Instagram story reply

This feature is available for the Advanced and Ultimate plans

Overview

Reward customers with points when they reply to your Instagram Stories. Every reply is a direct, personal interaction with your brand — turning casual followers into engaged loyalty members.

• Drive direct engagement — story replies are one of the most personal interactions on Instagram

• Build deeper relationships — customers who reply are already invested; reward that investment

• Increase story views — when followers know they can earn points by replying, more will watch your stories

• Collect real-time feedback — use story polls and questions as entry points for earning rewards

When to use this

• Running Q&A or question sticker stories → reward customers who respond

• Launching new products → ask for reactions and reward replies

• Gathering customer feedback → incentivize honest responses

• Boosting story engagement metrics → keep your account algorithmically active

Requirements:

• Instagram Business or Creator account required

• Customers must link their Instagram account inside the widget to earn points

• Emoji-only reactions (e.g., ❤️, 😍) are automatically filtered out — only text replies earn points

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Step 1: Connect Instagram

Before setting up the program, connect your Instagram account.

Go to Integrations → Instagram and follow the connection flow.

If you've already connected Instagram for Comment or Story Mention programs, you don't need to connect again — the same integration is shared across all Instagram programs.

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Step 2: Create the Story Reply program

Go to Reward programs → Earning programs → Add program → Social activity

Select Reply to Instagram Story from the event dropdown.

Available settings

Section	Options
Program info	Rule name, Description, Start/End date
Instagram Business Account	Your Instagram Business Account URL — displayed on the widget so customers can find your profile
Reward method	All members / Member by tier, Points value
Keyword filtering	Include keywords (only reward replies containing specific words), Exclude keywords (block replies containing certain words)
DM Notification	Toggle to send a Direct Message when points are awarded. Supports variables: {points}, {customer_name}, {balance}, {store_url}
Anti-cheat	Earning limit (once lifetime / X times per period / unlimited)

Keyword filtering tip: Use include keywords to focus rewards on meaningful replies (e.g., specific product names or campaign hashtags). Use exclude keywords to filter out spam or irrelevant responses.

Shopify Flow alternative: Joy also supports a native Shopify Flow trigger — "Customer replied to Instagram story" — which fires whenever a qualifying reply is detected. You can use this to build custom automations (e.g., send a Klaviyo email, create a Slack notification) instead of or in addition to the built-in DM. Toggle Use Shopify Flow inside the program to switch to Flow-based messaging.

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Customer experience

Here's what your customers see and do:

1

Find the program

Customer opens the Loyalty Widget or Rewards Page and sees the "Reply to Instagram Story" program under Ways to Earn.

2

Link their Instagram account

Customer clicks the program and enters their Instagram username to connect their account. This is how Joy maps the reply back to the right customer.

3

Reply to one of your Instagram Stories

Customer opens Instagram on their mobile device, finds one of your active stories, and sends a text reply. Emoji-only reactions do not qualify — the reply must contain text.

4

Points awarded automatically

Joy detects the reply via Instagram's API and awards points to the customer's loyalty balance. If DM notification is enabled, the customer receives a direct message confirming their points.

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FAQ

Why can't I see "Reply to Instagram Story" in the event dropdown? Select Social activity first when creating the program — the specific event options (including Story Reply) appear in the dropdown after that.

Do emoji-only reactions earn points? No. Emoji-only reactions (e.g., ❤️, 😍) are automatically filtered out. Only replies with actual text are eligible for points.

Do points get awarded in real time? Points are awarded once Joy detects the story reply via Instagram's API. Detection typically happens within minutes of the reply being sent.

Can a customer earn points for replying to multiple different stories? Yes — each qualifying reply can earn points. Configure the earning limit in Anti-cheat settings to control how often a single customer can earn (e.g., once per day, once per story).

What if a customer updates their Instagram username? Customers need to update their Instagram username in the loyalty widget. Points will be attributed to the account linked at the time of the reply.

Can I see which customers replied? Yes. Go to Customers → Activities and filter by this program to see customers who earned points from story replies, along with their linked Instagram username.

Does this work with a personal Instagram account? No. You must use an Instagram Business or Creator account to receive story reply notifications via the API.

What's the difference between Story Reply, Story Mention, and Comment rewards?

• Comment rewards — customer comments on one of your posts (public, visible to all)

• Story Mention rewards — customer tags your account in their own story (reaches their followers)

• Story Reply rewards — customer sends a direct reply to one of your stories (private, one-on-one)