How to Handle Booking Enquiries From Reel Comments Automatically
Scroll the comments on any busy salon or clinic reel and you will see the same three lines: "price?", "how to book?", "available Sunday?". Each one is a customer, and each one goes cold if nobody answers for a few hours. Viralyze answers them for you: a keyword on the reel triggers a DM with the booking page, and the customer books while they are still interested.
Which words should trigger a booking DM?
Every way a customer asks, not just the one you put in the caption. Keywords in Viralyze are not case-sensitive and handle Hinglish spellings, emojis and typos, so one automation can cover a wide spread.
For a nail studio the list could be: "BOOK", "booking", "price", "rate", "kitna", "slot", "appointment", "avail". Add the ones that appear in your own comments. You can also send different replies for different keywords, so "price" gets the menu and "slot" gets a line about this week's openings, both with the same booking link.
How do I set it up?
Pick the reel or all posts, add the keywords, write the DM, test, and switch on. The sequence:
1. Open Auto-DM in the Viralyze app and choose the trigger: a specific reel, or comments on any post if enquiries come in everywhere. 2. Add your keyword list. 3. Write the DM and attach your booking page. Example: "Thanks for asking! Here is the menu with prices and this week's slots. Pick what you want, pay by UPI, and you are confirmed." 4. Set a public comment reply like "Sent you a DM 💌". It rotates between variations. 5. Use the live tester: type "kitna hai" and see that it triggers. 6. Turn it on, or schedule it to start with your next post.
The follow-gate is optional. For a local salon it is usually better off, because a first-time customer wants the price, not a follow prompt.
What happens to enquiries that do not match a keyword?
They stay as ordinary comments, and that is fine; the keywords are meant to catch the common cases, not every sentence. Review the comments once a day and add any new phrasing you see to the keyword list.
Over a couple of weeks the list fits your audience. A clinic will find "charges" and "fees"; a makeup artist will find "bridal rate" and "trial". Each addition takes a moment and the automation stays live.
How does the Inbox keep booking conversations manageable?
Replies to the Auto-DM land in one Inbox with the originating comment shown as context, so you know which reel and which question each person started from. You reply inside Instagram's 24-hour window from the app or from Instagram itself.
Every conversation becomes a contact with a source tag. That means a customer who asked "price?" in March and booked in May is one record, not two half-remembered threads. Export to CSV whenever you want the list elsewhere.
A worked example: a physiotherapy clinic
The clinic posts a reel on fixing desk-neck pain. Comments pile up: "fees?", "Pune mein ho?", "book kaise karein".
Their automation watches "fees", "book", "charges", "appointment" and "kaise". The DM reads: "Hi! First assessment is 40 minutes, ₹900, at our Kothrud clinic. Here is the booking page with open slots; pay upfront and you are confirmed, with a WhatsApp reminder the day before." The location question is not a keyword, so a staff member answers it from the Inbox, where the reel is attached for context.
Over the month the automation's funnel in Viralyze shows comments, matched, delivered, clicked and booked, so the clinic can see how many enquiries became appointments.
Frequently asked questions
**Will the automation reply to the same person twice if they comment twice?** Instagram allows one private reply per comment within 7 days, and Viralyze follows those rules automatically, so each qualifying comment is answered once.
**Can I pause enquiries when I am fully booked?** Yes. Pause the automation from the app, or set an auto-pause after a number of DMs or on a date, and resume when slots open.
**Does this need a Facebook Page?** No. You need an Instagram Business or Creator account, and you log in on Meta's own screen.
Start your 7-day free trial of Viralyze, no card needed, and let your reel comments book themselves.