Auto Follow Up
What Is Auto Follow Up?
Think of Auto Follow Up like a smart reminder system for your conversations. You know how sometimes a customer reads your message but forgets to reply? Instead of you manually checking and sending "Hey, still interested?", Auto Follow Up does it for you.
You set up rules like "If the customer doesn't reply within 2 hours, send a friendly nudge." ReplyLa handles the rest - sending the right message at the right time.
Before You Start
Before setting up Auto Follow Up, make sure you have:
- An active chatbot with AI Reply enabled.
- At least one approved WhatsApp message template (for follow-ups after 24 hours).
- Your business hours configured if you want to schedule follow-ups during working hours only.
How To Create a Follow-Up Rule
- Go to Chatbot > click your chatbot > AI Actions > Auto Follow Up.
- You'll see two tabs: Follow-Up Rules and Follow Up Activities.
- Click + New Rule (or similar) to create a new follow-up rule.
- Configure your rule using the visual flow editor (see below).
- Click Save.
Understanding the Flow Editor
Auto Follow Up uses a visual flow editor with three types of nodes connected in sequence:
Trigger Node
This is where everything starts. The trigger fires when a customer doesn't respond after the AI has replied.
- Trigger Type - "No Response" fires if the customer hasn't replied after an AI reply.
Filter Node
Filters let you control which contacts get follow-ups. For example, you might only want to follow up with contacts that have a certain label, or skip contacts who are already marked as "Not Interested".
Follow-Up Node
This is the actual message that gets sent. Each follow-up step has:
- Delay - How long to wait before sending (in minutes or hours). For example, wait 2 hours after no response.
- Message Type - Choose between Template or AI Generated (see below).
You can add multiple follow-up steps to create a sequence. For example: first nudge after 2 hours, second nudge after 24 hours with a template.
Message Types
| Type | Best For | How It Works |
|---|---|---|
| Template | Follow-ups after 24 hours, structured messages | Uses your pre-approved WhatsApp message template. Required after the 24-hour window. |
| AI Generated | Follow-ups within 24 hours, natural conversations | The AI crafts a contextual follow-up based on the conversation history. Feels more personal. |
Template messages support placeholder syntax. For example:
Hi {{1}}, we noticed you were interested in {{2}} earlier.
Need any help? Just reply to this message!
Scheduling
You can control when follow-up messages are sent:
- Anytime (24/7) - Follow-ups are sent as soon as the delay period ends, regardless of the time.
- Business Hours - Follow-ups are only sent during your configured business hours. If the delay ends at 11 PM, the message waits until the next business day.
Select your timezone to make sure scheduling aligns with your local time. If your customers are mostly in Malaysia, set it to Asia/Kuala_Lumpur.
Monitoring Follow-Ups
Click the Follow Up Activities tab to see what's happening with your follow-ups:
- View a timeline of all follow-up messages sent.
- See which contacts received follow-ups and when.
- Check the status of pending follow-ups.
- Identify which rules are performing well.
This is useful for spotting patterns - for example, if most customers reply after the first nudge, you might not need a second step.