What are follow-up messages?
Follow-up messages are automatic messages sent to your customers based on their current situation. They can serve as reminders, to re-engage a conversation with an interested customer, or to drive a pending action. Other advantages of follow-ups are:- Recover conversations: Re-engage customers who stopped responding
- Automate follow-up: Don’t lose opportunities by forgetting to do manual follow-up
- Improve experience: Keep communication fluid and proactive with your customers
- Increase conversions: Improve your response rates and sales closure
Prerequisites
Before creating your first follow-up, make sure you have:- Active integration: At least one active messaging integration (WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger)
- Existing conversations: Follow-ups are applied to active conversations with your customers
- WhatsApp templates (optional): If you use WhatsApp and want to send after 24 hours, you need pre-approved templates
Main follow-ups view
The main view allows you to manage all your follow-up messages from a single place. Here you’ll find all the tools needed to manage your automations.
Create a follow-up message
To create a new follow-up, click the Create Follow-up button located in the top right of the main page.
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1. Display Name
Enter a friendly and descriptive name that helps you easily identify this follow-up in your list.
Requirements:
- Maximum 100 characters
- Descriptive name of the follow-up’s purpose
Examples:
- “Inquiry follow-up - 24 hours"
- "Abandoned product reminder”
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2. Label Color (Optional)
Choose a color to label this follow-up and improve the visual organization of your list.
Label colors allow you to:
- Visually organize your follow-ups
- Group follow-ups by type or purpose
- Quickly identify different categories
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3. Delay After Last Interaction
Configure when the follow-up will be sent after the customer stopped responding.
Available options:
- Let AI decide: Artificial intelligence will determine the best time to send the follow-up based on the conversation context
- Manual configuration: Define a specific time (hours or minutes) after the last interaction
Platform limitations:
- Instagram and Messenger: Maximum 24 hours after the last interaction (Meta API policy)
- WhatsApp: You can use more time if you use templates pre-approved by Meta. Without templates, it’s also limited to 24 hours
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4. Description *
This description is crucial: it tells the AI when and why to activate this follow-up. It should be clear and specific about the conditions.
Examples of good descriptions:
- Send follow-up when a customer asks about a product but doesn’t respond in 6 hours
- Reminder for customers who requested information about services but left the conversation without closing
- Sales follow-up when the customer shows interest but doesn’t complete the purchase
What to include in the description:
- Conversation context (what type of inquiry or situation)
- Activation condition (when it should be sent)
- Message purpose (what you want to achieve)
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6. Message (Optional)
Define the content of the message that will be sent as part of this follow-up. The message only applies within a 24-hour window.
Available options:
- Let AI generate: Artificial intelligence will create the message automatically based on the description and conversation context
- Write custom message: Define exactly what message you want to send
Advantages of each option:
AI generates the message:
- Contextually relevant messages
- Automatic adaptation to the tone and style of the conversation
- Time savings in configuration
- Personalization according to each customer’s context
Custom message:
- Total control over content
- Consistency in the message for all customers
- Ideal for specific messages or with corporate information
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7. WhatsApp Template (Optional)
If you use WhatsApp and need to send follow-ups after 24 hours, you can use a template pre-approved by Meta. Having a template is completely necessary if the follow-up is after 24 hours.
When to use templates:
- When you need to send follow-ups after 24 hours on WhatsApp
- For promotional or marketing messages
- To maintain consistency with your approved templates
Important about costs:
You can select a previously created and approved template from your list of available templates. Or you can also create a template from Doko and use it here.
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8. Review and create
Review all settings before creating the follow-up. Once created, it will be active and will start working automatically.
Before confirming, verify:
- Descriptive and clear name
- Appropriate delay time for your platform
- Description that clearly explains when to activate
- Well-defined stop trigger
- Message configuration (AI or custom)
- WhatsApp template if necessary
Follow-up Stop Trigger
Required Set the conditions in which the AI should suspend scheduling follow-ups for a conversation. This prevents sending messages once the objectives have been met. With this description, the AI will know when to cancel all pending follow-ups for a conversation.
Best practices for follow-ups
Appropriate times
Configure delay times that give customers space to respond, but not so much that they lose interest. Between 2-6 hours is usually optimal.
Contextual messages
Let AI generate messages to get more natural responses adapted to each specific conversation.
Respect limits
Respect the time limitations of each platform. Use WhatsApp templates when you need more flexibility.
Test and optimize
Create different follow-ups and test which ones work best for your audience. Monitor response rates.
Follow-up management
From the main view you can:- View details: Review the complete configuration of each follow-up
- Activate/Deactivate: Control which follow-ups are active without deleting them
- Edit: Modify the configuration of existing follow-ups
- Delete: Delete follow-ups you no longer need
- Organize by color: Use label colors to filter and organize visually
Usage examples
Example 1: Appointment scheduling reminder
Configuration:- Name: Pending appointment reminder - 4 hours
- Color: Blue
- Delay: 4 hours
- Description: Send follow-up when a customer shows interest in scheduling an appointment but doesn’t confirm the date and time
- Stop trigger: Stop when the customer confirms the appointment, cancels the request, or indicates they’re no longer interested
- Message: Custom with availability reminder and time slot options
- WhatsApp template: Yes (for sending after 24 hours)
Example 2: Post-sale follow-up
Configuration:- Name: Post-sale follow-up
- Color: Green
- Delay: 24 hours (with WhatsApp template)
- Description: Follow-up after a purchase to ensure customer satisfaction
- Stop trigger: Stop when the customer confirms satisfaction, reports a problem (to escalate to support), or thanks for the follow-up
- Message: Let AI generate
- WhatsApp template: Purchase confirmation
Limitations and considerations
Time limits by platform
| Platform | Maximum time without template | Maximum time with template |
|---|---|---|
| 24 hours | Not applicable (no templates) | |
| Messenger | 24 hours | Not applicable (no templates) |
| 24 hours | No limit (with approved template) |
WhatsApp costs
When using WhatsApp templates for follow-ups, keep in mind that:- An additional charge will be generated for using the WhatsApp API
- Prices vary according to your plan and region
- Check updated prices in the official WhatsApp Business API documentation
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions