Turn Instagram followers into an email list
knit.bio can ask for an email address inside a DM before it sends your link, keeps every email and phone number in one searchable, exportable list, and lets you write to that list by email and to Instagram chats that are still open. Email capture starts on Starter; the leads list is on every plan.
Free plan, no card needed. Instagram tools work with a Business or Creator account.
How do you collect emails from Instagram?
Instagram does not give you your followers’ email addresses, and there is no official way to export them. The reliable way to build an email list from Instagram is to ask for the address in exchange for something useful: a guide, a discount, a download. The person comments a keyword, receives a DM, replies with their email, and only then gets the link.
knit.bio automates that exchange with Instagram’s official API. The email lands in one list next to the emails and phones from your link-in-bio page, tagged by the automation that collected it, and you can write to the list from the same place.
How to capture emails from Instagram with knit.bio
Build a comment-to-DM automation with “Capture email” on
Pick a keyword and a post, write the DM, attach the guide or link, and switch on Capture email (Starter and up). The person is asked for an address inside the conversation before the link is released. See comment-to-DM automation.
Tag as you collect
Add tags in the automation, for example interest:beginner_fitness, so the list arrives segmented instead of one flat pile.
Find them in Submissions
Every email and phone shows on the Instagram tab of Submissions with the username, the tags, when you first saw them and their fan tier. Search, filter to leads with an email or a phone, pick a date range, and export CSV or Excel.
Write to them
Click “Email this list” to open a broadcast with your Instagram leads already chosen as the audience. Anyone on your Unsubscribed list is marked and skipped when you send.
What is included
Email capture inside the DM
The address is requested in the conversation before the link unlocks. The person’s reply also restarts Instagram’s 24-hour messaging window, which keeps a follow-up possible if they take a while to act.
A follower gate, honestly labelled
From Starter you can ask people to follow you before the link unlocks. It is on the honor system: Instagram has no way to verify a follow, so the person follows and then taps “Unlocked”. Use it for light-touch gating, not enforcement.
One list for every source
Instagram leads sit next to the emails, phones, forms and polls from your link-in-bio page in one Submissions view, so you are not exporting from three places.
Warm-lead tags
Comment Concierge tags commenters who ask buying questions (size, shipping, price) as warm leads on every plan, even if you never switch DM sending on, so you can follow up by email later.
Superfans as an audience
A broadcast can target Inner circle, Regulars or Warming up on their own, so a launch note can go to your Regulars without repeating itself to people who already heard.
Erase on request
Deleting a lead erases the person, not just a row: their email and phone, saved messages, inbox thread and engagement history. Their place on the Unsubscribed list is kept so “never email me again” survives.
Broadcast: email and DM the audience you own
A broadcast goes to people you already have a relationship with. Pick any mix of seven lists: page subscribers, form respondents, Instagram contacts, store customers and your three Superfans groups. Each person is reached the way that works for them: by email if they left an address, by Instagram DM if they messaged you in the last 22 hours, or both. Someone in several lists is reached once. Drafting is on every plan; sending starts on Starter.
Starter can email up to 250 people per broadcast, Pro 1,000 and Max 10,000, within a monthly email allowance of 1,000, 5,000 and 20,000 (unlimited through your own Resend or SendGrid). The Instagram DM part of a broadcast is capped at 100 on Starter and 500 on Pro and Max.
Emails are delivered through your own Resend or SendGrid account, so they come from your domain and your sender reputation stays yours. Every email carries a personal unsubscribe link and the one-click header Gmail and Yahoo require of bulk senders, plus your name and postal address in the footer. Every DM ends with a “Reply STOP” line, and anyone who replies STOP is never DMed by a broadcast again. Before you send, a checklist flags mistyped tokens, buttons with no link and wording that trips spam filters.
What each plan includes
Read from the same table as the pricing page, so the two always agree.
| Feature | Free | Starter | Pro | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Follow-to-unlock and email captureRequire a follow, or collect an email address, before the automation sends what it promised. | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Broadcast emailsUnlimited through your own Resend or SendGrid. | Not included | 1,000 / month | 5,000 / month | 20,000 / month |
| Largest single email sendThe most recipients one broadcast email can go out to at once. | Not included | 250 | 1,000 | 10,000 |
| DMs per broadcastThe most recipients one broadcast DM blast can go out to at once. | Not included | 100 | 500 | 500 |
| SuperfansYour most engaged followers, surfaced automatically from likes, comments and DMs. | Counts | Names | Names + message | Names + message |
| Audience SignalsWhat your audience is asking for and praising, mined from comments and DMs, so you know what to post or sell next. | Counts | Topics | + Praise, notify | + Content prompts |
Limits and what it can’t do
Knowing the edges is part of choosing a tool. Several of these are Instagram’s rules, not ours.
