A flow is automation with a trigger. Somebody requests a quote, and a sequence starts: confirmation now, a reminder if it goes unbooked, a check-in a week later. Each person moves through on their own clock, without anybody at the office remembering to send anything.
Briefly explained
- A sequence triggered by what one person did.
- Different from a campaign, which goes out once to everyone.
- It works demand you already have rather than buying more.
- It has to stop the moment somebody replies.
Why is it worth building before more advertising?
Because most businesses already have the demand for their next few jobs sitting in old quotes and past customers.
That demand costs nothing to reach. It is simply never worked, because working it by hand requires somebody to remember, and nobody does it on the week the schedule is full. See customer lifetime value for what that neglect is worth over time.
Which sequences earn their keep?
Build them in this order.
- Quote follow-up: Work you already priced that never got a yes.
- Review request: Sent when the job is finished and the customer is pleased. See review velocity.
- Seasonal reminder: Tied to the install date or the time of year.
- Winback: Customers who have not been in touch for a year or two.
What makes them work?
- Write like the person who did the job, not like a marketing department
- Keep it short enough to end before it annoys. Three or four messages
- Stop the flow the moment somebody replies or books. Nothing damages trust faster than an automated nudge after a yes
- Match the channel to the urgency: text for time-sensitive, email for anything that needs more than two sentences
How do you know it is working?
By what it recovers, not by open rates.
Count the quotes that closed after a follow-up and the reviews that arrived after a request. Those are jobs and ranking signals. An open rate is a number that moves when somebody changes a subject line.
What do the terms mean?
- Trigger: The event that starts the sequence.
- Campaign: A one-off send to a list. Not a flow.
- Exit condition: The rule that stops a flow early, usually a reply or a booking.
- Winback: A sequence aimed at customers who have gone quiet.
- Opt-out: The required way to stop receiving messages.
Owner questions
