Automated Follow-up
Automatically re-engage leads who go quiet, so deals aren't lost to "I forgot to follow up."
Why Automated Follow-up Matters
Most deals aren't lost to a "no" — they're lost to silence. A customer asks a question, gets busy, and never comes back. By the time anyone remembers to check in, they've moved on.
Automated Follow-up closes that gap. When a lead goes quiet after your side sent the last message, Waslo sends a short nudge on its own — the text you wrote, or a short default in your workspace language. The nudge is fixed text, not written by the AI. You recover conversations that would otherwise go cold, without your team having to track who to chase.
Which channels send follow-ups
Follow-up messages send on WhatsApp QR, Telegram, Email, and Outlook, and on official WhatsApp numbers (Cloud API or the WhatsApp Business app) once the ready-made Follow-ups template is approved by Meta. They never send on Instagram or Messenger — Meta's 24-hour messaging window would reject a message sent that long after the customer's last one — and never for API leads. If a lead is only reachable on a channel that can't send one, no follow-up is scheduled for it.
Follow-ups on official WhatsApp numbers
Outside the 24-hour window Meta accepts only a message template it approved, so an official number sends follow-ups through the ready-made Follow-ups template:
- Go to Integrations → WhatsApp Official API and find Ready templates under the number
- Click Review and submit on Follow-ups, check the text and language, and send it to Meta
- Once Meta approves it (usually minutes, sometimes up to 24 hours), follow-ups — when turned on — also go to that number's customers
The message is the template's text with the customer's first name, not your custom follow-up message. Meta charges each one to your WhatsApp Business account at its marketing rate, usually several times the utility rate, on top of 1 credit per follow-up on pay-as-you-go, and Meta may limit how many marketing messages one customer receives. Delete the template to stop.
How It Works
- Your agent (or your team) sends a message and the customer stops responding. This applies to every lead, whatever its classification — HOT, WARM or COLD.
- Waslo schedules a follow-up for that lead after your configured delay (on a supported channel — see above).
- An hourly job checks which leads are due. A follow-up is sent only if your side still sent the last message; if the customer has written since, nothing is sent.
- Follow-ups only go out between 09:00 and 20:00 in your workspace's timezone (the calendar timezone setting). A follow-up that falls due at night waits for the morning.
- The moment the customer replies, follow-up stops and the agent resumes the normal conversation. The count starts over: if the conversation goes quiet again later, follow-ups can start again, up to your maximum.
- If the customer still doesn't reply, Waslo sends the next follow-up (up to your maximum for this silence), then stops.
Each follow-up message sent costs 1 credit; a follow-up that fails to send is refunded. Automated Follow-up is available on both Pay-as-you-go and Growth.
When Follow-up Stops
Follow-up is designed to be polite, not persistent. It stops as soon as any of these happen:
- The customer replies (the conversation is live again — no more nudges).
- The maximum number of follow-ups for this silence has been sent.
- You pause the lead or take it over via handoff.
- The customer opts out (see below).
- AI replies are turned off for the WhatsApp number the lead is on (the "AI agent replies on this number" toggle in the Personality settings for that number) — no AI reply and no follow-up scheduling happen on that number, though incoming messages are still logged and still sync to your CRM.
Opting out (STOP)
If a customer replies with a stop/unsubscribe word — in English or the local-language equivalent — on any channel, Waslo marks that lead opted out. Once opted out, the lead never receives another follow-up, on any channel, going forward. This works fleet-wide now, not just on WhatsApp as before.
Settings
You configure follow-up at the organization level, and you can override it per WhatsApp number using the Context Selector.
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enable follow-up | Turns automated follow-up on or off | Off |
| Follow-up delay (hours) | How long to wait after the lead goes quiet before the first nudge | 24 |
| Max follow-ups | How many follow-up messages to send per silence before stopping (starts over when the customer writes again) | 2 |
| Custom follow-up message | The exact text sent. Leave empty to use Waslo's default | — |
Follow-up text is fixed, not written by the AI. That keeps every follow-up predictable and cheap (1 credit each). If you leave the custom message empty, Waslo sends a short default written in your workspace language. Write your own to control the wording — {{name}} and {{first_name}} are replaced with the customer's name and first name; if there is no name, they are simply left out. Clearing the message puts the default back.
Configuring in the Dashboard
- Go to AI Agent → Follow-up.
- Toggle Enable follow-up.
- Set your follow-up delay (in hours) and max follow-ups.
- Optionally write a custom follow-up message.
- Save.
Per-Number Overrides
If you run more than one WhatsApp number, use the Context Selector at the top of the AI Agent → Follow-up page to select a specific number. Any values you set there apply only to that number and override the organization default. Numbers you don't customize keep using the org settings.
Best Practices
- Keep it short and helpful. A one-line check-in ("Just following up — did you still want details on the pricing?") outperforms a long re-pitch.
- Don't over-nudge. Two follow-ups is usually enough. More than that reads as pressure and can hurt your brand.
- Give a reason to reply. Reference what the customer was asking about, or offer the next concrete step (a booking, a quote, a photo).
- Mind the delay. A 24-hour delay respects the customer's time. Very short delays can feel pushy.
- Write the follow-up in your customers' language. The language lock governs AI replies, not follow-ups — follow-up text is sent exactly as you wrote it. If one number serves two languages, keep the text short and cover both, or give each language its own WhatsApp number with its own follow-up text.
FAQ
Does follow-up keep messaging forever? No. It sends at most your configured max follow-ups for each silence, and stops immediately if the customer replies. The count starts over only when the customer writes again.
Does it only follow up cold leads? No. When follow-up is on, every lead that goes quiet after your side spoke last gets a nudge, whether it is HOT, WARM or COLD.
Will a customer get a follow-up in the middle of the night? No. Follow-ups only go out between 09:00 and 20:00 in your workspace's timezone; one that falls due at night is sent the next morning.
What does a follow-up cost? 1 credit per follow-up message on Pay-as-you-go. On Growth, messaging is unlimited.
Will it follow up if the customer already replied? No. A customer reply cancels any pending follow-up and hands the conversation back to the normal agent flow.
Can I use a different follow-up message per number? Yes. Set a custom message under a specific WhatsApp number via the Context Selector to override the org default.
Does it work on channels other than WhatsApp? Yes: Telegram, Email and Outlook alongside WhatsApp QR, and official WhatsApp numbers once their Follow-ups template is approved (see above). It does not run on Instagram or Messenger (Meta's 24-hour messaging window would reject the send) or for API leads — those conversations still get classified and can still be handed off, but no follow-up message is scheduled.
What happens if a customer texts STOP? They're marked opted out immediately, on whichever channel they used, and that lead won't receive another follow-up on any channel going forward. This works the same way on all channels, not just WhatsApp.