- Instagram provides no way to export followers’ emails or to message followers who have not messaged or commented. knit.bio only collects what people choose to send you.
- A DM broadcast only reaches people who messaged you in the last 22 hours (Instagram’s 24-hour rule, with a margin so a queued DM does not expire). Anyone outside the window is left out and counted, never silently dropped.
- Sending email needs your own Resend or SendGrid account, and deliverability depends on your domain and sending habits. If your provider has a daily limit and you reach it mid-send, the broadcast pauses and carries on by itself.
- People who unsubscribed, bounced or reported an email as spam cannot be re-added by you. That is their decision, and they can undo it themselves from the link in any of your emails.
- The follower gate cannot verify a follow. Email capture and sending are not on the Free plan.
Frequently asked questions
How do I collect email addresses from Instagram?
Ask for the address in exchange for something useful. With knit.bio, a comment-to-DM automation with Capture email on asks the commenter for their email inside the DM before sending the link (Starter and up). The address is saved to your leads list, which you can search, tag, export and email.
Can I send a DM to all my Instagram followers?
No. Through the official API you can only message people who have messaged you (within 24 hours of their last message) or reply once, privately, to a comment they left on your post (within seven days). A broadcast DM in knit.bio reaches only people who messaged you in the last 22 hours. See how to send a mass DM on Instagram.
Is emailing people who gave me their address in a DM allowed?
It depends on where you and your subscribers live, and this is not legal advice. knit.bio builds in what commercial email commonly requires: an unsubscribe link that is honoured everywhere you email from, the one-click header bulk-sender rules ask for, and your name and postal address in the footer. Only email people who gave you an address expecting to hear from you.
Do I need a separate email tool?
You need a sending account, not a marketing suite. Broadcast delivers through your own Resend or SendGrid account, so emails come from your domain. Connect it once in Settings → Integrations. Your leads, lists, unsubscribes and reports live in knit.bio.
What does email capture cost?
Email capture inside DMs starts on Starter. The leads list is on every plan. Broadcast drafting is free; sending starts on Starter with 1,000 emails a month, 5,000 on Pro and 20,000 on Max, or unlimited through your own Resend or SendGrid.
Where do captured emails go, and can I export them?
To the Instagram tab of your Submissions page, next to the emails and phones from your link-in-bio page. Each lead shows the username, the address, the tags your automation applied and when you first saw them. Export the current view to CSV or Excel at any time.
Guides
- How to Turn Instagram DMs Into an Email List
Every follower is one algorithm change away from never seeing your posts again. An email list is the audience you actually own — and your DMs are already full of people who'd sign up if you asked at the right moment.
- How to Send a Mass DM on Instagram (What's Actually Allowed in 2026)
You can't cold-blast your followers, but you can reach people who messaged you recently, plus your email list. What Instagram allows and how broadcasts work.
- 30 Instagram Comment-to-DM Keywords (+ Copy-Paste DM Templates)
The keyword you pick decides how many people trigger your DM automation. 30 trigger words by niche, how Contains vs Exact really works, and 7 DM templates to copy.
- How to Find (and Reward) Your Biggest Instagram Superfans
Your most valuable follower usually isn't your most-followed follower. Here's how to actually identify the people who engage the most — and why they're worth treating differently.
- How to Run an Instagram Giveaway That Doesn't Attract Freebie Hunters
Most giveaways spike followers, then lose them. Run one with comment-to-DM entry, clear rules and a relevant prize, then measure whether the new followers stayed.
- How to Launch a Product on Instagram: A 14-Day Playbook Using DMs
A day-by-day Instagram product launch plan: build a waitlist with comment-to-DM, warm your superfans, sell inside DMs and measure what actually earned money.
Documentation
- Leads captured from your DMs
Everyone who sent you an email or phone in a DM, searchable and exportable.
- Send a broadcast
Write it once. Reach everyone who gave you their email — and the people who messaged you today.
- Unsubscribes and the rules
Every email has a working unsubscribe link, and it is honoured everywhere you email from.
- Finding your real superfans
Orders, DMs, link taps, shares and testimonials — turned into one ranked list.
- Disconnecting, deleting and what is kept
Three levels of control over the Instagram data knit.bio holds for you.
More Instagram tools
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Read moreInstagram DM inbox (Money Inbox)
The Money Inbox files every Instagram DM into four lanes and pulls the budget, deliverables and deadline from brand inquiries. Free sorting; AI on paid plans.
Read moreSell in Instagram DMs
Send a product carousel in a DM, let followers check out, and deliver the file back in the same chat. Every order is traced to the post that started it.
Read moreSee all Instagram tools, every knit.bio feature or the link-in-bio page.
Try it on your own account
Free plan, no credit card. Connect Instagram with Meta login and set up your first automation in minutes.
Start for freeLast reviewed against the product on . Plan limits are read from the pricing table and change only when the product does.