How Do I Manage Follow-ups?

Propel's automatic follow-up system ensures that prospects who don't respond receive timely follow-up messages, preventing leads from falling through the cracks. This guide explains how the follow-up system works, how to view and manage follow-ups, and how to send manual follow-ups when needed.

What Are Follow-ups?

Follow-ups are automated messages sent to prospects who haven't responded to your initial communication. Propel's follow-up system:

• Prevents missed opportunities - Ensures every prospect receives attention
• Maintains engagement - Keeps conversations active when prospects go silent
• Increases conversion rates - Timely follow-ups improve response rates
• Works automatically - Handles follow-ups without manual intervention

Use Case Examples:

• Property Management: Follow up with rental prospects who haven't responded to tour invitations
• Real Estate: Re-engage buyer leads who haven't replied to showing confirmations
• Short-Term Rentals: Follow up on booking inquiries that haven't been confirmed
• Commercial Real Estate: Maintain contact with prospects during long sales cycles

How Automatic Follow-ups Work

The Follow-up Process

Propel's automatic follow-up system works like this:

1. Initial message sent - Propel sends a response to a prospect
2. No response detected - System detects that the prospect hasn't replied
3. Follow-up scheduled - Propel schedules a follow-up based on your rules
4. Follow-up sent - When the scheduled time arrives, Propel sends the follow-up
5. Response tracking - System tracks if the prospect responds after follow-up
6. Additional follow-ups - If still no response, additional follow-ups may be scheduled

Follow-up Timing

Follow-ups are scheduled based on:

• Organization settings - Default follow-up intervals configured for your organization
• Engagement rules - Rules that specify when follow-ups should be sent
• Last activity - Time since the last message in the conversation
• Prospect behavior - Whether the prospect has engaged previously

Follow-up Limits

Propel enforces limits to prevent over-messaging:

• Maximum follow-ups - Organization-wide limit on automatic follow-ups per engagement
• Time between follow-ups - Minimum time gap between follow-up messages
• Response detection - Follow-ups stop if the prospect responds

Viewing Follow-ups

You can view and manage follow-ups in multiple ways:

Follow-ups Page

The Follow-ups page provides a comprehensive view of all follow-up activity:

1. Navigate to Follow-ups in the sidebar
2. You'll see three tabs:
   • Scheduled - Follow-ups that are scheduled but not yet sent
   • Review - Engagements that may need follow-up attention
   • History - Past follow-ups that have been sent

Scheduled Follow-ups Tab

The Scheduled tab shows:

• Upcoming follow-ups - Follow-ups scheduled to be sent in the future
• Scheduled time - When each follow-up will be sent
• Engagement details - Which conversation the follow-up relates to
• Contact information - Prospect name and contact details
• Actions - Options to cancel, send now, or modify follow-ups

Actions available:

• Send Now - Send the follow-up immediately instead of waiting
• Cancel - Cancel a scheduled follow-up
• View Engagement - Open the full conversation thread

Review Tab

The Review tab shows:

• Engagements needing attention - Conversations that may need follow-up
• Days since last message - How long it's been since the last activity
• Engagement status - Current status of each conversation
• Quick actions - Options to send follow-up or view details

Use this tab to:

• Identify conversations that need manual follow-up
• Review engagements that haven't received automatic follow-ups
• Manually trigger follow-ups for specific conversations

History Tab

The History tab shows:

• Past follow-ups - All follow-ups that have been sent
• Send date and time - When each follow-up was sent
• Follow-up attempt number - Which attempt in the sequence (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.)
• Response status - Whether the prospect replied after the follow-up
• Engagement details - Link to the full conversation

Use this tab to:

• Review follow-up performance
• See which follow-ups led to responses
• Analyze follow-up effectiveness
• Track follow-up history for specific contacts

Dashboard View

You can also see follow-up activity on the Dashboard:

1. Go to Dashboard to see recent activity
2. View follow-up statistics and recent follow-up activity
3. See notifications about scheduled or sent follow-ups

Engagement View

Follow-ups are also visible in individual engagements:

1. Go to Engagements and select a conversation
2. View follow-up history for that specific engagement
3. See scheduled follow-ups and past follow-up attempts

Contact Detail View

View follow-ups for a specific contact:

1. Go to Contacts and select a contact
2. Navigate to the Follow-ups tab on the contact detail page
3. See all scheduled and past follow-ups for that contact

Follow-up Settings

Organization-Wide Settings

Follow-up behavior is controlled by organization settings:

• Automatic follow-ups enabled - Toggle to enable or disable automatic follow-ups
• Maximum follow-ups - Limit on how many automatic follow-ups to send per engagement
• Follow-up intervals - Default time between follow-up attempts
• Quiet hours - Times when follow-ups should not be sent (future feature)

Per-Engagement Settings

Some follow-up behavior is controlled per engagement:

• Follow-up scheduling - When to schedule the next follow-up
• Follow-up content - What message to send in the follow-up
• Follow-up rules - Conditions that determine if follow-up should be sent

Sending Manual Follow-ups

You can send manual follow-ups at any time:

