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DM triggers Direct Message: How to handle 50 variations in one automation flow

  • June 17, 2026
  • 1 comment
  • 6 views
tris.satori

Hi :) I direct message people with a link to a resource when they comment on a post. The message stays the same, but the link changes with the keyword. At the moment I have around 30 different automations for each keyword and resource, and 10 auto-replies for each. It’s growing fast, and changing the message template is a nightmare. What’s the best way to contain this into one Automation flow?

Gemini suggested integrating with Google sheets, looking up the keyword, returning the row’s value, and then inserting the return value user field into the message. In the below flow, I have the Get Row By Value mapped between Google Sheet fields and Manychat user fields, but the user field part of the direct message is coming up blank.

Maybe I need to add steps to save the comment (I think known as user input) to a user field used to lookup, and then use the lookup user field to Get Row By Value, and then write the lookup value to another user field?

Am I on the right track?

 

    1 reply

    SumGenius
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    • SumGenius
    • Smooth talker
    • June 17, 2026

    You're on the right track, the Sheets lookup is how you get this to one flow. A blank merge field there is almost always one of three things:

    1. Get Row By Value is exact match or nothing. If it's searching the full comment text, it'll never equal a keyword cell ("can I get the GUIDE" does not equal "GUIDE"), so it finds no row and returns blank. Feed it just the keyword to search on, not the whole comment.

    2. The return column has to be mapped to a user field. If no field is set for the column you're pulling, ManyChat saves nothing and the message shows blank even when the row exists.

    3. That mapping silently drops sometimes. Get Row By Value is known to lose its config on save, so reopen the action and confirm your column-to-field mapping actually stuck (clearing cache before redoing it helps).

    What's it searching on right now, the raw comment or a captured keyword? That points to which one it is.

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