Instagram Lead Qualification Scored Into Your CRM
Lead qualification on Instagram means asking each person who DMs the questions your sales team would ask, then sending the ready buyers to sales and the browsers to a softer follow-up. AeroChat asks your questions, scores the answers against your rules, writes the result to HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Close or LeadSquared, and hands qualified leads to the right salesperson.
What happens today
Instagram brings in a lot of DMs and most of them are early questions. Salespeople spend their time on chats that were never going to buy, while a serious buyer waits in the same inbox.
When someone does ask the qualifying questions, the answers stay in the DM thread. The CRM shows a name and nothing else, so the next person to call asks the same questions again.
How it runs on Instagram
- A person DMs, replies to a story, comments on a post or comes in from a click-to-Instagram-Direct ad. AeroChat answers their first question.
- It asks your qualifying questions one at a time, such as budget, timing, location and what they need.
- It asks for an email or phone number and searches your CRM for an existing record and any open deal.
- It scores the lead against your rules, for example budget above a set amount and buying within three months.
- It writes the answers, the score and the stage to the CRM record, with Instagram as the source.
- Qualified leads go to a salesperson in the inbox or on the mobile app, with the answers in front of them. Other leads get a useful next step, such as a guide, a price list or a booking link.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When someone on Instagram asks about buying from us, answer their first question, then qualify them with these steps.
- Ask, one at a time: what they are looking for, their budget, and when they want to start.
- Ask for their name and email so we can send details.
- Search Pipedrive for a person with that email. If they exist, read their open deal.
- If their budget is 5,000 or more and they want to start within 3 months (example), mark them Qualified. Otherwise mark them Nurture (example).
- Create or update the person and a deal in the stage that matches, with their answers in a note and Instagram as the source.
- For Qualified leads, tell them a consultant will reply here shortly and hand the conversation to the deal owner, or to the sales team if there is no owner.
- For Nurture leads, send our price guide (example) and tell them they can message us any time.
Never promise a price or a discount. Do not ask more than four questions before you help them. Reply in the customer’s language.
Use your own questions, thresholds and stage names. For HubSpot, Salesforce, Close or LeadSquared, name that CRM and keep the steps.
Connect the systems behind it
- HubSpot: updates contact properties and lifecycle stage with the answers and score.
- Pipedrive: creates the deal in the right stage and adds the answers as a note.
- Salesforce: writes the answers to the lead and sets its status.
- Close: updates the lead status and logs the conversation for the salesperson.
- LeadSquared: records the lead with its stage and the qualifying answers.
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. That is why AeroChat asks the qualifying questions while the person is still in the chat. A salesperson 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 person’s first message. A comment allows one private reply within 7 days of the comment.
Also on WhatsApp, TikTok and web chat
The same qualification workflow runs on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, TikTok (direct messages and TikTok Shop buyer chat), Telegram, web chat and email, with the same questions, scoring and CRM.
Who uses it
- Property agents: buyers and tenants qualified on budget, area and timing before an agent calls.
- B2B suppliers: trade enquiries checked for volume and account type before a quote.
Read more: How AI chatbots turn Instagram followers into customers.
Questions
How do I qualify leads from Instagram DMs?
Write the questions your salespeople ask and the answers that make a lead worth calling. AeroChat asks them in the DM, scores the answers and writes them to your CRM.
Will people answer qualifying questions in a DM?
Keep it to a few short questions, asked one at a time, after you have answered theirs. The recipe answers the person’s question before it asks anything.
What if the lead goes quiet?
Automated replies can go within 24 hours of the lead’s last message. After that, your salesperson can still reply by hand within 7 days, and the CRM record already holds what the lead said.
Which plan do I need?
Workflows via Skills are on every plan, Free included. Starter has 500 AI responses and 3 seats, Growth 2,000 and 10 seats, and Advanced 5,000 and 25 seats.
Send your salespeople only the Instagram leads ready to buy
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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.
Related: Instagram lead generation and Instagram booking.