Instagram DM menu (persistent menu)

The DM menu sits at the top of the Automations page, above your list. Open it, add up to five buttons, and save. The menu goes to Instagram straight away, and the card says Live once Instagram has accepted it.

Titles are capped at 30 characters, the length Instagram shows before it cuts a title off, and two buttons cannot share a name. Links have to start with https. The editor points at the exact button that needs fixing before anything is sent, rather than letting Instagram reject the menu or truncate it in someone's inbox.

A link button opens the page in Instagram's own browser, which is the right choice for a booking page, a shop or a sign-up form.

An automation button is the part a link-in-bio cannot do. Pick one of your comment, DM-keyword or story-reply automations, and a tap sends that automation's DM to the person who tapped it. If the automation asks people to follow first, the tap gets the follow check too; if it has a timed follow-up, that is armed as well. The opening step is skipped, because tapping the button already is the yes it asks for.

Taps are counted on the automation they run, next to its DMs sent, so you can see which button actually gets used.

The menu shows in the Instagram mobile app, in every conversation with your account, including old ones. A change reaches new conversations straight away. Chats a person already has open keep the previous menu until they refresh their inbox, which is how Instagram handles every account's menu, not a ReelDrop delay.

A tap counts as the person messaging you, so it opens Instagram's 24-hour messaging window. That is what lets the automation answer the tap at all, and it is why a menu button is allowed to start a conversation where a cold DM is not.

The menu and ice breakers live side by side. Ice breakers are the questions Instagram shows only in a brand-new conversation, before the first message. The menu stays in every thread after that. Saving one never touches the other.

Delete an automation and any menu button that ran it comes off the menu, and off Instagram, with it, so nobody is left tapping a button that does nothing. A button that runs a paused automation stays, with a warning on the card, because pausing is usually temporary.

Disconnecting and reconnecting Instagram puts the menu back on the account. Moving to a plan without the menu takes it off Instagram but keeps the buttons saved, so it is one click to publish again later.

A fitness coach gets the same messages every day: how do I book, is the free plan still available, what does coaching cost. Her menu has three buttons. Book a call opens her calendar. Free 7-day plan runs the automation that already sends the plan to anyone who comments START. Coaching prices opens the pricing page. The questions still arrive, but most of them now arrive as a tap with an answer attached.

A small jewellery brand drops new pieces every Friday. Latest drop runs the automation for that week's keyword, so the same DM goes to people who comment and people who simply open the chat. Shipping and returns is a link. When the drop changes, they point the button at the new automation, and there is nothing else to update.

A food creator answers dozens of recipe requests a week in the DMs. Her menu has a single button, Get the weekly recipes, that runs her newsletter automation with the follow gate on. Every conversation, including the ones that started about something else, now has a way to sign up that does not involve her typing a link.

Starter is a real free plan rather than a trial, but it is deliberately one trigger type: a comment on a post or Reel, on up to five active automations. Everything else in the builder unlocks at Influencer.