What is an Instant Follow Up?


Instant Follow Ups let you text a contact while you're still on a ThruTalk call. It's useful for sending links, sharing additional info, and it helps you collect textable phone numbers. This feature helps your organization follow up in real time without waiting for the call to end. 


This guide shows admins how to set up Instant Follow Ups in a script and what to expect when using it. Before you read this guide, you should read our guide about creating ThruTalk Scripts: Creating a ThruTalk Script.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


What Is an Instant Follow Up?

Instant Follow Ups are a way to send a text message to a contact while you’re still on a ThruTalk call. These messages are sent from a toll-free number, which is different from your campaign's caller ID. Replies to the toll-free number are not retrievable.


How Does it Work?

During a call, you'll navigate through the ThruTalk script and arrive at the Instant Follow Up question. It will prompt you to enter a phone number. Here's what it looks like in a live call:

  1. Enter Phone Number: Type the number into the field and click Send Message and Next Step. This sends the text and moves you to the next script question. You can enter any number the contact provides—it doesn’t have to be the one listed on the contact record.
  2. Copy Phone Number: Alternatively, ask the contact if you can send a text to the phone number that appears in the contact details. If the contact says yes, click the green copy icon to copy the phone number and then paste it into the script question. 


How to Create an Instant Follow Up

You can add an Instant Follow Up during Script Creation. Here's how you can do that:

  1. Start with a Multiple Choice Question: Add a multiple-choice question to ask the contact whether they’d like to receive a text with more information. Set the options to “Yes” and “No.”
  2. Add an Instant Follow Up Question: Add a new question and select Instant Follow Up from the dropdown menu.Screenshot of an expanded menu of black text on a white background with the second option, 'Instant Follow Up,' highlighted in teal.
  3. Write Your Text Message: Craft your text in the Text Message Content field. 
  4. Create a Branch for “No” Responses: Add a question or script block for contacts who decline the text message.
  5. Set Up Branching Logic: Return to your multiple choice question and connect the “Yes” response to your Instant Follow Up and the “No” response to your alternate question.
  6. Continue Building the Script: Add any remaining questions or script content based on your campaign’s needs.


Additional Information and Best Practices

  • For best results, be engaging and brief in your text message, provide actionable next steps, and let the contact know what they'll get in the text.
  • You can see which number was texted in an Account or Campaign Dials export. Read more about exports here: 
  • Callers can send multiple texts by replacing the number and clicking Send Message and Next Step again, but only the last number entered will appear in the export.
  • Callers cannot edit and are not shown the Instant Follow Up text. Callers see only the field for entering a phone number.
  • Custom variables are not available in Instant Follow Up texts at this time.