Automated SMS + Email Follow-Up Cadence

The problem

New leads got one call, maybe two, and then nothing. The team knew fast, persistent follow-up would raise contact rates, but nobody had time to text and email every lead on a schedule, and nobody wanted to text a stranger at 11pm.

What I built

• A ten-touch cadence. Five texts and five emails from day zero through day five, written in the owner’s voice.
• Local quiet hours. Every lead gets a time zone from their area code and state, and messages only go out during their local daytime window.
• Stop on reply. The moment a lead texts back, the sequence pauses, the lead’s engagement score goes up, and the reply posts to Slack so a rep can jump in.
• Opt-out handling. A STOP reply ends all texting to that lead, automatically.
• An error monitor. Any failed send posts to Slack.

How it works

When a lead enters the CRM, a scheduled automation works through the cadence and checks three things before every touch: is it daytime where the lead is, has the lead replied, and has the lead opted out. Replies are captured from the phone system and matched back to the lead record.

I tested the full sequence end to end before it touched a real lead: replies, opt-outs, and time zones on both coasts.

Stack

Zapier, RingCentral SMS, transactional email, Salesforce, Slack.

Where it stands

Live since June 2026. The copy and timing live on one reference page, so the owner can change a message without touching the automation.