construct. The numbers below come from a real, live giveaway flow running in replient.ai:
What does that mean in practice? If you have a post with 3,000 comments, this flow will result in almost 2,000 real email addresses in your system, fully automatically, with no manual follow-up.
For comparison, industry studies report Instagram DMs open rates of up to 90%, compared with around 20% for traditional email campaigns (LeadResponse, 2026). The DM channel is therefore the most direct way to turn a public comment into a private, measurable action.
How to set up this flow in replient
You can import this template directly into replient.ai. Here are the setup steps:
Step 1: Set up the trigger
Create a new flow in replient and choose "Post Comments" as the trigger. Enter your keyword. In the example above it is `GEWINNSPIEL`. You can choose any keyword: `OSTERN`, `GEWINNEN`, `JETZT`, or whatever fits your post.
Step 2: Configure the public comment reply
Add a "Send Comment Answer" step. Enter 3 to 5 text variations there, which will automatically appear as the public reply. Variations increase naturalness and prevent Instagram from flagging the account as a bot.
Step 3: DM with a question and a button
Next, choose "Ask Question". The DM could be, for example: "Thanks for your comment! Want to join?" with a button "Join now!". Add a timeout branch. Anyone who does not reply within 24 hours will automatically leave the flow.
Step 4: Enable the follower check
Choose the "Is Follower" step. Enter the message that will be shown if someone is not yet following. Set the maximum number of attempts (recommended: 5). Anyone who still does not follow after five attempts will leave the flow.
Step 5: Set up email collection
Add the "Collect Email" step. Enter the initial message, for example "Send us your email address in the chat so we can notify you about the prize.", as well as an error message for invalid inputs. Optionally connect a webhook to your email tool (Klaviyo, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign).
Step 6: Send confirmation and bonus
Add a "Send Message" step for the confirmation message. Then add a time delay of 2 to 3 minutes. After that, optionally send a personal video or audio message as bonus content.
Step 7: Activate the flow
Activate the flow and publish your giveaway post. Once the first comments come in, everything runs automatically.
For a detailed introduction to all possibilities of Instagram DM automations, we recommend our use-case page. The complete concept guide can be found at DM automation.
Tips for more participants
An iPhone attracts giveaway hunters. A year's supply of your product, an exclusive course, or an experience that is only relevant to your community attracts genuine prospects. The email addresses you collect this way convert better later.
Write directly in the caption: "Comment GIVEAWAY to enter." The call to action does not need to be hidden, the clearer it is, the more comments. According to Tailwind, giveaway posts get 64 times more comments than regular posts (study of 60,000+ posts).
Wednesday to Friday, 6 to 8 PM, usually delivers the highest initial engagement rate. If you dominate the first hours, you benefit from the Instagram algorithm, which continues to promote posts with high reach.
People who see your Stories are already interested in you. This group converts significantly better in the follower check than users who discover the post via the Explore page.
Frequently asked questions
Does this flow also work on Facebook?
Yes. The template can be transferred 1:1 to Facebook Pages. replient.ai supports both Instagram and Facebook within the same flow. You just need to select the platform in the trigger, or activate both at once if you publish the same post on both channels.
What happens if someone doesn't send an email address?
After three failed attempts (or invalid email entries) the flow ends automatically. The person does not lose any data, they simply do not receive a confirmation and are not added to the participant list. This is intentional: it filters out unqualified contacts before they end up in your email list.
Is this GDPR compliant?
The template itself is a communication flow, GDPR compliance depends on how you further process the collected email addresses. You should clearly communicate in the DM message what you will use the email for, and ensure that your email tool (Klaviyo, Mailchimp etc.) has an appropriate privacy policy. replient.ai is EU GDPR compliant as an Austrian company. A detailed overview on GDPR and DM automation can be found in our article about the ManyChat alternative with GDPR analysis.
Can I transfer the collected email addresses directly to my email marketing tool?
Yes. replient.ai supports webhook integrations. You connect the "Collect Email" step to a webhook that forwards the email address directly to Klaviyo, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign or any other tool that processes webhook inputs. This way each new email address lands in your list immediately, without manual export.
How often can I run the giveaway?
As often as you want. Just create a new post with the same or a different keyword. You can reuse the same flow or create a new one for each campaign. Many brands run quarterly giveaways and use each event, like Easter, summer, or Christmas, to grow the email list predictably.
Use this template now in replient
You have seen all the steps. The flow is ready to use, you just need to enter your keyword, your prize, and your texts. Try replient.ai free for 14 days and set up your first giveaway flow in under 20 minutes.
