A follow-up workflow connects a website inquiry to a useful next conversation. Automation can schedule messages, but the business still needs to choose the right contacts, write relevant content, and handle replies.
In Chatbot Leads, cadences are multi-step email sequences for enrolled leads. Creating a chatbot or collecting a contact does not, by itself, mean every lead has been enrolled in a cadence. Review the inquiry and deliberately configure the next step.
Separate three different jobs
- Inquiry management: understand the request and decide who should respond.
- A campaign: send a particular message to a selected audience.
- A cadence: schedule a sequence of email steps for enrolled leads over time.
Use a direct personal reply when the visitor asks a specific question that needs an answer now. Use a cadence when a short, planned sequence would help an appropriate contact take the next step. Do not use a generic sequence to avoid answering the original question.
Prepare the lead before enrolling it
Confirm that the record has a usable email address, a clear source, and enough context to understand the inquiry. If the contact is not yet in the leads pipeline used by cadences, add or import it through your normal workflow and check for duplicates.
Use contact details for the purpose the visitor expects. Keep opt-out preferences intact, and choose recipients according to your business’s applicable consent and messaging requirements. This guide describes a product workflow, not a legal determination that every collected address can receive a marketing sequence.
Create a short sequence with a purpose for each message
| Step | Illustrative timing | Useful content |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Acknowledge and help | At the next appropriate send window after enrollment | Reference the request, provide a relevant answer or resource, and offer one clear next step. |
| 2. Reduce uncertainty | Two days later | Explain what the introductory call or next stage involves. Ask whether more information would help. |
| 3. Close the loop | Several days later | Ask whether the contact still needs help and provide a simple way to respond or stop further messages. |
This is an example schedule, not a claim about the best-performing sequence. Adjust it to your service, customer expectations, and team capacity. Avoid artificial urgency, repeated “just checking in” messages, and promises the team cannot fulfill.
Configure the cadence in Chatbot Leads
- Choose a descriptive name. Identify the inquiry type so the team can recognize the sequence.
- Set the timezone, send days, and send window. Pick times that fit the business’s workflow and intended audience.
- Add the email steps. Review each subject, body, and delay. Give each message one purpose and one next action.
- Select the appropriate leads for enrollment. Check the audience and remove test or irrelevant records before activation.
- Test delivery with your own address. Verify the sending setup, links, formatting, and expected timing before enrolling customers.
Cadence sends are processed on a schedule. Do not promise delivery at the exact second a visitor submits a form. Feature availability and sending prerequisites depend on the organization’s plan and configuration; check those before publishing a workflow promise on your website.
Keep a person responsible for replies
Review enrollment status and message events. Confirm how your configured sending and reply-handling integrations behave, including replies, bounces, and unsubscribes. Do not assume a status updates automatically unless you have tested the integration that provides it.
Pause or remove an enrollment when the sequence is no longer appropriate. A person should handle nuanced questions, requested changes, or a visitor who is ready for a direct conversation. If the next step is a meeting, describe it accurately as a booking request until approval.
Measure useful responses
Review replies, relevant conversations, approved meetings, and completed sales alongside delivery failures and opt-outs. Opens alone do not tell you whether an inquiry became a useful opportunity. Compare like-for-like groups and record which sequence version each group received.
Common questions
Can I automatically email every chatbot visitor?
A visitor must provide a suitable contact method, and the intended messages must be appropriate. Cadences operate on enrolled lead records; they are not messages to anonymous visitors.
Should every inquiry use the same sequence?
No. Match the content to the request and expected next step. A project inquiry, existing-customer request, and booking question may need different handling.
What should I improve before automating?
Start with a clear lead form and a response process your team can perform consistently.
Connect inquiries to a useful follow-up process
Explore Chatbot Leads and check the lead-management and cadence features available for your organization.
Compare plans and featuresBy Chatbot Leads Team · October 30, 2026. Product instructions reflect the current configuration. Examples are illustrative; the featured image is an AI-generated conceptual illustration, not a product screenshot.