Blog post ·
Why Isn’t My Instagram Auto DM Getting Clicks? Four Checks.
The short answer
Check four things, in this order: did the message arrive, did the person open it, is the message clear and does it match what your post promised, and does the link work on their phone. Fix the first one that fails. Better wording doesn’t help a message that never arrived. Each check has a quick test, so you’ll know where your problem is by the end.
Check 1: Did the DM arrive?
Count the people who commented with your keyword. Then count the messages your comment-to-DM tool says were delivered. Expect the second number to be a little lower, because some people have their message request setting on “Your followers” or “No one”. Instagram then blocks your message, even though they commented asking for it. I tested this myself. On 1 November 2026 (Instagram 453.0 on iPhone), I set my message request setting to “No one”, then to “Your followers”, and commented on posts from several creators who use ManyChat and on a post that uses Kerchiff. No message and no message request reached me.
In my experience the gap is no more than 10 percent. If the second number is much smaller than that, your messages are being refused or never sent, and better wording will not fix that. Start by checking the settings in your DM automation tool: make sure your Instagram account is connected, and that Instagram’s “Allow access to messages” setting is turned on. That setting is easy to miss, and when it’s off, no messages go out. I ran into this myself while building Kerchiff.
You may have read that Instagram lets someone you don’t follow send only one message until the person accepts it. In my test, that limit did not cause a gap. On 31 October 2026 (Instagram 453.0 on iPhone), I used an account that doesn’t follow me and that I don’t follow, commented different keywords on two posts, and left the first message request unaccepted. Both messages arrived.
Check 2: Did they open it? (message requests)
If your auto-DM tool shows opens, look at them. Plenty of arrivals and few opens usually means the message is sitting in message requests.
In August 2023, Instagram announced a change to how messages from strangers work, as a spam measure (Engadget, 3 August 2023). A first message from someone the person does not follow goes to their message requests, not their main inbox, and it can’t carry an image, video or voice note.
At first this did little harm, because message requests were easy to find in the app. Since then, Instagram has changed the layout, and in my experience you now have to look for them on purpose. That is when my open rates dropped.
I fixed part of it in the public reply to the comment. I added a line like “If you don’t see it, check your message requests.” The public reply is the one place everyone who comments will read. It gave me about 20 percent more opens. That is one account and not a controlled test, so treat it as a rough guide. My open rates never fully returned to what they were before the layout change, and that’s something I’ve come to accept as a limitation of Instagram.
Check 3: Is the message clear, and does it match what you promised?
These are the two common messaging issues and how I think about them.
Clarity. Remind people why they commented. Suppose your post says: comment “WAVES” to get my haircare routine. Then your first message says “Thanks for commenting on my post,” with a button that says “Click here.” Think about who reads that. People on Instagram get distracted. They leave the app, the message lands in requests, or they have message notifications off. They see it three days later and don’t remember what they commented on. They wonder if they commented on anything at all. Maybe it’s spam. They don’t click.
A better message repeats the offer: “Here is the haircare routine you asked for.” With a button that says “Style my hair.” Now the message explains itself, and the button says what happens next.
Consistency. The message also has to match what the post promised, word for word. If the post says: comment “BOT” to get my free AI setup guide, the message should say “Here is my free AI setup guide.” It should not say “Here is my end to end AI course.” Those may be the same thing in your mind. But a different name makes the person think they are not getting what they asked for.
Check 4: Does the link work?
Open the link yourself, on a phone, from inside Instagram. Do not test it on your laptop. Check that the page loads fast and that it is the page you meant.
What is a good click rate for Instagram DM automation?
Nobody can tell you what a good link click rate is, and the published numbers do not agree, even inside one company. I read these pages on 1 November 2026.
- CreatorFlow has three pages. One says there is no published benchmark for Instagram DMs and tells you to use your own 30-day average. Another says a click rate of 25 to 45 percent is expected, with no named source and no definition. A third says 12 to 18 percent is a common target, and adds that no independent industry average exists.
- Inrō’s glossary page gives 18.6 percent for comment-to-DM flows. Another Inrō page says 28 percent.
- ReplyRush lists 40 to 65 percent.
- A LinkDM case study from 2023, about one giveaway, reported 98 percent.
The way they calculate these numbers differs too. Some divide clicks by messages sent. Some divide by messages delivered. Inrō’s 18.6 percent divides by everyone who entered the flow, and the glossary says a rate based on one step’s sends does not compare directly. The page with 28 percent does not say what it divides by. CreatorFlow says Meta publishes no official benchmark. Planoly’s article says it doesn’t track link clicks. Most of these numbers come from companies that sell the tools.
So compare your own posts with each other. If one post has a much lower click rate than the rest, look at that post’s message, not at the average. Test often, and keep reusing wordings that give you the best click rates.
Find the post to fix first
Write down, for your last five posts: comments, messages delivered, clicks. Put them in one row each. The post that stands out is the one to fix first. Then read its message the way a stranger would, three days later: is it clear, and does it match what the post promised?