Klaviyo Social Marketing is Klaviyo's product for turning Instagram comments and DMs into subscribers: someone sends a keyword, an automatic DM asks for an email address or a WhatsApp number, and their Instagram details land on a Klaviyo profile. It needs an Instagram Business account, and Klaviyo's pages, read 15 October 2026, show the auto-replies on its free plan.

Klaviyo describes itself as a B2C CRM, a customer database that also sends email and text. Its launch post, dated 7 July 2026, says the Instagram product has launched, and its product page says it is enhanced by the recent Gatsby acquisition.

Every statement about Klaviyo below comes from klaviyo.com or help.klaviyo.com. The sources at the end carry the date Klaviyo stamped on each page and the date we read it. We publish a competing Instagram DM tool, and the one mention of it comes near the end.

Does Klaviyo do Instagram automation?

Yes, and the documented job is capturing subscribers. Klaviyo's Social Auto-replies send an automatic DM when someone sends or comments a keyword, and the DM collects contact details for a Klaviyo list.

Around that job, Klaviyo's pages describe three more things. Its help center (read 15 October 2026) says Instagram details such as username, follower count and whether the person follows you are stored on the profile, and that the paid plan adds timestamped events for DMs, comments and posts that tag your brand. Its launch post describes a content library of your posts and posts that tag you. Its product pages describe syncing segments to Meta, Google, TikTok and Pinterest for ads.

Klaviyo's Instagram integration page says you can't create or publish Instagram ads from inside Klaviyo, so the ad audience sync sends segments out and the ads themselves stay in Meta's tools. A separate Klaviyo product, Helpdesk, can take Instagram DMs as support conversations. Its help article (updated 27 January 2026) says replies to a story create tickets and post comments do not yet. We found no Klaviyo page saying Helpdesk answers Instagram DMs automatically, so ask Klaviyo if that matters to you.

What does a Klaviyo Instagram DM auto-reply look like?

A person sends your keyword, Klaviyo replies by DM, and the DM asks for an email address or a phone number.

Klaviyo's help article on Social Auto-replies (updated 21 April 2026) sets out the rules:

  • Keywords are not case sensitive. Klaviyo uses fuzzy matching, so small typos, emojis or extra characters can still trigger a reply. A keyword has to be unique across Social Auto-replies and SMS keywords.
  • Comments and DMs. You can listen in DMs, comments or both. Comments always get a DM reply, never a comment reply. Klaviyo recommends turning on DMs too, because comment auto-replies can time out and a DM lets the person restart by sending the keyword again.
  • What it asks for. An email address, or a phone number for WhatsApp. The article says tap-to-text for SMS is no longer available in Instagram auto-replies. Klaviyo's product page still lists text messages among the channels, so check which applies to you.
  • Double opt-in. If the list uses double opt-in, the person confirms by clicking the link in a confirmation email.
  • Collaboration posts. Your brand's account must create the post and invite the collaborator. If the collaborator creates it, Klaviyo can't auto-reply to comments on that post.
  • Message settings. If your own message controls are set to Followers only or No one, that limits the auto-replies. If the person's settings are No one, Klaviyo can't deliver the DM.

How does the Klaviyo Instagram integration work?

You connect an Instagram Business account to a Klaviyo account, with admin access to the Instagram account and every permission switched on.

Klaviyo's connection article (updated 8 May 2026) names two sign-in routes. Facebook Login is the recommended one and needs the Instagram account linked to a Facebook Page you administer. Instagram Login is faster and works for accounts with no Facebook Page, but it is limited to subscriber capture through auto-replies. Engagement events, the social content library and segments built on social activity need Facebook Login, and Klaviyo says the events need the paid plan.

Two details are worth knowing before you start:

  • Permissions. If you switch any permission off, Klaviyo says the account still looks connected, but auto-replies won't fire on DMs or comments.
  • One account, one workspace. By default one Instagram account connects to one Klaviyo account. Connecting the same Instagram account to several Klaviyo accounts is a paid feature.

