Instagram Discount Codes From the Offers You Actually Run
Discount codes on Instagram let a customer who saw your post, story or reel get the right code in your DMs and use it at checkout. AeroChat reads the active discounts in your Shopify, WordPress with WooCommerce or Wix store, sends the code that applies, explains why a code didn’t work, and creates a single-use code only where your rules allow, such as a first order.
What happens today
A post says “comment CODE for 10% off” and hundreds of comments arrive. Someone copies the code into each DM by hand, hours later, after many of those shoppers have left.
Other customers DM to say a code failed at checkout. The person answering doesn’t know the minimum spend or the end date, so they guess, or they hand out a code that was never meant for that order.
How it runs on Instagram
- A customer comments your keyword on a post or reel, replies to a story, or asks in a DM. For a comment, AeroChat replies privately and continues in DMs.
- It reads your active discount codes and automatic discounts from your store, with their conditions and end dates.
- It sends the code for that campaign, with the minimum spend, the products it covers and the end date in one line.
- If the customer says a code failed, it checks why: expired, minimum spend not met, wrong products or already used, and tells them what would make it work.
- If your rules allow a new code for this case, such as a first order, it creates a single-use code in your store and sends it.
- If the customer wants to buy in the chat, it creates the order with the discount applied and sends a payment link.
- Requests outside your rules, such as a discount on an order already paid, go to your team with the order attached.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When someone on Instagram asks for a discount code, comments CODE (example) or says a code does not work, follow these steps.
- If they commented CODE on a post, send a private reply with the code for that campaign: GLOW10, 10% off orders of 50 or more, until the end of the month (example).
- If their code failed, check our active discounts for the reason and explain it in one line, with what would make it work.
- If this is their first order, ask for their email, check it has no past orders, then create a single-use 10% code (example) and send it.
- If they want to buy in the chat, create the order with the discount applied and send a payment link.
- If they forgot a code on an order that is already paid, hand the conversation to our team with the order number.
- If they ask for a discount we do not offer, say no politely and mention the offers we do run.
Never invent a code or an offer, and never combine codes our store does not allow to combine. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the keyword, the campaign code and the first-order rule to your own. Leave out any step you don’t want.
Connect the systems behind it
- Klaviyo: records the customer’s consent when they sign up for offers in the DM, so future codes reach them by email or SMS.
- Smile.io, Joy and Rivo: turn loyalty points into a discount code in the chat. See loyalty points in chat.
- Airwallex: built in. Sends the payment link for the discounted order and confirms the payment to AeroChat.
- Shopify, WordPress and Wix. Built in. AeroChat reads your discounts and, where you allow it, creates single-use codes through the store.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
Meta’s rules on Instagram
A business can message someone on Instagram only after they message first, and automated replies must go within 24 hours of their last message. Product suggestions and promotions are allowed inside that window. A comment allows one private reply within 7 days of the comment, which is how a comment-for-a-code campaign reaches each shopper. A person on your team can reply by hand within a separate 7-day window, which is not for automated replies. After a click-to-Instagram-Direct ad, you can reply for up to 7 days from the customer’s first message.
Also on WhatsApp, Messenger and web chat
The same workflow runs on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, TikTok Shop buyer chat, Telegram, web chat and email, from the same store discounts and the same rules. See the discount codes workflow across every channel.
Who uses it
- Fashion stores: comment-for-a-code drops on new collections.
- Beauty stores: first-order codes for shoppers who found them through a reel.
Read more: keyword campaigns on Instagram.
Questions
Can AeroChat send a discount code when someone comments on my post?
Yes. When a customer comments your keyword, AeroChat sends one private reply with the code and continues the conversation in DMs.
Can it tell why a code failed?
Yes. It reads the code’s conditions from your store, such as minimum spend, eligible products, end date and usage limit, and explains which one was not met.
Will it give a discount to anyone who asks?
No. It only sends offers that are live in your store, and only creates a new code in the cases you describe in the recipe.
Can I send a new code to these customers next month?
Not by automated Instagram message once 24 hours have passed since their last message. Ask for an email in the DM and send later codes from your email tool, or on WhatsApp to customers who opted in.
Send the right code to every comment
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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.
Related: comment to DM and payment links in Instagram DMs.