Your Guide to Automated Follow Up
A guide to using automation rules to create automated follow up with homeowners.
Good homeowner communication is critical for every step of the job cycle. A strong approach to customer follow-up helps maintain consistency, ensures that no leads or opportunities slip through the cracks, and creates a seamless customer experience with half the effort.
You’ll close more deals, keep homeowners happy, and never have to worry about forgetting to hit send.
Automation Refresher
In essence, an automation is a set of rules that trigger actions in your CRM. They are commonly structured as “if this happens, do that” statements. They are commands that initiate a series of predefined actions based on certain criteria being met.
What’s a condition?
Conditions are the criteria that must be met to activate an automation.
What’s a trigger?
A trigger is the starting point for your automation. Think of a trigger as the “If this happens…” part of your automated command.
What’s an action?
Actions are the “do this” part of your automated command. These are the repetitive tasks that you want to always happen.
Using automations to streamline homeowner communication
By pairing email and text templates with easy automations, you can send perfectly timed and personalized messages that close deals, and build trust, while saving you tons of time every day. And we think that’s pretty cool. Here’s how you can use automation rules to create and send the right message at the right time…
1. Using ‘new trigger event’
Rule: If "X" changes to "Y", send "Z"
A new trigger event can used to send an email or text message based on job activity. These “events” can be thought of as any change to the job stage or proposal status.
2. Using ‘time-based triggers’
Rule: If “X” stays as “Y” for greater than # hours/days, send "Z"
These are called “duration” triggers and you can think of this as triggering an email or text based on “remains in” criteria.
Job stage duration triggers
Create a follow-up action based on how long a job has remained in a stage.
Proposal stage duration triggers
Create a follow-up action based on how long the status of a proposal has remained in a stage.
💡Use Case:
When you want to “remind” a homeowner. These are particularly powerful for creating proactive follow-ups with customers (like when you’re trying to close a deal) or reminding customers of action items (like making payment on an invoice).
Using ‘time-based delays’
Rule: Send "X", at or after "Y"
In contrast, time-based delays are used to delay the action to send after a certain amount of time, or at a certain time. These delays can be added to any of your automations to help standardized follow-up.
"Delay until…"
Choose the relative day and time you want the message to be sent.
"Delay for…"
Delay the message to send after a certain amount of time after the trigger event happens.
💡Use Case:
When you want to keep homeowners in the loop. This is particularly impactful in creating an excellent homeowner experience. Keeping them well-informed builds trust and opens the door for asking for a review.
Using Email and Text Templates with automations
When it comes to your brand reputation, every interaction counts and you need the peace of mind that your team’s follow-up is professional and consistent. Templates allow you to send messages that feel personal but look professional.
Personalize your templates
The dynamic fields allow you to create personalization across automated messages.
You’ll save tons of time on outreach, without sacrificing the personal touch. A dynamic field creates a placeholder in the template that automatically populates with details from the job record.
💡Use Case:
Create a lead follow-up email template that all your sales reps can use. Use the message template in your automated follow up and the dynamic fields will tailor the email to the correct job. The email will come from the rep the job assigned to and include all the correct customer details for a personalized follow-up that scales across your team.
Categorize your templates
Template categories allow you to create specific email and text messages for every scenario. The categories keep your templates organized by the relevant stages of your job cycle and correlate to where and how they can be used in the Roofr platform.
Categories
- General
- New Leads
- Proposals
- Invoices
Add call-to-action (CTA) links and buttons to your templates
Adding a link in your emails and text messages makes it super easy for homeowners to complete an action right from their device - whether it’s signing a proposal, viewing an invoice, or leaving a review. How you add links and buttons depends on whether you’re sending a text or email.
CTA in emails
- Add an eye-catching button to the bottom of your email that links to a phone number, email address, or custom URL
- Insert a hyperlink anywhere in the body of the email
CTA in texts
- Add a URL to the bottom of your text for quick action
- Insert a hyperlink anywhere in the body of the text
Automated follow-up in action
As we said, good communication is critical at every stage of your job cycle. Whether you’re the business owner trying to create the best customer experience or a salesperson trying to close deals, when it comes to homeowner comms many businesses struggle with;
❌ lack of follow-up and poor close rates
❌ poor written communication and inconsistent messaging across teams
❌ no visibility on customer outreach
Automated follow-up to close more deals
The “Rule of 7” states that it takes 7 interactions before a new lead converts. For busy roofing businesses that’s a lot of time spent writing emails and text messages.
Automated follow-ups ensure you (or your team) are following up with leads in the right way, at the right time. You get peace of mind that your messaging is professional and consistent across your whole company, and leads won’t slip through the cracks.
Examples:
- Send appointment reminder
- Send sales call follow-ups
- Send proposal follow-up
Automate follow-up on invoices and payments
Visibility is important when it comes to your cash flow. Guaranteeing follow-up ensures your bases are always covered and reduces the chances of missed or late payments
And if it does happen, an automated sequence can help you send perfectly timed and professional reminders without the manual work.
Examples:
- Send invoice after a proposal is signed
- Send invoice reminder
Automate requests for a review or referral
It can be hard to know the best time to ask for a review. Automations can take the guesswork out of that too. Send a perfectly timed request when the job is completed so you never miss out on a chance for a five-star review.
Standardize your processes with automations
Imagine all your tasks, communications, and follow-ups using the same professional format—no guesswork, inconsistencies, or spelling mistakes.
When you’re managing a team, a standardized process is crucial for ensuring the most important work is being done, and being done right. You'll get better control over your team’s work and a clear view of what's happening across all your projects, making it easy to spot any bottlenecks and keep things running smoothly.
Here’s how automations will boost your team’s productivity and overall effectiveness.
- Efficient Project Management: Automatically assigning tasks based on project timelines means your team knows exactly what to do and when.
- Accurate Record Keeping: Ensuring every project follows the same steps and processes reduces data errors and inconsistencies in your records, making it easier to track project progress and client interactions.
- Enhanced Visibility: Consistency in your workflow translates to better insights into your business's performance so you can make informed decisions quickly and effectively.
