Send a follow-up message after the DM

A follow-up is a second message after your first DM. People get busy and forget; a short check-in a few hours later brings some of them back to your link. Dartzo has two kinds, plus a public fallback for people who can’t be messaged at all. Most follow-ups are a Pro feature, and the exceptions are listed clearly below.

The two kinds

Follow up to re-engage

This is the simplest one. It is a single nudge, never more than one, sent only to people who haven’t replied.

1. 1
   Find the option

   In Simple, it is a row in More options called Follow up to re-engage. In Advanced, it is in the same place in the add-ons list. Free accounts see a Pro badge, and tapping the switch opens the plans.
2. 2
   Write the message

   The box is called Follow-up message, up to 1000 characters. It starts with “Just checking in — did you get everything you need? 😊”, which you should change to sound like you.
3. 3
   Choose when

   Send after offers 1 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours or 12 hours. The default is 3 hours.
4. 4
   Go live

   The studio’s note under it says what will happen: “Only sent if they haven’t replied by then.”

“Replied” means the person messaged you at any point after the DM went out. If they wrote back or answered a question you asked, they do not get the nudge.

On a comment automation, the opening message comes first

When someone comments, Instagram allows exactly one private reply. After that, Dartzo cannot message them again until they write back or tap something. That is why on a comment automation the re-engage option is switched off until Opening message is on (the same goes for Collect info). Its hint says so: “Turn on Opening message first — on a comment, they need to reply before you can message again.”

The follow-up clock starts after the person has tapped the opening message’s button and your DM has been delivered. For story replies and DM keywords the person has already messaged you, so no opening message is needed. For how the opening message and follow check work, see Access gate and follow check.

Next message after a tap

In Advanced, turn on Add buttons and add a Quick reply button. A quick reply must have a follow-up, or the studio refuses to publish (“This button leads nowhere”). The follow-up can have its own text, an optional Follow-up link and up to 3 buttons of its own. To ask for an email or phone number, use Collect info instead; see Collect emails and phone numbers in DMs. A button inside a follow-up cannot start another follow-up. The depth stops at one.

Which of these are free? The opening message (the short first message with a tap button) and the follow check are free on every plan. Any other follow-up message is Pro, and so are extra bubbles added after the first message. More than one opening-style message also counts as Pro. If you are on Free and try to save one, you get the honest refusal: “Follow-up messages are a Pro feature — upgrade to send a next message after the DM.” Nothing is silently stripped.

What if your plan ends

A follow-up is checked against your plan every time one is about to go out. If your plan lapses, the re-engage step simply stops being sent while the rest of the automation keeps working, and Free keeps the free parts. Nothing is deleted, so if you upgrade again it resumes.

When someone can’t be messaged at all

Some people can’t receive a DM from an account they don’t follow. On Pro and above, Settings has When a DM can’t be delivered. Turn it on and Dartzo replies publicly under their comment, asking them to follow and reply, which lets the next message go through. It posts once per person per post, within your daily public-reply limit, and never when the DM actually landed. More in Reply publicly under the comment.

A realistic example

A Bengaluru fitness coach posts a Reel and says “Comment PLAN for my 7-day meal plan.” Her automation has the opening message on, the plan link in the DM, and a re-engage after 6 hours:

Hey! Did the meal plan open okay on your phone? If anything looks off, reply here and I’ll sort it 🙂

It reads like a person asking a real question, with a reason to reply, not a sales push. If the follow-up cannot go out inside the window, it is not sent. Dartzo does not stretch the window to make it fit.