Automated Texting for Follow Up Boss

What Follow Up Boss automates on its own

Follow Up Boss can send an automated text by itself in two places. Lead Flow sends an initial auto-text the moment a new lead enters your account, and it supports merge fields so the message uses the lead's name and details. Action Plans can also include text steps alongside their email and task steps.

What Follow Up Boss does not include natively is ongoing drip texting or mass texting. That is a deliberate product decision on their side, not a missing feature, which is why every team running longer text sequences adds a third-party tool for that part.

How third-party texting automation actually works

Nearly every texting tool in the Follow Up Boss ecosystem uses the same mechanism, and understanding it makes the tools much easier to compare.

You add an "Add Note" step to a Follow Up Boss Action Plan. Inside that note you write the message you want sent, and you prefix it with a bracket tag that says when to send it. The connected tool watches your notes, sees the tag, and sends the text on that schedule. The Action Plan handles the timing of the note; the tag handles the timing of the text.

Because the instruction lives in your Action Plan rather than inside the tool, the sequences you build are yours. SendMate reads the same bracket vocabularies the other tools use, so an Action Plan written for another vendor keeps working without being rebuilt.

The bracket tags, and what each one does

Tag support varies by vendor, but the common set is small and readable:

• ✓[scheduled] — send during business or send-window hours
• ✓[now] — send immediately, bypassing the send window
• ✓[9am] or [10:30am] — send at a specific time
• ✓[1h] or [30min] — send after a delay
• ✓[delete] — cancel pending texts for that contact

Setting it up, step by step

The whole setup is a handful of steps, and most of them happen inside Follow Up Boss rather than in the texting tool.

• ✓Open the Action Plan you want to add texting to, or create a new one.
• ✓Add an "Add Note" step at the point in the sequence where the text should go out.
• ✓Write the message in the note, starting with the bracket tag for the timing you want.
• ✓Connect your texting tool to Follow Up Boss so it can read those notes.
• ✓Set your send window so texts only go out during hours you are comfortable with.
• ✓Run one contact through the plan end to end before enabling it on a live list.

Which number your texts come from

This is the difference that matters most once the mechanics are set up, and it is easy to miss when comparing tools on price.

Most Follow Up Boss texting tools provision a separate number and send from that, which means your leads see a number they do not recognise, and replies live outside the phone number you have been building trust with. SendMate sends from your own Follow Up Boss number instead, so the follow-up comes from the line your leads already know.

Consent, 10DLC, and opt-outs

Automating the sending does not change your obligations, and this is the part most setup guides skip.

In the US, business texting requires A2P 10DLC registration, and message delivery is unreliable until that registration completes. You also need proper consent for the contacts you are texting, and a working opt-out path, with STOP replies honoured immediately and permanently.

This is general information rather than legal advice. If you are unsure about your obligations, talk to someone qualified before you start sending.

Frequently Asked Questions