Five DMs you should never leave unanswered

You look at your phone after a morning of packing and there are thirty unread chats across Instagram and WhatsApp. You can’t answer them all at once, so the real question is which ones first.

Most messages can wait an hour without costing you anything. A few can’t. Three of the five below come from people who have already decided they want something. The other two come from people deciding whether they’ll ever buy from you again.

First, know where they hide

Two places new buyers end up that are easy to miss:

• Instagram message requests. Someone who doesn’t follow you lands in requests, not your main inbox — and new customers usually don’t follow you yet. Check requests every time you check your inbox.
• Story replies. A reply to your story arrives as a DM, often just an emoji or “price?”. Answer it about that story — that’s what she’s looking at.

On WhatsApp, labels help: mark chats “New order” or “Pending payment” as you go, so the ones waiting on you stand out from the rest.

1. “How much is this?”

This is a buyer. She has seen it, she wants it and she needs one fact. Answer with the real price, and add what she’ll ask next — options, stock, delivery — plus one easy next step.

Don’t reply “please check our website”. She asked you, in the chat, because the chat was easier. And don’t answer a price question with a question of your own.

2. “Do you have it in Sand?”

Size, colour and stock questions come from someone who is already picturing it in their hand. If the answer is yes, don’t stop at “yes” — offer to keep it for her, or take the order there and then. If it’s no, give her the closest thing you do have, and offer to tell her when it’s back.

Copy this: “It’s out of stock in [variant] right now, sorry! [Alternative] is in stock at ₹[price] — or I can message you here as soon as [variant] is back. Which would you prefer?”

Then keep the promise. Keep a list of who asked for what — a note on her chat, or a label — and message each of them the day it’s back. It’s one of the easiest sales you’ll make all week.

3. “Will it reach Pune by Saturday?”

A delivery question is a late buying signal, and it often has a deadline attached: a birthday, a wedding, a trip. Ask for the pincode, give an honest estimate, and if you can’t make the date, say so now.

Being honest about a date you can’t make loses one sale and keeps the customer. Missing a date you promised loses both.

The same goes for “do you have cash on delivery?”. Answer it plainly, including any limit — “yes, on orders up to ₹[amount]” — so she isn’t surprised at the end.

4. “Where is my order?”

This one isn’t a new sale. It decides whether there will be a next one. A customer asking about a parcel is already a little worried, and a vague answer makes it worse. Answer with specifics: what she ordered, when it left you, when it should arrive, and the tracking link. If it’s late, say so first, and say what you’re doing about it.

Copy this: “Hi [name] — your [product] left us on [day], and the courier expects to deliver it by [day]. Here’s your tracking link: [link]. I’ll keep an eye on it and message you here if anything changes.”

Better still, tell her before she has to ask. A message when it ships and another when it’s out for delivery stops most of these questions arriving at all.

insideDM’s agent can look up a customer’s order and tell her where it is, and she gets a message when you mark the order dispatched — see Shipping and order updates.

5. “It arrived damaged” — or anything upset

An unhappy customer is the most important message in your inbox. Answered well, she often comes back. Left for a day, she posts about it. Reply quickly with an apology and a next step, ask for what you need — a photo, the order number — and tell her when she’ll hear back.

Anything involving money — a refund, a return, a replacement — is your decision, made by you or your team after you’ve looked. Nobody should promise it on your behalf in the first reply.

With insideDM, your agent never promises money back: when a customer is upset or asks for a person, it says one short line and hands the chat to you — see When your agent brings a chat to you.

Make the five easy to keep up with

You don’t need to live in your inbox to catch these. A few habits do most of the work:

• Save the answers you give every day — your price list, delivery times, cash-on-delivery rules, return policy — as saved replies on Instagram and quick replies in the WhatsApp Business app. Change the first line each time so it still sounds like you.
• Clear your inbox at set times, and when you do, answer these five before anything else.
• Notice what keeps coming up. A question you answer every week is a line missing from your captions, your bio or your product photos.

insideDM puts your Instagram and WhatsApp chats in one list, and Needs you shows only the chats waiting on you — see Your inbox.

The short version

• Check Instagram message requests and story replies — new buyers land there first.
• Answer price, stock and delivery questions first, with the next answer included and one easy next step.
• When something’s out of stock, offer the closest alternative and keep your promise to tell them when it’s back.
• Treat “where is my order?” as urgent, answer with specifics, and send updates before she has to ask.
• Answer an upset customer quickly, and keep refunds, returns and replacements as your own decision.