From Follow-ups Page

1. Go to Follow-ups page
2. Find the engagement in the Review or Scheduled tab
3. Click "Send Follow-up" or "Send Now"
4. Review and customize the follow-up message if needed
5. Confirm to send immediately

From Engagement Detail

1. Go to Engagements and select a conversation
2. Click "Send Follow-up" or use the follow-up action
3. Customize the follow-up message
4. Send immediately or schedule for later

From Contact Detail

1. Go to Contacts and select a contact
2. Navigate to the Follow-ups tab
3. Click "Send Follow-up" for any engagement
4. Customize and send the follow-up

Manual Follow-up Benefits

Manual follow-ups are useful when:

• You want to customize the message - Add specific information or context
• Timing is important - Send at a specific time that works best
• Automatic follow-ups aren't scheduled - Send when no automatic follow-up is planned
• You want immediate action - Send right away instead of waiting

Understanding Follow-up Status

Follow-ups can have different statuses that indicate their current state:

• Scheduled - Follow-up is scheduled to be sent at a future time. You can cancel, send now, or reschedule it.
• Sent - Follow-up has been sent to the prospect and is waiting for a response. You can track if the prospect responds in the engagement view.
• Cancelled - Scheduled follow-up was cancelled before sending. You can schedule a new follow-up if needed.
• Responded - Prospect replied after the follow-up was sent. The conversation is active again and you can see the response in the engagement history.

Follow-up Best Practices

Let Automation Handle Routine Follow-ups

• Trust the system - Automatic follow-ups handle most situations
• Review periodically - Check the Follow-ups page regularly to ensure everything is working
• Adjust settings as needed - Fine-tune follow-up intervals based on your needs

Use Manual Follow-ups Strategically

• Customize when needed - Send manual follow-ups when you need to add specific context
• Timing matters - Send manual follow-ups at optimal times for your prospects
• Personal touch - Use manual follow-ups for high-value prospects or complex situations

Monitor Follow-up Performance

• Review history regularly - Check which follow-ups lead to responses
• Track conversion rates - See how follow-ups impact your conversion rates
• Adjust strategy - Modify follow-up timing or content based on results

Balance Frequency and Effectiveness

• Don't over-message - Respect follow-up limits to avoid annoying prospects
• Maintain engagement - Send follow-ups frequently enough to stay top-of-mind
• Test intervals - Experiment with different follow-up timing to find what works best

Follow-up Rules and Conditions

When Follow-ups Are Sent

Follow-ups are sent when:

• No response received - Prospect hasn't replied to your last message
• Engagement is active - Conversation is still in an active status
• Time threshold met - Enough time has passed since last message
• Follow-up limit not reached - Haven't exceeded maximum follow-up count
• Within quiet hours - Not during quiet hours (if configured)

When Follow-ups Are Not Sent

Follow-ups are not sent when:

• Prospect has responded - Recent response detected
• Engagement is closed - Conversation status is completed or lost
• Maximum follow-ups reached - Already sent the maximum number
• Too soon after last follow-up - Minimum time gap not met
• During quiet hours - Outside of allowed follow-up hours (if configured)

Troubleshooting

Follow-ups Not Being Sent

If automatic follow-ups aren't being sent:

1. Check organization settings - Verify automatic follow-ups are enabled
2. Review follow-up limits - Ensure maximum follow-ups haven't been reached
3. Check engagement status - Verify engagements are in the correct status
4. Review time thresholds - Ensure enough time has passed since last message
5. Check quiet hours - Verify current time is within allowed hours

Too Many Follow-ups

If you're receiving too many follow-ups:

1. Adjust maximum follow-ups - Reduce the limit in organization settings
2. Increase time intervals - Extend time between follow-up attempts
3. Review follow-up rules - Check if rules are causing excessive follow-ups
4. Check engagement status - Ensure engagements are being closed when appropriate

Follow-ups Not Effective

If follow-ups aren't leading to responses:

1. Review follow-up content - Ensure messages are clear and compelling
2. Adjust timing - Try different follow-up intervals
3. Check prospect engagement - Verify prospects are receiving and reading emails
4. Test different approaches - Experiment with follow-up messaging

Missing Follow-ups

If expected follow-ups aren't appearing:

1. Check scheduled tab - Look for scheduled follow-ups that haven't been sent yet
2. Review engagement status - Verify engagements are in the correct status for follow-ups
3. Check follow-up rules - Ensure rules allow follow-ups for these engagements
4. Verify time thresholds - Confirm enough time has passed

Next Steps

Now that you understand follow-ups:

• Learn about booking tours and viewings to see how follow-ups relate to scheduling
• Understand engagements to see how follow-ups fit into conversations
• Configure mailbox settings to control follow-up behavior
• Monitor conversations to see follow-ups in action

Related Articles

• Understanding Engagements - Learn how follow-ups relate to conversations
• Booking Tours and Viewings - See how follow-ups work with scheduling
• Managing Contacts - View follow-up history for specific contacts
• Monitoring and Reviewing Conversations - See how Propel handles follow-ups automatically
• Configuring Mailbox Settings - Control follow-up behavior in mailbox settings