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Most WilloSend issues are quick to resolve once you know where to look. The problems below cover the most common situations users run into when setting up or running their first automations, along with the exact steps to fix each one.
Run through each of these checks in order:
  1. Check campaign status. Open your campaign in the WilloSend dashboard. Is it set to Active? If the status is Test Mode or Paused, the campaign will not send DMs to real commenters.
  2. Check your permissions. During the Instagram connection flow, WilloSend needs the “send messages” permission. If you skipped or denied it, go to your WilloSend dashboard → account settings → Disconnect Instagram, then reconnect and approve all requested permissions.
  3. Check the commenter’s account type. Meta’s API sometimes limits DM delivery to personal (non-Professional) accounts. If a follower comments the keyword but doesn’t receive the DM, this is a Meta platform constraint — not a WilloSend issue. It affects a small percentage of comments.
  4. Check your keyword spelling. Open your campaign settings and confirm the keyword is spelled exactly as you intend. Keyword matching is case-insensitive but exact — a typo in your campaign settings means the trigger will never fire.
  1. Check which post the campaign is connected to. Open your campaign and confirm it’s linked to the correct post. If you have multiple campaigns running, it’s easy to accidentally attach one to the wrong post.
  2. Check whether the post was published before or after the campaign was created. Make sure you’ve selected the specific post inside your campaign settings. Some users create the campaign before publishing the post and forget to go back and attach it.
  3. Check the exact keyword your followers are typing. Keyword matching is exact and case-insensitive. If your campaign keyword is LINK, a follower commenting Link please or I want the link will not trigger the campaign — only the word LINK on its own (or as part of a comment containing exactly that keyword) will match. Update your caption CTA to make the exact keyword clear.
  1. Confirm your account type. WilloSend requires an Instagram Business or Creator account. If you’re using a personal account, the connection will fail. See Account Requirements for the steps to switch.
  2. Confirm your Instagram is linked to a Facebook Page. This is a mandatory Meta API requirement. If your Instagram isn’t connected to a Facebook Page, the OAuth flow cannot complete. See Account Requirements for linking instructions.
  3. Try disconnecting and reconnecting. In your WilloSend dashboard, go to account settings → Disconnect Instagram, then start the connection flow again from scratch.
  4. Confirm you’re using the right Facebook account. During the OAuth popup, make sure you’re logged into the Facebook account that manages the Page linked to your Instagram. If you have multiple Facebook accounts, an incorrect login is a common source of connection errors.
If you recently changed your Facebook password or revoked WilloSend’s access from Instagram Settings → Security → Apps and Websites, you’ll need to reconnect from your WilloSend dashboard.
  1. Check whether the feature is enabled. In your campaign settings, find the Enable Comment Reply toggle and confirm it’s turned on.
  2. Confirm you’ve saved the campaign. It sounds obvious, but changes don’t take effect until you save. Click Save (or Publish) after enabling the comment reply.
  3. Wait a few seconds and refresh. Instagram occasionally delays public comment replies by a few seconds after the trigger fires. Refresh the post before assuming the reply didn’t send.
If this is your first overage: WilloSend includes 1 free overage per account. Your automations should continue running. No action is required unless you’ve already used your free overage.If you’ve already used your free overage: Your automations will pause once the limit is reached. Upgrade your plan from your account settings to resume them immediately. Your DM count resets at the start of each billing cycle.
If a post goes viral and you expect a spike, upgrade proactively before you hit the limit to avoid any interruption to your automation.
There are a few reasons a DM might not arrive in a follower’s inbox:
  1. Their DM privacy settings restrict incoming messages. If the follower has their DMs set to receive messages only from people they follow, your DM will arrive as a message request — not directly in their main inbox. They need to follow you or manually accept the request for the message to show.
  2. Meta’s API experienced a brief delivery delay. During high-traffic periods, Meta’s infrastructure occasionally delays DM delivery by a few minutes. The message was likely sent successfully — ask the follower to check again or look in their message requests folder.
  3. The follower is using a personal account. As noted above, Meta’s API sometimes limits DM delivery to personal accounts. This is a platform-level constraint outside of WilloSend’s control.
Navigate to Instagram → Settings → Security → Apps and Websites and look for WilloSend in the list of active apps.If WilloSend isn’t listed there, the connection attempt did not complete successfully. Return to your WilloSend dashboard and reconnect your account from the beginning. Once connected correctly, WilloSend will appear in your Instagram connected apps list and you can verify the connection at any time.
You can revoke WilloSend’s access at any time directly from this screen. If you do, return to your WilloSend dashboard and reconnect to restore your automations.