If you’re sick of chasing customers with “just checking in” emails, or if your team is dropping follow-ups because there’s just too much manual tracking, this guide is for you. I’ll walk you through setting up automated follow-ups using Sendtrumpet workflows, step by step. We’ll skip the fluffy promises and get into what actually works—and what to watch out for—so you can spend less time babysitting your inbox and more time doing…literally anything else.
Why bother automating follow-ups?
Let’s be honest: following up is a chore. Most folks hate it, and it’s easy to let things slip. But if you don’t follow up, you lose opportunities and leave customers hanging. Automation doesn’t mean spamming people or removing the human touch—it means making sure nobody falls through the cracks and you’re not reinventing the wheel every time.
Automated workflows help you:
- Save time on repetitive tasks
- Keep customers engaged without nagging them (or yourself)
- Track what’s working and what isn’t
- Make your team look a lot more organized than it feels
But automation can also go wrong: clunky, impersonal emails, weird timing, or messages that don’t fit the customer’s stage. So, let’s build something that actually helps.
Step 1: Get clear on your follow-up goals
Before you dive into Sendtrumpet and start clicking around, pause. What do you want your follow-ups to do? Most teams fall into one or more of these buckets:
- Nurture leads: Keep potential customers warm without being annoying.
- Drive responses: Get customers to reply, book a meeting, or complete a task.
- Onboarding: Help new users get set up without manual reminders.
- Retention/check-ins: Make sure existing customers don’t feel forgotten.
Pick ONE to start. Trying to automate everything at once usually means nothing works well.
Pro Tip: Write out your follow-up message(s) in a doc first. If it sounds like a robot, rethink it.
Step 2: Map out your follow-up sequence
Automation is only as good as the plan behind it. Take five minutes to sketch out your ideal path:
- When should the first follow-up go out? (e.g., 1 day after no reply)
- How many times will you follow up before stopping?
- What should each message say? Does the tone stay friendly or get more direct?
- Will you stop the sequence if the customer replies?
Here’s a dead-simple example for a sales inquiry:
- Day 1: Auto-reply confirming you got their request.
- Day 3: “Just checking if you had any questions.”
- Day 7: “Still interested in chatting?”
- Stop if they answer; otherwise, end here.
Don’t overcomplicate it. You can tweak later.
Step 3: Set up your workflow in Sendtrumpet
Time to open Sendtrumpet and put your plan into action. Here’s how to do it without getting lost in the weeds.
3.1 Create a new workflow
- Log in and go to the Workflows section.
- Click Create Workflow (the name isn’t permanent, but make it clear—e.g., “Demo Request Follow-up”).
3.2 Define your trigger
This is what starts the automation. Common triggers: - New lead is added to your CRM - Customer fills out a form - Someone replies (or doesn’t reply) to a message
Pick the trigger that fits your process. If you’re not sure, start with a form submission or CRM update.
Watch out: Overly broad triggers mean people get emails they shouldn’t. Test with yourself first.
3.3 Add workflow steps
Now, you’ll add the actual follow-up steps. For each one: - Choose Send Email (or whatever action fits, like “Assign to rep”) - Write your message. Use personalization tokens (like {{FirstName}}), but don’t force it—if you wouldn’t say it out loud, skip it. - Set the delay (“Wait 3 days,” etc.)
Repeat for each step in your sequence.
Pro Tip: If you attach files, videos, or calendar links, check they actually work. Broken links make you look sloppy.
3.4 Set conditions
You probably don’t want to keep emailing someone who’s already replied. Add a condition like: - If customer replies, stop workflow - If customer books a meeting, stop
Sendtrumpet lets you set these “exit” conditions. Use them.
3.5 Review and test
Before you set anything live: - Send a test run to yourself or a teammate. - Check for typos, awkward phrasing, and broken placeholders. - Make sure the timing feels right—are there weird gaps or messages sent at odd hours?
If something feels off, fix it now. Your customers will notice.
Step 4: Connect to your other tools (optional, but helpful)
If you’re using a CRM, calendar, or Slack, Sendtrumpet can usually integrate (depending on your plan).
- CRM integration: Automatically add leads to workflows when they hit a certain stage.
- Calendar: Drop in your booking link so customers can schedule without the back-and-forth.
- Slack/Teams: Get notified when someone replies or completes an action.
Integration is handy, but don’t get bogged down trying to make everything perfect on day one. Start simple, then add connections as you figure out what you actually need.
Step 5: Monitor, tweak, and don’t set-and-forget
Automation is not a Ronco rotisserie oven (“set it and forget it”). Check in after a week:
- Are people replying more? Less?
- Any complaints about tone or timing?
- Are unsubscribes or spam complaints going up?
If something isn’t working, change it. Maybe your subject lines are too generic, or the timing is off. Look at metrics, but also trust your gut—if you’d be annoyed getting your own emails, your customers probably are too.
What doesn’t work: - Overly long sequences (“I noticed you haven’t responded to my last 6 emails…”) - Stale, generic content - Messages that sound nothing like your real team
What works: - Short, clear messages - Honest, friendly tone - Clear next steps (“Reply to this email if you want to chat” is better than a vague CTA)
Step 6: Keep it human
Automation should make your life easier, not turn you into a robot. The best follow-up workflows sound like a real person wrote them (because, originally, one did). A few rules of thumb:
- Use language you’d actually say on the phone.
- Personalize when it makes sense, but don’t overdo it.
- Don’t pretend to be “checking in” if you’re actually just following up.
If you wouldn’t send it manually, don’t automate it.
Wrapping up: Start small, iterate, and stay real
The point of automating follow-ups with Sendtrumpet isn’t to spam your customers or replace real conversations. It’s to make sure you (and your team) aren’t dropping the ball on the basics.
Start with a single, simple workflow. Get the timing and messaging right. Then, if it’s working, build from there. Don’t overthink the integrations or try to copy what some “guru” says is the perfect sequence. Your customers will tell you—one way or another—what actually works.
Keep it simple, check your work, and never trust automation to handle what only a human can do. Good luck.