How do you take bookings through Instagram DMs?

Yes. The flow reads your availability, sends the next open slots as buttons, and books the one they tap without anyone typing a time.

For a salon the shape is short:

1. Trigger: a DM keyword like BOOK, or a button from your bio link.
2. One question with buttons: which service. This is what decides the length of the appointment, so it has to come before slots.
3. Offer slots. The flow sends the next few openings for that service.
4. Book on tap, confirm in the same thread.
5. Reminder the day before, on Instagram, where they booked.

The two settings that decide whether this saves you time or creates work:

• What happens when nothing is free soon. Silence reads as ignored. Offer the waitlist or the next available day explicitly.
• What a cancellation does. A cancelled slot can trigger an immediate offer to the waitlist, which is where this pays for itself on a Saturday.

One thing specific to Instagram: the 24 hour window. If someone asks on Thursday night and does not reply, your Saturday reminder will be outside the window and will not send. Book and confirm in the same conversation, and if the appointment is more than a day out, collect a phone number for the reminder with their consent.

The Playbook: Lead generation article covers the one question rule, which matters more here than the booking mechanics do.