Steal this idea: Payout's comment-to-DM funnel

Payout is a phone app that finds class-action settlements you might qualify for. Connor Burd built it with Claude Code and Cursor, and the team says not one line was written by hand.^[5] The product is only half the story, though. His co-founder Casper Opala, a finance creator, runs distribution, and one of his simplest tricks is a line at the end of his videos: "Just comment claim and I'll send you the app."^[1]

This page turns that trick into a pattern you can build. If you read our story of how Payout was built, this is the growth half: what the funnel is, the numbers Casper shared, how to set it up with a tool or with your own code, and the rules that come with it.

The pattern in one sentence

A short video shows the result your app gives people, viewers comment one keyword, and an automation sends each of them a private message with the download link. That's it. Payout runs it with a ManyChat automation, and the link shows up in each commenter's DMs.^[1]

What it did for Payout

On the Superwall Podcast, Casper walked through one video that reused a hook from a sponsored video that had worked well for another brand. The video drew about 25,000 comments, which host Joseph Choi guessed might be more like 13,000 people, and Casper went with that figure. Of the people who request the link, he said, about 50% usually click it, so roughly 6,500 of those 13,000 clicked through to Payout. From download to paid, he put the app's conversion at 6.7%, or around 7%. He estimated that one video brought in close to $5,000 or more in subscription revenue.^[1]

1. ~13,000people asked for the link^[1]
2. ~6,500clicked the link in the DM (~50%)^[1]
3. ~7%of downloads became paying users^[1]

These are a founder's rough, spoken numbers, so treat them as a sense of scale, not a benchmark. The last bar is a rate on downloads, not on clicks, and Casper didn't say how many clicks became downloads.

Why it works

Three things in Casper's telling make the comment step do more than a plain "link in bio":

• The video never sells. He says he has never said the app's name out loud in a video. He says "go to this app" instead, so it sounds like a helpful tip rather than an ad.^[1] The MRR Story write-up adds the attribution angle: if viewers search the App Store themselves, the creator gets no credit for the install.^[3]
• The video sells the outcome, not the topic. A version explaining why a company was being sued got views but few sign-ups. What worked was talking about how viewers themselves could get paid.^[1]
• The DM finishes the job. Commenting takes a second, and the link then arrives in a place people check. That's where the ~50% click-through comes from.^[1]

How to build it

You need three pieces: a video format that works, the keyword automation, and an app link that lands people somewhere useful. Here's the recipe, step by step.

1. 1

   Find a format that already converts

   Casper takes formats that worked for brands that sponsored him and reuses the hook and structure for his own app. To tell organic hits from paid boosts on someone's profile, he looks at likes versus views: 2 million views with 2,000 likes was probably boosted, 2 million with 50,000 likes probably organic.^[1]
2. 2

   Script hook, demo, one call to action

   MRR Story describes Payout's structure as a hook in the first 3 seconds, a screen recording of the app from about 3 to 15 seconds, then one clear call to action.^[3] On Instagram, that call to action is the comment keyword ("claim").^[1]
3. 3

   Turn on the comment automation

   With Manychat's "Auto-DM links from comments", you pick a post or reel (or any, or your next one), set the words a comment must include, optionally add up to three rotating public replies, and write the message with your link (up to three links). Optional steps include an opening DM, a follow check, an email request and a follow-up if the link isn't clicked.^[6]
4. 4

   Or build it yourself on Meta's API

   Subscribe to the comments webhook, check the text for your keyword, then POST to your account's /messages endpoint with the comment's ID as the recipient. You can send one private reply per commenter, within 7 days of the comment; you can only follow up if they reply.^[7]
5. 5

   Plan for the other platforms

   Casper says he doesn't use the ManyChat call to action on YouTube Shorts or TikTok (the host notes there's no ManyChat automation on Shorts). He cuts the video shorter and pins a soft comment instead ("the one I use in the video is called Payout"), so people search the App Store themselves.^[1]
6. 6

   Recycle what wins

   When a video works, Casper makes more with the same structure, swapping the numbers and backgrounds so people don't tire of it.^[1] Connor says the same about creator videos: repeat the format with other creators, and you build a library of ads you already know perform.^[4]

A minimal sketch of the do-it-yourself version, based on Meta's sample request:^[7]

// 1. Meta calls your webhook when someone comments (subscribe to "comments").
// 2. If the comment contains your keyword, send ONE private reply with the link.
if (comment.text.trim().toLowerCase().includes("claim")) {
  await fetch(`https://graph.instagram.com/<API_VERSION>/<YOUR_IG_ID>/messages`, {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      Authorization: `Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}`,
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      recipient: { comment_id: comment.id },
      message: { text: "Here's the app from the video: https://your.app/link" },
    }),
  });
}

Gotchas before you go viral

• Rate limits. Meta allows 750 private replies per hour per account for comments on posts and reels.^[8] At that pace, a 13,000-request spike like the one above would take about 17 hours to work through (our arithmetic), so queue your replies rather than firing them all at once.
• The 7-day window. Replies have to go out within 7 days of each comment, and only one message is allowed unless the person answers.^[7]
• Requests folder. If the commenter doesn't follow you, the reply lands in their Requests folder rather than their main inbox.^[7]
• Say it's automated. Where the law requires it, automated chats must tell people they're talking to an automated service, and Meta recommends doing so even where it isn't required.^[8]
• Disclose paid creators. "Never say the name" is about style, not hiding a deal. Under FTC guidance, a creator who is paid or has any financial relationship with the brand should make that obvious in the post itself, in the video and not only in the description.^[9]

One more lever: post on the same day

Casper also described a day when five creators posted at once: Payout made $9,700 in revenue that day and charted somewhere around #70 to #80 in Finance on the App Store. His advice to founders working with several creators is to line their posts up on one day so the app can chart and pick up organic App Store traffic.^[1][2]

What to take from this

1. 01

   Make the ask tiny

   One word in the comments is easier than leaving the app to search a store.^[1]
2. 02

   Show the result

   Sell what viewers get, not the background story.^[1]
3. 03

   Borrow proven formats

   Reuse hooks that already worked, and check the like-to-view ratio first.^[1]
4. 04

   Pair builder and distributor

   Connor builds, Casper handles growth.^[3]
5. 05

   Respect the platform rules

   One reply per commenter, 7 days, 750 an hour.^[7][8]
6. 06

   Be upfront

   Label bots and paid posts.^[8][9]