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Data Collection with DM Automations

Vie
Plan × Professional    ✓ Advanced    ✓ Scale    ✓ Enterprise


DM Automations in Vista Social not only streamline engagement but also offer powerful opportunities for data collection. By setting up automated conversations, you can effortlessly gather key information from your audience (such as names, email addresses, phone numbers, feedback, and more) directly through direct messages. 

Before You Start:

  • Ensure you have Manage permissions for the Inbox.

  • Note: This will not work for Dark Posts or Paid Ads

 

Setting up automated DMs to collect data 

Setting up your trigger

1. To start, go to your inbox and click DM Automations at the top right. 

2. Click Create automation → Create from scratch. Then, click Continue.

3. Name your automation and select the profile you wish to create it for.

4. Select the event and the keyword/s that will trigger the automation. In this example, the automation will begin when a user comments "Register" on a post or reel.

5. You can also set up triggers using AI-based intents (no need to rely only on keywords). Instead of matching exact words, the system understands the intent behind a message.

For example, it can detect when someone is looking for recommendations or wants to discuss a topic, even if they phrase it differently.

6. Once you have set up your trigger, configure your automation settings. Learn more here.

7. You'll see the preview of how the automation is currently looking on the right-hand side. Click Continue.

 

Setting up your action

1. On the next screen, select Data collection as the action.

2. Click + Add field to customize the information you want to collect from the user. For example, we'll collect the user’s first name, email address, phone number, and their preferred time to connect.

  • Reply type:
    Choose the type of response expected from the user. In this example, it’s set to Email, meaning the system will validate the input as a properly formatted email address.

  1. Text: Allows any free-form input; no validation.

  2. Email: Requires a valid email format (e.g., name@example.com).

  3. Number: Accepts only numeric input.

  4. URL: Requires a valid link (e.g., https://example.com).

  5. First name: Captures the user’s first name; no strict format.

  6. Last name: Captures the user’s last name; no strict format.

  • Your question:
    This is the prompt the user will see. For example: "What is your email?"

  • Custom field:
    The collected response will be saved under this custom field label — in this example, Email — which can later be found in the CRM.

  • Retry message if the answer is invalid:
    If the user enters an invalid email, this message will prompt them to try again. The sample shown: "Please enter a valid email address."

  • Update contact in CRM (toggle):
    When enabled, this ensures that the collected email is automatically synced with the connected CRM system.

3. Once you're done setting up the fields, you'll have something like this:

4. You can also customize the "Skip" button and the complete message. This is the response that will be sent to the user once they finish answering everything.

5. You can also add a time limit (in minutes) for how long the system will wait for a user response. In this example, it's set to 5 minutes. An expiration message is automatically sent if the user does not respond within the allotted time.

6. If you want to add another action that will happen after data collection (e.g., sending a link to an event), click Add another action.

7. That's it! Click "Save" to finish the setup.

 

What your audience sees during the automation

Based on our example above, the automation will start when a user comments "Register" on one of our posts:

This is how the interaction would look like:

 

Viewing and analyzing your automation results

1. On your DM Automation dashboard, you'll see the following:

  • Runs:
    The number of times the automation has been triggered.

  • Last Run:
    The most recent automation activity occurrence.

  • Created:
    The date the automation was initially set up.

  • Status:
    Shows the current status of the automation.

2. If you'd like to dive into more detail, click the kebab menu (three dots) on the right-hand side of your automation, and click View.

3. On the Performance tab, you'll see the following:

  • Date Range:
    Choose a date range to view your automation’s performance during a specific period.

  • Performance Chart:
    Displays the number of times the automation was triggered during the selected date range.

  • Contact Responses:
    A chart that displays all user data collected through the automation.

  • Export:
    Download a CSV (spreadsheet) with your contact's details.

4. When you click into the Settings tab, you’ll see a breakdown of the automation’s configured triggers and actions, including the exact messages your audience will receive.

 

Viewing CRM details from the Inbox

The Inbox is where we store the user’s details for CRM purposes.

To view them:

1. Go to your Inbox.

2. Click on the conversation with the user.

3. Then click on the user’s name at the top of the conversation.

4. Their details will appear on the right-hand side of the screen.

 

 

Delivering results to an external system

 

While all users can easily download data collection results into CSV, it may be necessary to automatically deliver data collection submissions to an external system as soon as they are submitted by users.  We offer 3 options here:

 

  1. Email. We will send an email to a designated email address with the details of the submission
  2. Slack channel. Here, we will deliver submission details to a Slack webhook. Learn more about Slack webhooks.
  3. REST API endpoint. We will send a POST request with submission details. 

    Note that this also works with any system that offers an endpoint to ingest the data. Here is an example of how to send data collection to Google Sheets.

 

Important

Your endpoint must respond within 1,000 milliseconds. Failure to provide a timely response will result in endpoint deliveries halting.



Here is an example request.

{
    "user": {
        "name": "Jason Smith",
        "username": "jason.smith",
        "network": "instagram",
        "picture_url": "https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/men/1.jpg"
    },
    "fields": {
        "phone": "1234567890",
        "email": "jason.smith@example.com"
    },
    "timestamp": 1769267791327,
    "automation": {
      "name": "Example",
      "link": "link to automation"
    }
}

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I send contact data, such as email address, phone, or other custom details, to our CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce?

A: At this time, direct integrations with CRMs like HubSpot or Salesforce are not available. You'll need to export a CSV of your contact data from the DM integration's settings page.

Q: Can I set up multiple actions and triggers?

A: Yes! During the automation setup, all you have to do is click Add another trigger/action.

Q: Can I set up DM automation for ads or dark posts?

A: No. DM automation is only supported for regular and organic boosted posts. It is not available for paid ads or dark posts due to API limitations.

Q: Can I filter out non-followers in Automations?
A: At the moment, filtering out non-followers in Automations is only available for Instagram due to API limitations. This option isn’t supported for other platforms right now.

 

Need more help?  

If you have any questions or need additional help, feel free to contact our awesome support team. We are here to assist you! 💙

 

Related Reading:

Getting started with the Social Inbox

Inbox message options

Getting Started with DM Automations

How to Use the Social Media CRM in Vista Social's Inbox

 

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