Collect emails and phone numbers in the DM
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A comment or a follow lives on Meta’s terms; an email is a lead you keep. After the link, ask one yes-or-no question: whoever says yes types their email or WhatsApp number, even inside a sentence, a likely typo is checked with them, and it is saved on the person with where it came from.
- Meta's official API, no password, nothing installed
- Unlimited contacts on every plan
- AI replies in your customer's language
- From $29 a month
From a yes to a contact you own
Four moments after the link, each one checked.
- 01
A yes-or-no offer
After the link, one question with two chips: “Want the guide by email as well?” A question, not a request to type.
A no is remembered per person
- 02
They type it, any way
An email inside a sentence, spelt out as “maria at gmail dot com”, or a number with or without its country code.
Numbers read with your page’s country
- 03
Checked before it is kept
Not an email or not a number? They are asked once more. In a flow, a likely typo is checked with them first.
Fake numbers like 0000000 are refused
- 04
Saved on the person
It lands on the contact in People with the question they answered, when, and on which automation.
Exported with the rest of People
Every ask, in plain words
In comment to DM, in a flow, and where the answers end up.
After the link, in comment to DM
One switch in the editor: “Ask for their email after”.
- What to collectEmail, phone number or both
Ask for an email, a phone number, or the email first and a WhatsApp number as the backup.
- The offerA question with a yes and a no
Sent with two chips, “Yes please” and “No thanks”, after the link went out, so it never stands between them and what they asked for.
Each chip up to 20 characters, Meta’s quick reply limit
- Already on fileDo not offer it again
People whose email or number you already have are not asked twice.
- If they say noNever ask them again
A no is remembered per person, across your automations.
- Not an addressAsk once more, or leave it
When what they typed is not an email or a number, it replies once with your own line, or lets it go.
- Give up after1 hour, 6 hours or a day
Silence for that long drops the offer or the ask. Nobody is left in a loop.
In a flow: Ask a question
The Ask a question step collects anything, not just contacts.
- EmailSaved on the contact
Read from a sentence, and a likely typo (gmial.com) is checked with them before it is kept.
If the email looks mistyped: your own line, or ours
- Phone numberSaved on the contact
Read with your page’s country for numbers without a code; obvious fakes are refused.
- Ten answer typesOpen answer to Matches a pattern
Also multiple choice, yes or no, number, date, website, rating 1 to 5, and patterns such as an order number or a postcode.
Multiple choice: up to 13 options
- Ask againOnce, twice or 3 times
When an answer does not fit, the question goes again, then the flow takes the No answer way.
- Wait for an answer1 to 23 hours
No answer in that time goes the No answer way, inside Meta’s 24-hour window.
Meta: an automation messages someone only within 24 hours of their last message
- A flyer that collects
Start the ask from a DM link or its QR code on a flyer, a receipt or your bio.
- Remember it asA custom field, or this conversation only
Keep the answer on the person under a name you choose, so a condition can check it and it shows in People.
Where it goes
Everything lands in People.
- CollectedEmail and phone on the contact
Each one keeps where it came from: “Typed in reply to …”, the date and the automation.
- CorrectFix a typed address
A teammate can correct an email or a phone; the original is kept beside it.
- ExportCSV with every field
Name, username, email, phone, when and where it was given, the question it answered, tags, then one column per custom field.
Export comes with Growth and up
- ForgetDelete a person’s details
Their name, email and phone are deleted. If they write again, they are a new person.
The ask, the thanks and the preview, on one screen
In the comment to DM editor the email ask is one block under the link: pick email, phone or both, keep the words or write your own, and step through the preview to see each message land.
- The offer
- A question with “Yes please” and “No thanks”, never a demand to type.
- The ask and the thanks
- Written for you in the page’s language; a field change rewrites only the lines you did not edit.
- The preview
- Their phone, the offer under the link, exactly as Instagram shows it.
The limits, and who sets them
What Meta allows in a chat, and what we add.
| What | The limit | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | Unlimited on every plan, never metered | CommentWatchDog |
| A chip’s words | 20 characters each, up to 13 chips | |
| Waiting for an answer | 1 to 23 hours in a flow; 1 hour, 6 hours or a day in comment to DM | CommentWatchDog |
| Messages after silence | Only within 24 hours of their last message | |
| One-tap email or phone | Offered on Messenger when their profile has one; Instagram does not allow it | |
| Export to CSV | Growth and up | CommentWatchDog |
Sources: Meta’s Messenger Platform and Instagram Messaging API (quick replies, the 24-hour window, user email and phone quick replies). Checked on 2026-10-05.
Collect as many as you like, pay the same
Other DM tools charge more as your list grows, or pause when it reaches the plan’s limit.
CommentWatchDogManyChat Business: $99 + 2,500 extra × $0.025At the plan’s contact or DM limitFrom each tool’s own pricing and help pages, October 2026. The $161.50 is worked out from ManyChat’s Business plan, billed monthly. Logos belong to their owners.
Questions about collecting
Short answers before you start.
Switch on “Ask for their email after” in comment to DM, or add an Ask a question step with the Email type in a flow. After the link, they get a yes-or-no offer; a yes asks for the email, and it is saved on their contact in People.
They are asked once more with a line you can rewrite, or you can let it go. In a flow you choose to ask again once, twice or 3 times, then the No answer way.
In a flow’s Ask a question step, yes: a likely typo in the provider is mended and checked with them first (“Just to check, is this right …?”) before it is kept.
On Messenger the person’s own email or number is offered as a one-tap reply when their profile has one. Instagram does not allow it, so there they type it.
Onto the person in People, with a tag if you set one. From Growth up you can export everyone to CSV, with every custom field as its own column.
Yes, through the HTTP request step: send the email, phone and answers to any API with its own key, right after they are given.
Each email and number keeps where and when it was given and the question it answered, and Forget deletes a person’s details on request.