How to Automate Lead Follow-Up

Start with the stopping rules, not the messages

Most follow-up sequences fail on the exit, not the entry. Before writing a single message, decide exactly what stops the sequence: a reply, a booking, an opt-out, a purchase, or a manual override by your team. Then test each one. The fastest way to lose a lead you had already won is to send them the next scheduled chase after they replied.

A sequence that works

1. Immediately: acknowledge the enquiry, confirm what they asked about, and ask one question that is easy to answer.
2. Next day: send the thing they actually wanted — the price range, the availability, the information — and offer a specific time.
3. Day three or four: a short, human check-in. No new offer, just a question.
4. Day seven: a different angle. A common concern, an FAQ, a relevant example.
5. Day ten to fourteen: the close-out. "Should I keep this open or close it off for now?" This message consistently gets replies from people who ignored everything before it.

Adjust the spacing to your buying cycle. An emergency plumbing enquiry is decided in an hour; a commercial property enquiry may take months. The shape stays the same; the intervals change.

Writing messages people reply to

• One question per message. Two questions get zero answers.
• Write the way you would text, not the way you would write a brochure.
• Use their name and what they enquired about — generic messages read as spam.
• No images, no heavy formatting in SMS. It looks like marketing and gets ignored.
• Never send "just following up" with nothing attached to it. Give a reason to reply.

Channel choice

SMS gets read almost immediately and is right for short, time-sensitive follow-up. Email is right for anything that needs detail, attachments or a longer explanation. Most good sequences alternate: SMS for the nudges, email for the substance.

In Miami, WhatsApp deserves serious consideration as a primary channel. A large share of customers treat it as their default messenger, and reply rates there are often better than SMS.

Opt-outs and consent

Every SMS sequence needs working opt-out handling, and an opt-out has to apply everywhere, immediately and permanently. Beyond being the right thing to do, messaging rules for automated texting vary by jurisdiction and change over time. Get your specific situation checked by your own advisor rather than assuming a platform's defaults cover you.

Measuring it

• Reply rate per message — which message actually earns responses
• Opt-out rate — the early warning that you are sending too many
• Booked appointments attributable to the sequence
• Time from enquiry to first reply, which usually improves the most