Klaviyo also says it stores copies of your posts and Reels, including content other accounts tag you in, in a private, encrypted place so they stay available after Instagram's media links expire. Stories are not stored.

What does Klaviyo's Instagram product cost, and what is free?

Basic auto-replies are on Klaviyo's free plan, and the paid Social Marketing plan is priced by active profiles.

Klaviyo's pricing page (read 15 October 2026) lists social auto-replies in the free plan, which covers up to 250 active profiles and 500 email sends a month. Klaviyo adds that sending may be paused if you go over. Its billing help (updated 25 March 2026) says Social Marketing pricing is based on active profile count, and defines an active profile as any profile that can be emailed through Klaviyo, regardless of consent status. People captured by an auto-reply therefore count toward your total once they share an email address.

The paid plan adds up to five custom questions in the DM, engagement events, and connecting one Instagram account to several Klaviyo accounts. Instagram profile properties sync on every plan.

Klaviyo's Social Marketing page carries a banner for special introductory pricing and a slider by active profiles. It showed USD 50 at 10,000 active profiles when we read it. The page doesn't say what period or terms that figure covers, so treat it as a sample, not a quote.

Who is Klaviyo's Instagram product built for?

Brands that already run email and text through Klaviyo, and want Instagram signups in the same customer record.

Klaviyo's launch post calls Klaviyo a B2C CRM and describes social engagement landing next to orders and browsing history on one profile. For a store already on Klaviyo, that is a real advantage: a person who gives an email address in a DM can enter the welcome flow you already built, and you can build segments on social behavior the way you do on purchases.

A creator with no Klaviyo account is in a different position. Using the feature means opening a Klaviyo account, and the free plan's limits are 250 active profiles and 500 emails a month. If you already use another email tool, the next section shows another route.

Can you use Klaviyo with a separate Instagram DM tool?

Yes. A DM tool can collect the email addresses, and you import them into Klaviyo as a CSV file.

Klaviyo's import article (updated 30 March 2026) says to put email addresses in the first column, add a consent column if your file mixes subscribed and unsubscribed people, and turn off any flows triggered by the list first. It also says uploads don't trigger double opt-in, and that the list must follow Klaviyo's Terms of Service. If your file has no consent column, Klaviyo asks whether the contacts subscribed to messaging, so import only people who agreed to hear from you. Collect emails from Instagram covers how to ask for the address in the DM, and the email capture entry defines the term.

inDM, which we make, is an Instagram-first option for the DM half of that job. Someone comments a keyword on a post or reel, inDM replies publicly and sends the DM, and a live preview shows the message before anything sends. Setup takes a few minutes, it needs a Business or Creator account, and you connect through Instagram's own login. The Free plan is $0 forever with no card and includes the email gate, the follow gate, unlimited messages and a contacts list you can export as a CSV file. Growth is $4.99 for the first month, then $14.99 a month.

Where this stops working

  • We did not test Klaviyo. Everything here comes from Klaviyo's published pages, so we can't say how the feature behaves with your audience.
  • The paid price is unclear. We found no fixed price for the paid plan in text, only the introductory pricing banner and the slider sample above.
  • Creator accounts are unconfirmed. Klaviyo's help center and integration page name Instagram Business accounts. We found no statement that Creator accounts work.
  • Text messages are unclear. Klaviyo's product page lists text, while the help article says tap-to-text for SMS is gone from Instagram auto-replies.
  • Klaviyo's pages don't set out Instagram's own messaging rules. Instagram's limits on private replies and its 24-hour window apply to every tool on its official connection, and our rules page lists them with Meta's sources.
  • Pages change. The Klaviyo help articles we read carry update dates from January to July 2026, and the product pages change too. Read the current pages before you decide.

If Klaviyo already runs your email, you can test its free auto-replies on one post. If it doesn't, you can keep your email tool and import the addresses a DM tool collects.

Sources

All pages were read on 15 October 2026.