Follow-ups

The Follow-ups tab controls the messages sent to a lead who doesn’t reply after the welcome. You build an ordered sequence; each message has its own content and its own delay relative to the previous message.

Getting here

In NZ Leads, go to Sources → select a source → Messaging Settings → Follow-ups tab.

The tab has two sub-tabs:

• “[Source] Follow-ups” (e.g. Yelp Follow-ups) — the follow-up sequence on the primary channel, described below.
• “SMS Follow-ups” — a separate sequence sent over text. See SMS follow-ups.

Options

Continue follow-ups after you send a manual message

• Label: “Continue follow-ups after business sends a manual message” (checkbox)
• Default: on
• When on: if you or a teammate send a manual reply in the thread, scheduled follow-ups still go out until the lead replies or you change the lead’s status.
• When off: a manual reply from your side stops all future follow-ups for that lead.
• Use this when: leave it on if your team only replies to say “got it, will call you” and you want the nurture sequence to keep running. Turn it off if a manual reply always means “I’ve got this handled, stop messaging.”
• Note: this setting does not apply to Facebook Lead Ads sources.

Follow-up sequence

The ordered list of follow-up messages. Each entry has the following fields.

Predefined or AI (per message)

• Label: a Predefined / AI toggle at the top of each follow-up entry.
• Default: Predefined.
• Predefined: a fixed message you write (the Message body below).
• AI: instead of a fixed message, the AI writes the follow-up when its scheduled time arrives, using the Conversation Setup AI instructions and the current lead conversation.
• When AI isn’t available: the AI option is greyed out and the entry shows “Turn on AI Assistant in Conversation Setup to use AI follow-ups.” — turn on AI Assistant in Conversation Setup first.
• Cap: a sequence can hold only so many AI follow-ups. Past the limit you’ll see “You reached the limit of N AI follow-ups. Use a predefined follow-up or change an existing AI follow-up to predefined.”

Message body

• Label: rich-text editor for the message content (predefined messages only)
• Default: (empty on a new entry)
• What it is: what the lead receives. Supports basic formatting (bold, italics, links, line breaks).
• Use this when: write something that genuinely adds value — a new question, a photo, a testimonial, a reminder. Don’t send filler.

Delay

• Label: delay value (number) + unit (dropdown)
• Units: Minutes, Hours, or Days
• Default: (depends on the system default)
• What it means: the delay is counted from the previous message, not from when the lead first arrived. For example, if follow-up #1 has a 1-hour delay and follow-up #2 has a 2-day delay, follow-up #2 fires 2 days after follow-up #1 was sent, which is roughly 2 days and 1 hour after the lead arrived.
• Use this when: match the tempo to your sales cycle. Urgent services (emergencies, lockouts) use minutes to hours; project-based services use hours to days; long-cycle professional services can go multiple days between messages.

”AI determines when this follow-up is sent” (AI messages only)

• Label: “AI determines when this follow-up is sent” (toggle, shown only on AI follow-up entries)
• Default: off
• When on: the AI chooses the timing of the follow-up instead of using the fixed delay above; the delay you set is kept as a fallback.
• When off: the AI follow-up fires on the fixed delay like a predefined one.

Reorder / Add / Remove

• Reorder: drag the row’s handle to change order. Messages fire in the order shown.
• Add: click the add button to insert a new message at the end of the list.
• Remove: delete any message. The remaining messages keep their own delays (counted from the new previous message).

SMS follow-ups

The SMS Follow-ups sub-tab is a follow-up sequence sent over text, separate from the primary-channel sequence above. It has its own message list and its own timer, so a lead can be mid-sequence on both channels at the same time.

You build an ordered list the same way as the primary sequence (add, remove, drag to reorder), with the same per-message controls — the only differences are the SMS text constraints and that AI entries draw on the SMS AI settings:

• Predefined or AI (per message): each entry can be a fixed message you write, or an AI-generated one. AI SMS follow-ups use the SMS AI settings from Conversation Setup, and there’s a cap on how many AI follow-ups a sequence can hold — past the limit you’ll see “You reached the limit of N AI SMS follow-ups.” (If SMS AI isn’t on, the entry shows “Turn on SMS AI in Conversation Setup to use AI SMS follow-ups.”)
• Message text (predefined): ASCII only, maximum 160 characters — one SMS segment.
• Delay: how long after the previous SMS this one sends.
• “AI determines when this SMS follow-up is sent” (AI messages only): let the AI choose the timing instead of the fixed delay; the delay you set is kept as a fallback.

When the lead replies on either channel — SMS or the primary channel — follow-ups stop on both. A customer reply ends the lead’s automated follow-ups everywhere, not just on the channel they replied on.

How it behaves

• Start: the follow-up clock starts when the welcome message is sent.
• Stopping automatically:
  • The lead replies.
  • The AI conversation (if used) ends with the lead resolved.
  • You change the lead’s status in a way that ends automation.
  • A predefined message with Prevent follow-ups was the one that triggered — no follow-ups are scheduled in the first place.
• Stopping on manual reply: depends on the Continue follow-ups after business sends a manual message setting above.
• Respecting the schedule: follow-ups fire only during the hours configured on the Timing tab. If a follow-up’s scheduled time falls outside allowed hours, it’s held until the next allowed window.
• Grace period exception: the Timing tab’s grace period lets follow-ups go out shortly after a lead’s initial message even outside the operating schedule — that’s the only exception to the schedule.
• Edits to the sequence: timing and content changes apply to new leads only. Leads already mid-sequence keep the timing they started with.
• AI Follow-ups override: if AI Assistant mode has Enable AI Follow-ups turned on, the AI writes its own follow-ups instead of running this sequence.

Troubleshooting

• Follow-up #2’s delay is measured from the wrong point: delays are from the previous message, not from the lead’s start. To schedule “fire 2 days after the lead arrives,” set follow-up #1 at 2 days (from the welcome, which is effectively the lead’s start).
• Follow-ups aren’t sending at all:
  • Check the Timing tab — the schedule may be blocking them.
  • Check the lead didn’t already reply.
  • If AI Assistant is on with AI Follow-ups enabled, the standard sequence is replaced by AI-generated follow-ups.
  • Confirm Override Default Settings is configured as you expect at this level.
• A manual reply stopped follow-ups and you didn’t want it to: turn on Continue follow-ups after business sends a manual message.
• Follow-ups went out at 2 AM: review your Timing schedule and grace period — a long grace period can push messages into the middle of the night.

Questions? Email support@nzleads.com.