Automate review-request follow-ups

The stages

• First follow-up

  When it sends

  After a delay you set (days or hours) from the original send

  Its own subject line

  Yes

  Repeats

  No, once only

• Second follow-up

  When it sends

  After a further delay (days or hours) from the first follow-up

  Its own subject line

  Yes

  Repeats

  No, once only

• Unlimited follow-ups

  When it sends

  Every number of days you set, after the earlier stages

  Its own subject line

  Yes

  Repeats

  Yes, until the ceiling or a stopping condition

Each stage carries its own subject line, but all follow-ups use the opening email's content. Only the subject differs, so write the opening email so that it still reads well the second or third time someone sees it.

There is a hard ceiling of ten follow-ups per person. Unlimited follow-ups fills the remaining slots, so with the first and second stages switched on it can send at most eight more. If it is the only stage on, it can repeat up to ten times. Nobody receives more than ten, whatever you configure.

The delays run one after another and start when the follow-up schedule begins, right after the campaign's first send run finishes. They are not calendar dates. If part of the list was held back for later (see How delivery is paced in Create a review campaign), those people may start their clock later than the rest.

The checkbox that decides whether clicking stops the chasing

Step 3 has one setting that matters more than the rest: Stop follow-ups once the recipient clicks a review link.

The builder ticks it for you on a new campaign. Once someone clicks through, or leaves a rating, they drop out of the remaining follow-ups.

It is still the box to look at before you launch, because checkboxes get unticked. If it is clear, everyone keeps receiving reminders on schedule, including the people who already did what you asked. That is the quickest way to irritate a customer who has just reviewed you.

Worth a glance on any campaign you did not build yourself, and on anything cloned from an older one. A campaign created some way other than the builder, for example through an integration, does not necessarily start with the box ticked.

One limit applies to the click part. A click is only recorded when the person reaches Synup's own review page, which a campaign has when screening is on or when it collects feedback internally. For a plain "publish to directory" campaign with screening off, the email links straight to the review site, so no click is recorded and this checkbox can only stop reminders for people who left a rating. See Read your review campaign results.

Who gets a follow-up

A follow-up goes only to people whose invitation was sent. Recipients who failed, bounced, were skipped or are still waiting do not receive one. Someone who responded or clicked is included only if the stop-on-click box is clear.

Follow-ups are email only

An SMS-only campaign gets no follow-ups at all. Not fewer, none. The follow-up step does not appear in the builder when you choose SMS only. If reminders matter to you, the campaign has to include email.

The Thank-you message

The Thank-you tab is a separate switch, Send a thank-you message after a customer responds. When it is on you set an email subject, a message and Send after (hours), which starts at 12. It is sent once per respondent, only when they leave a rating or feedback and Synup has their email address. It is not a reminder and does not count toward the ten.

What else stops a follow-up

Whatever that checkbox is set to, a follow-up will not go out when:

• the campaign has been stopped. Use Stop on the campaign to halt every remaining stage at once
• the person unsubscribed. The unsubscribe link takes effect immediately
• their address is on your suppression list. Usually because of an earlier bounce or complaint
• they have already had that stage. Each person receives each stage once, so re-running does not double up

Stop is the control to reach for if you realise something is wrong mid-campaign. It is in the campaign's row menu, and selecting it stops the campaign straight away with no confirmation step, so be sure it is the right row. Stopping permanently halts all remaining sends. It is faster and more complete than editing individual stages.

Where follow-ups are counted

The Acquisitions list has a Follow-ups column. It is the total number of follow-up messages sent for the campaign, not the number of people, so two people who each had a reminder and a second reminder add up to four. The Emails column still counts each person once.

Next

• Create a review campaign
• Send from your own domain