Follow Gate and Email Gate
Grow followers and collect emails by gating your offer behind a follow or an email submit.
On this page
Follow Gate and Email Gate
Two of Botyoo’s most-used Instant Automation features. Both are toggles inside the automation’s Options section, no flow building required.
Follow Gate
Delivers your link or offer only after the user follows you. If they aren’t following, Botyoo sends a “follow us to unlock” message; once they follow, the original DM goes out automatically.
Why use it: turn every comment-to-DM funnel into follower growth at the same time.
Best for:
- Discount code drops (“Comment SHOP for 20% off”)
- Lead magnets (“Comment GUIDE for the checklist”)
- Anything you’d otherwise just hand out for free
Email Gate
Asks for an email inside the DM before delivering the link. The user replies with their email, Botyoo saves it to their Contacts record, and then sends the offer.
Why use it: turn one-time link clicks into a subscriber list you can re-engage.
Best for:
- Newsletter sign-ups
- Course or product launches
- E-commerce flows where the lead matters more than the click
Where captured emails go
Emails captured by Email Gate appear in the Contacts page with the contact who provided them. From there you can:
- Filter by automation source
- Export to CSV
- Push them into a campaign audience
- Sync to your email tool via integrations
Combining gates
Follow Gate and Email Gate are independent toggles. Common combos:
| Combo | Effect |
|---|---|
| Follow Gate only | Grow followers, hand out the offer |
| Email Gate only | Collect leads, hand out the offer |
| Both on | Grow followers AND collect emails on the same flow |
When both are on, Botyoo gates the follow first, then asks for the email, then sends the offer.
What about validity checks?
Email Gate captures whatever the user replies with, there’s no live email-validity check at capture. To filter out junk, validate downstream in your email tool, or require a confirmation step before tagging the contact as a real lead.
Why these aren’t separate flow steps
Both gates are built into the Instant Automation form, not the Flow Builder canvas. Most users want gating on a single trigger, and a form is faster than wiring up nodes. If you need branching gates inside a multi-step flow, the upcoming Ask a question step will let you do that natively.
What’s next
Was this article helpful?
Related articles
How Automations Work
Understand triggers, actions, and the automation lifecycle in Botyoo.
Instant vs Flow Automations
When to use a one-step Instant Automation and when to build a multi-step Flow on the visual canvas.
Comment-to-DM Automation
Send a personalized DM to anyone who comments a keyword on your post or Reel.