How a beauty brand took their listening skills to the next level with an automated Instagram DM campaign
The Story
After polling their community and asking them, "who would most like us to collab with next?" beauty brand Merci Handy had to deliver on what the majority of their audience asked for, a project with Netflix's Stranger Things. After nailing down the partnership with the fan-favorite series, Merci Handy was looking to keep the conversation going in a more intimate and innovative way at scale.

The Strategy
After teasing their coming collaboration through multiple Instagram in-feed posts and stories, Merci Handy launched a special campaign with Drop. Merci Handy gave VIP access to their exclusive release with Netflix hit Stranger Things to all who DM'd an upside-down smiley 🙃, a nod to the show. Building up excitement with their community through multiple re-engagements, the brand shared teasers to the coming drop, along with an exclusive IG filter promoting user-generated content and awareness. After nurturing these subscribers through a series of touchpoints, Merci Handy tied off this IG DM campaign with early access to all.
Insta DMs are a direct way to communicate with our community. It's much stronger and more impactful than an email. It's instantaneous and our audience appreciates our responsiveness to their messages.
- Laura Paillet, Social Media Manager
The Results
Launching a successful first IG DM campaign. The beauty brand was able to connect one-on-one with their audience, in a new and automated way. Knocking their numbers out of the park, 88% of those who initially DM'd the brand completed the onboarding and signed-up, with an overall 74% engagement across each touchpoint. The kicker was when they sent out their drop, with 60% of their new IG DM audience engaging with the release.
The Numbers
✔️ 88% Fully-Onboarded
✔️ 74% Engagement
✔️ 60% CTR