Quick replies, buttons and carousels in Instagram DMs

A plain text reply asks the person to type. An interactive message lets them tap. On a phone, that difference is huge: tapping is effortless, and a tapped answer is one your automation understands exactly, with no typos and no guessing.

Instagram DMs support three interactive formats. Here is what each one does and when to use it.

Quick replies

Quick replies are small chips that appear above the keyboard under your message. The person taps one, and its label is sent back as their reply.

• Up to 13 options per message.
• Short labels read best; keep them to a word or two.
• They disappear once the person taps one or types something else.

Use them for choices: "What are you looking for?" with Prices, Shipping, Sizes. Or a yes/no question to keep the conversation going.

How a tap connects to your flows

A tapped quick reply arrives exactly like a message containing its label. That means your keyword triggers see it. Label a quick reply "Prices" and your price keyword flow answers it.

This is the cleanest way to build a menu: one message with quick replies, and one keyword flow per option. Check your labels against your keywords, and remember that keywords match anywhere in the text.

Buttons

Buttons sit inside a card attached to your message and stay visible in the conversation.

• Up to 3 buttons per message.
• Link buttons open a URL. Clicks are tracked, so you can see how many people tapped.
• Reply buttons send a value back into the conversation, which your keyword triggers can match, just like a quick reply.

Use them for actions: Shop now, Book a call, Download the guide. A button looks more deliberate than a link pasted into text, and it does not show a long URL.

Carousels

A carousel is a horizontal row of cards, each with an image, a title, a subtitle and a button.

• Up to 10 cards.
• Title and subtitle up to 80 characters each.
• One link button per card, with a short label.

Use them for browsing: products, services, articles, class times. Our e-commerce guide has a full product example.

When you cannot use them

Interactive messages need an open conversation. They work when the person has messaged you, replied to your story, or tapped something you sent within the last 24 hours.

The exception that trips people up: the first reply to a comment must be plain text. A comment flow that starts with buttons cannot send them as buttons: Chat33 writes link buttons out as plain links in the text and drops reply buttons. Send the link as text, ask for a one-word reply, and use buttons in the flow that answers it.

Choosing the right format

Writing good labels

• Start with a verb for actions: "Book a call", "See sizes".
• Use nouns for choices: "Prices", "Shipping", "Returns".
• Keep them short. Long labels get cut off on small screens.
• Make them distinct. "Info" and "More info" side by side confuse people and keyword triggers alike.
• Avoid emoji-only labels if a keyword needs to match them.

A menu flow you can copy

1. Trigger: welcome flow for new contacts, or a menu keyword.
2. Quick Replies: "Hi ! What can we help with?" with Prices, Shipping, Talk to us.
3. Keyword flow price: a carousel of your best sellers.
4. Keyword flow shipping: a text message with delivery times and a link button to the full policy.
5. Keyword flow talk: a short message saying a person will reply, plus a tag so your team can find the conversation.

Every path starts with a tap, so every path is predictable.

Instagram DM automation in Chat33

Quick replies, buttons, carousels and keyword triggers on the official Instagram API.