How I sent 21,582 Automated Follow Ups on IG

Instagram DM follow up automation is a sequence that automatically re-engages people who go quiet in your DMs, sending a text follow up after 4 hours of no reply and a pre-recorded voice message 17 hours later, all inside Instagram's 24 hour messaging window. It is one of the highest-leverage systems a coach can build, because most leads do not say no, they just get busy and disappear. I have sent 21,582 of these follow ups, and in the video above I build the exact flow step by step so you can copy it in a few minutes.

Here is the whole automation at a glance:

1. Turn on the ManyChat Pro subscription.
2. Create three user fields: follow up number, user message count, and flow count.
3. Set a default reply that counts every message a lead sends.
4. Build the conditions that decide which follow up to fire.
5. Send the first text follow up after 4 hours of silence.
6. Send a pre-recorded voice message 17 hours after that.
7. Set the flow live.

What is Instagram DM follow up automation?

Say someone reaches out: "Hi, I need your help automating my Instagram follow ups." You reply, "I got you. How many follow ups do you want to do per day?" Then they ghost you for a couple of hours. A follow up automation handles that gap for you. After 4 hours of no response it sends a nudge like "Yo, are you still there?" and if they still do not reply after another 17 hours, it sends a pre-recorded voice message.

This matters if you run a high volume of conversations, because people drop off constantly and re-engaging them is where a lot of your conversion rate and sales actually live. Recovering those quiet leads is the single biggest fix behind a low Instagram DM booking rate, and it costs you nothing extra in ad spend.

The software: ManyChat

The tool is ManyChat, a Meta-verified app, so everything you do inside it is legal and will not cause any bans.

• If you do not have an account, sign up. New accounts get a 14 day free trial.
• After the trial, the plan starts at $15 a month, and the cost rises as your contact count grows.
• Make sure the Pro subscription is on, because the automation needs it.

Create the three user fields

Go to the field section and create three new user fields, all set to the number type:

• follow up number tracks how many follow ups a lead has already received.
• user message count tracks how many messages the lead has sent you.
• flow count tracks how many times the follow up flow has run for that lead.

The logic ties them together later. For now, just create all three as numbers.

Set the default reply

Head to the Instagram channel and set a default reply. If one already exists, delete it and start fresh, then confirm the trigger is on so it fires every time a user sends a direct message.

Replace the default reply with an action. Under contact data, set the user field for user message count and increase it by one. Every inbound message now bumps that counter, which is what later confirms whether a lead has truly gone silent.

Build the conditions

The next node is a condition that reads the follow up number field:

• If the follow up number is exactly one, the first follow up has already been sent.
• If it is exactly two, both follow ups are done, so the flow stops and does nothing.
• The fallback (neither one nor two) means no follow up has been sent yet, so the lead enters the first follow up branch.

The first follow up: 4 hours of silence

In the first branch, add a smart delay of 4 hours. After the delay, increase the flow count by one, then run a condition that checks two things at once: that the user message count equals the flow count, and that the lead's last interaction on Instagram (found in the system fields) was more than 4 hours ago.

If both are true, set the follow up number to one and send the message. Use a first name variable so it reads personal, something like "Yo {first name}, are you still there?" Right after it sends, decrease the flow count by one so the counter stays in sync for the next branch.

The second follow up: a voice message after 17 hours

Duplicate the whole branch (the delay, the condition, the action, and the message) and wire it after the first one. Then change three things:

• Set the smart delay to 17 hours, so the second follow up still lands inside the 24 hour window.
• Change the last-interaction check to more than 17 hours ago.
• Set the follow up number to two instead of one.

For this second touch, swap the text for a voice note. Click the more option, add an audio block, and drop in a pre-recorded message. Mine says: "Hey, I haven't heard back from you yet. Did I say something wrong, or is it that you're just busy? Either way, I'm here to help. So let me know." A voice note rebuilds trust and feels recorded just for them, which plain text never does.

Why everything stays inside the 24 hour window

After 24 hours, Meta does not allow you to send any messages or automations to that contact. That single rule shapes the whole sequence: you can stack as many follow ups as you want, but they all have to fit inside the window, which is why the timing here is 4 hours and then 17 hours rather than spread over days.

The logic behind it

Here is why each counter exists:

• When a lead sends any message, the flow fires and the user message count goes up by one.
• The flow then checks the follow up number to see how far along the lead is: zero means start the first follow up, one means move toward the second, two means stop.
• Before each send, the flow count is increased and compared against the user message count. They have to match. Leads often send several messages in a row, and matching the counts stops the flow from triggering twice and firing duplicate follow ups.
• It also checks the last Instagram interaction to confirm the lead has genuinely gone quiet for long enough.

After the first follow up sends, you decrease the flow count by one. I added that step because if the lead does not reply and the flow advances, the flow count drifts out of sync with the user message count. Decreasing it keeps the two even so the second follow up fires cleanly.

This same idea of timing and tracking conversations is the backbone of AI DM automation for coaches, and once a lead replies, the next step is turning that reply into a booked call with AI appointment setting for coaches.

Putting it live

When a lead messages you and you reply, the clock starts. If they go quiet for 4 hours, the text follow up sends. If they stay quiet for another 17 hours, the voice message sends. Do not forget to flip the flow to live, then customize the wording to match your own voice.

That is the entire system behind 21,582 automated follow ups. If you have questions, drop them in the comments or message me on Instagram.