Set up automatic follow-up texts for unsold estimates

Overview#

Automatic follow-up sends a short series of texts to customers who have an open estimate. Each text includes the options link, so the customer can review and approve without calling. The sequence stops by itself as soon as the customer replies, approves an option, or the office marks the opportunity won or lost. You set it up once for the whole company.

Before you start#

• You need settings.manage (owners and admins) to change the sequence.

• Your company needs a texting number. Without one, texts are recorded as not sent and the Follow Up board says so. See Settings › Phones › Phone Numbers, Call Recording & Texting.

• Automatic follow-up is on by default with a three-step sequence (day 2, day 7 and day 21), sent at 10 AM on weekdays.

Steps#

Open the settings#

1. Go to Settings › Marketing › Follow-Up Sequences. You can also click Auto texts at the top of the Follow Up board.

2. The page is titled Automatic follow-up.

Turn it on or off#

1. Check or uncheck Send automatic follow-up texts.

2. Click Save. When it's off, the Follow Up board shows "Automatic follow-up texts are off for your company" under the board.

Choose when texts go out#

1. Leave Skip weekends (send Monday) checked to move any Saturday or Sunday step to Monday.

2. Pick Send at: any hour from 7 AM to 8 PM in your company's time zone.

3. Quiet hours from Settings › Communications › Customer Notifications always apply on top of this.

Write the steps#

1. Each step has Step N: day and Text. The day counts from when the estimate was created. For example, day 2 is two days after the estimate.

2. You can have one to six steps. Each step must fall on a later day than the one before, between day 1 and day 120.

3. Keep each text under 320 characters.

4. Use placeholders to personalize:

   • {company}: your company name.

   • {firstName}: the customer's first name. Commercial customers without a first name read "Hi there".

   • {summary}: the job summary, for example "Furnace replacement".

   • {link}: the options link where the customer reviews and approves.

5. A step without {link} gets the link added to the end automatically. A follow-up the customer can't act on is just noise.

6. Read the Preview line under each step. It shows the text filled in with sample values.

7. Leave the extra rows empty if you don't need them. Click Save.

Pause or resume one customer's texts#

1. On the Follow Up board, open the opportunity.

2. Under Automatic follow-up, you see each step with Sent, Next, Skipped or Day N.

3. Click Pause automatic texts to stop it for this customer. Click Resume automatic texts to start again from the next unsent step.

Settings that change this#

• Settings › Marketing › Follow-Up Sequences: on/off, send hour, weekends and steps.

• Settings › Communications › Customer Notifications: quiet hours and which automated texts go out.

• Settings › Phones › Phone Numbers, Call Recording & Texting: the texting number and texting registration.

Tips#

• Three steps is plenty for most shops. The default timing (2, 7 and 21 days) works well for repair and replacement estimates.

• Keep the first text a question, not a push. "Any questions about your options?" gets more replies than "Approve now".

• When you save new timing, running sequences keep their progress. Their next unsent step follows the new schedule.

• When a customer replies, TradesWork stops the texts and creates a "call them back" task for the opportunity owner, due today.

Troubleshooting#

• No texts are going out. → Automatic follow-up is off, there's no texting number, or the estimate has no open options. → Check the checkbox, connect texting, and look at the Automatic follow-up section on the opportunity for the stop reason.

• "Steps must be in order, each on a later day". → Two steps share a day or are out of order. → Renumber the days so each is later than the one before.

• "Every follow-up text in the sequence has already gone out." → You tried to resume a finished sequence. → Text the customer by hand from the board instead.

• "Automatic follow-up runs on open estimates only." → Hand-added leads and closed opportunities don't use the sequence. → Use tasks and manual texts.

• A customer replied STOP. → They opted out of texts. The sequence stops and no more texts go to them. → Call instead.

FAQ#

Q: What stops the sequence? The customer replies, the customer approves an option, someone marks it won or lost, every option is dismissed, someone pauses it, or you turn follow-up off in Settings.

Q: Does it text at night? No. Texts go out at your send hour on weekdays (if you skip weekends) and never during quiet hours.

Q: Can I have different sequences for different job types? Not yet. There is one company-wide sequence. For more control, use Marketing › Campaign Library templates such as "Nudge open estimates after 3 days", which can use conditions.

Coming from ServiceTitan#

• Same: like ServiceTitan's estimate follow-up campaigns, texts go out on a schedule after an unsold estimate.

• Different: in TradesWork the sequence is built in, needs no add-on, includes the options link so customers approve from their phone, and stops automatically on a reply or approval. Progress shows right on the Follow Up card.

• Where it lived: ServiceTitan Marketing Pro follow-up campaigns or third-party texting tools.