How do trigger words work?

Before you start

• Trigger words belong to a comment automation. If you don’t have one yet, start with How do I send a DM when someone comments?
• Free plan: up to 3 trigger words per automation. Legend Pro and above: as many as you need.

Steps

1. Open the post’s automation editor: Quick Automation → Instagram → Posts → click the post → Send Link or PDF card. (Or create a new one with New Automation → Comment to DM.)
2. In the Trigger box, keep Specific Comments selected.
3. Click Expected Word, type a word and press Enter.
   • Type several words separated by commas to add them all at once: link, guide, pdf.
4. To remove a word, click the small × on its tag.
5. Click Publish to save the change.
   • If you hit the Free limit, you see “Trigger word Limit reached.” instead of the add button.

On the phone app

In the post editor (Send Link or Images → Edit Automation), open Trigger Words, choose Specific Words, type a word and press enter. Commas add several words. The same 3-word limit applies on the Free plan. Tap Publish to save.

What your followers see

They don’t see your list of words. They only get the DM if their comment matches. Tell them the word clearly in your caption or video, for example “Comment GUIDE”.

How matching works

For Send Link & PDF (and the app’s Send Link or Images), with the trigger word LINK:

Comment	Gets the DM?	Why
link	Yes	Capital letters don’t matter
Please send the LINK	Yes	The word can be anywhere in the comment
Links?	Yes	A word that starts with “link” counts
linkedin	Yes	It also starts with “link”
blink	No	The word must start with “link”
l i n k	No	Spaces break the word

• Accents are ignored: a trigger “cafe” matches “café”.
• Emoji triggers match anywhere, even inside other text.
• If you have several words, the first one that matches is used. They all send the same DM.

For Lead Gen and Flow Automation there is a Match exact word only box:

• On: the whole comment must be only the word. “price” matches, “what is the price?” does not.
• Off: the comment only has to contain the word somewhere.

DM keyword automations follow their own rules. See How do I auto-reply when someone DMs me a keyword?

Good to know

• Pick a word that is short, easy to spell and not common. “in” or “hi” will match far too many comments. A word like GUIDE or PDF works better.
• If a post’s own words don’t match, your all-posts automation (if you have one) gets a chance to answer. See Which automation runs?
• Someone who comments the word twice gets the DM twice.
• Replies inside a comment thread never trigger, even if they contain the word.

What you can’t do

• Exclude words. There is no “don’t reply if the comment contains…” list.
• Send a different DM per word on one post with Send Link & PDF.
• Turn on exact-word matching for Send Link & PDF. That box exists only in Lead Gen and Flow Automation.

How to turn it off

Remove the word and publish again, or switch off the whole automation. See turn off, edit or delete an automation.

If it doesn’t work

• A friend’s comment didn’t match: check the spelling, and check their comment starts a word with your trigger word (“blink” won’t match “link”).
• Lead Gen ignores comments with extra text: Match exact word only is on. Turn it off.
• “Trigger word Limit reached.”: you are on the Free plan’s 3-word limit. Remove a word or upgrade.
• Still nothing: Why didn’t my automation send a DM?