Auto Follow-Up gives your Captivation Hub Conversation AI bot the ability to keep the conversation alive on its own. When a contact stops replying, asks for a follow-up later, or marks themselves as busy, the bot schedules and sends the right outbound message at the right time — no manual nudges, no babysitting workflows.
This article walks through what Auto Follow-Up does, how to switch it on, and the questions that come up most often when teams roll it out.
How to Set Up Auto Follow-Up
The setup is straightforward, but a few steps matter for keeping things tidy. One important note before you start:
Note: Don't trigger another follow-up through a workflow — doing that breaks the follow-up logic.
Step 1 — Open the Conversation AI bot
From the left-hand menu, click AI Agents, then select Conversation AI.
From here, either create a new bot (see the Setting Up Conversation AI article) or open an existing one. To open an existing bot, click the three dots beside its name in the Agent List and choose Edit.
Step 2 — Open Bot Goals
Inside the bot, click Bot Goals in the top navigation. Scroll down to Set Up Your Actions, then click Auto Followup to open the configuration panel.
Step 3 — Enable the follow-up scenarios
Each scenario defines when the bot should send a follow-up. Captivation Hub supports three:
Scenario 1 — Contact Stopped Responding
Toggle on Enable scenario. You can add up to 5 follow-up sequences for this condition.
For each sequence:
- Set the delay time in minutes, hours, or days.
- Choose Let AI Send the Message to auto-generate a contextual reply, or turn that off and enter a custom message yourself.
- Optionally, toggle Trigger a Workflow on and pick the workflow you want fired alongside the follow-up.
- Click the + Add Followup button to add another sequence.
Scenario 2 — Contact Marked as Busy
Toggle on Enable scenario. Up to 5 follow-up sequences supported. Configure them the same way as Scenario 1: set delay time, pick AI-generated or custom messaging, and optionally assign a Trigger Workflow.
Scenario 3 — Contact Requested a Follow-Up
Toggle on Enable scenario. Up to 5 follow-up sequences supported. The first sequence's delay is pre-set based on what the contact actually requested. After that, configure the rest as usual: AI or custom message, and an optional Trigger Workflow.
Step 4 — Tune the follow-up settings
A couple of advanced toggles make Auto Follow-Up feel less robotic. Both are worth setting up.
A. Set follow-up working hours
Note: This setting only applies to follow-up messages, not to the main AI bot conversations.
- Click Follow-Up Settings.
- Enable the Set Active Hours for Followup toggle.
- Choose the timezone the active hours should follow: Contact Timezone or Business Timezone. If a contact's timezone can't be detected, the bot falls back to your Business Timezone.
- Set the active hours window — for example, 9 AM to 6 PM.
- If you leave this disabled, follow-ups go out regardless of time of day.
- Click Save.
B. Enable dynamic channel switching
Click Follow-Up Settings and turn on dynamic channel switching. With this on, if the contact stops responding on the original channel, the bot will switch to another available channel — for example, moving from Live Chat to SMS, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, or WhatsApp depending on what's connected.
Click Save when you're done.
Step 5 — Save your follow-up settings
Finally, click the global Save button at the top to lock in the Follow-Up Actions for the bot.
Smart Detection of Drop-Off Scenarios
Before sending any scheduled follow-up, the bot reads the conversation context. If it looks like the conversation is closed or a follow-up wouldn't be appropriate, the system skips or cancels the message — no extra setup needed from you.
Auto Follow-Up suppresses itself when a contact:
- Is disqualified (for example, out of service area).
- Shows disinterest or opts out (e.g., "Not interested," "Stop texting me").
- Responds with frustration or anger ("Leave me alone," "This is spam").
- Wraps up the conversation naturally on their own.
Dynamic Channel Switching
If a contact goes quiet on the channel they originally used, the bot can move the follow-up to a different one — Live Chat to SMS, SMS to WhatsApp, and so on — based on which channels you have connected. This is optional and can be turned off if you'd rather keep follow-ups locked to the original channel.
Full Visibility in AI Response Info
Every scheduled follow-up shows up in the Response Info panel, so you can see what's pending and why. It's a quick way to keep oversight on automated outreach without digging through individual conversations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why didn't Auto Follow-Up send a message I scheduled?
The bot can skip or cancel a scheduled follow-up when the conversation context says it's no longer appropriate — for example, the contact opted out, showed disinterest, was disqualified, or the conversation ended on its own.
Q: What happens if a contact replies before the scheduled follow-up?
The follow-up schedule resets automatically, and no further follow-ups are sent for that conversation.
Q: What are timezone-aware follow-ups?
Timezone-aware follow-ups let you decide whether messages should be sent based on your business hours or the contact's local time. The active hours you set are applied to whichever timezone you choose.
Q: What happens if a contact's timezone isn't available?
If the contact's timezone can't be detected, the bot falls back to your Business Timezone and respects the working hours you defined.
Q: Can I customize the follow-up messages?
Yes. You can let the AI generate them or write your own custom follow-ups.
Q: Which channels does Auto Follow-Up support?
Live Chat, SMS, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — with optional dynamic channel switching between them.
Q: How do I avoid overwhelming contacts with follow-ups?
Use realistic delays between sequences and avoid stacking too many follow-ups in a short window. The goal is steady, human-feeling re-engagement — not a barrage.
Q: Where can I see all scheduled follow-ups?
Open the Response Info panel inside the conversation. Every queued follow-up shows up there.
Q: What happens if the bot is inactive?
If the bot is off, no follow-up messages go out.
Q: Do follow-ups respect the contact's preferred language?
Yes. If a contact has a preferred language set, Conversation AI sends follow-ups in that language by default.
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