The way to stop wasting leads is to sort every comment and DM into three tiers by buying signal, then reply to tier 1 first. A pricing question and a heart emoji should never wait in the same queue. Three tiers and three reply times are enough.
TLDR: Tier 1 is a buying signal (price, link, demo, availability): reply within the hour. Tier 2 is a product question: reply the same day. Tier 3 is praise or chat: reply in a batch. Set trigger-word rules so tier 1 gets flagged for you.
Tier 1 is any message that asks for money, a link or a date
Treat these as leads, whatever the platform:
- "How much is it?" or "Do you ship to Canada?"
- "Send me the link" or "Where do I sign up?"
- "Can I book a call?" or "Do you have a demo?"
- A comment where someone tags a friend and says "we need this"
These are rare. On most accounts they are a few per week, which is exactly why they get buried under hundreds of other notifications. Reply to them first, in the same thread where the person asked.
Write the three tiers down with a reply time each
A rule that lives in one person's head fails on the day they are away. Put it in a table the whole team can see.
| Tier | Signal | Reply within | Who answers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Price, link, demo, availability | 1 hour in working hours | Sales or the account owner |
| 2 | How it works, comparison, support | Same working day | Community manager |
| 3 | Praise, emoji, banter | 24 to 48 hours, in a batch | Anyone on the team |
If you serve clients, tier 1 messages for them go to the client's own sales contact. Agree this before the first lead arrives.
Trigger words flag tier 1 before you open the inbox
You do not have to read everything to find the leads. Make a list of 15 to 25 words and phrases that signal intent: "price", "cost", "link", "demo", "book", "buy", "available", "quote". Add the ones your own customers use.
In Mydrop, the social inbox gathers comments and DMs from your channels in one place, and trigger words can flag or auto-answer a matching comment. A comment that says "link please" can get the link in seconds, and the person's next message lands in front of a human.
Answer in the thread, then move the lead somewhere trackable
A good tier 1 reply does three things. It answers the exact question, it asks one small question back and it offers the next step.
For example: "It starts at the price on our site. Are you looking for one brand or several? Here is the link to start."
Then move the conversation off the DM when the person is ready: a booking link, a form or an email. Write the lead in your CRM or sheet with the source (which post, which platform) so you can see later which content brings buyers.
Review the missed tier 1 messages once a week
Every Friday, scroll the last seven days and count tier 1 messages that waited more than a day. That number is your leak. Write it down and watch it drop.
The 5-minute reply audit shows a faster way to run this check, and when to centralise inbox management covers the team side.
What a tier 1 message looks like in the wild
Here are three real shapes. "Do you do this for restaurants? What's the cost?" is tier 1, because it has a price question and a fit question. "Love this!" is tier 3. "Does it work with Shopify?" is tier 2, and becomes tier 1 the moment the person adds "if so I'll sign up today".
When in doubt, move the message up a tier. Replying too fast to a casual comment costs you a minute. Replying too slowly to a buyer costs you the sale.
Do this today: write your 20 trigger words, put the three-tier table in your team notes and reply to every tier 1 message from the past week. If you want the flags and the shared inbox set up in one afternoon, start with Mydrop.
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