An email list, built one DM at a time
Someone comments your keyword and inDM asks for their email in the DM, or sends them straight to your signup form. Either way they arrive while they still want the thing.
How it works
They ask for the thing
Your caption offers something worth an email (a guide, a checklist, a waitlist spot) behind one keyword.
inDM answers in seconds
The automation replies publicly, then DMs them. No bio detour, no waiting for you to be online.
You choose where the address lands
Turn on the email gate and inDM asks for the address in the thread, saves it to their contact, then sends your link. Leave it off and the DM carries a link to your own signup form instead, so the address lands in the email platform you already send from. Same automation, one toggle apart.
The recipe
What it turns into
Where it shines
Questions, answered plainly
Does inDM ask for the email inside the DM?
Yes, if you switch on the email gate. The automation asks for the address in the thread, saves it to that person's contact when they reply, and then sends your link. It is one tickable option in the builder, off by default, and it works on all three trigger types. If somebody sends something we can't read as an address, we ask again, and after four tries the link goes out regardless: a gate is worth a few asks, never a conversation that ends on silence.
Why is this better than putting the form link in my bio?
Because it removes the search. A bio link asks someone to leave the post, open your profile, find the link, and then work out which of your offers it was. A DM puts your form one tap away, in a thread, attached to the exact post that made them want it.
Is trading a guide for an email allowed?
Yes: it's a standard, transparent exchange, and it only happens with people who asked for the thing by commenting. Just deliver real value; the trade should feel fair on both sides.
Should I use the gate, or send them to my form?
It depends on where you need the address to end up. The gate is the shorter path for the person: no tab, no form, and you can see the address on their contact in inDM. Your own form is the right choice when the address needs to be somewhere you send campaigns from, because that is the tool that mails them, and it can deliver the file on signup without you. Plenty of creators run the gate on a lightweight offer and a form link on the launch list.
What does inDM keep either way?
Everyone who triggers the automation becomes a contact in inDM, with the keyword and the post that brought them. That tells you which offer is working. With the gate on, the address sits on that contact too. With it off, the address only ever exists in whichever email platform hosts your form.