How to Automate Text Drip Campaigns with Follow Up Boss and Texting Betty
Text messaging has become one of the most effective ways to connect with leads in real estate, and automating those texts can save you countless hours while keeping your outreach consistent. If you’re using Follow Up Boss with Texting Betty, you have a powerful combination that makes setting up automated text drip campaigns surprisingly straightforward.
Let me walk you through exactly how to set this up so you can start nurturing your leads on autopilot.
Setting Up Your Text Drip Campaign
The foundation of any automated text campaign in Follow Up Boss starts with action plans. Head over to the action plans section and select “Add Action Plan.” Give your campaign a clear, descriptive name so you can easily identify it later—something like “New Lead Welcome Series” or “90-Day Nurture Campaign” works well.
Now comes the fun part: building out your text sequence. You can add as many steps as you need for your campaign. For each step, set the action type to “Add Note.” This might seem a bit counterintuitive at first, but this is how Texting Betty integrates with Follow Up Boss to send your automated messages.
When you want to send that first text message immediately upon launching the action plan, there’s a simple trick: use the [scheduled] tag in square brackets at the beginning of your message, followed by your actual text content. It’s really as straightforward as writing an email. The beauty of this system is that you can use merge fields to personalize each message automatically—inserting the contact’s name, property address, or other relevant details without any manual work on your part.
For the messages that follow your initial text, you’ll need to adjust the run setting to control the timing. Set the number of days you want to wait before each subsequent message goes out. Maybe you want your second message to go out three days later, and your third message a week after that. You have complete control over the cadence.
One crucial tip: Always set your preferred delivery time and keep everything within business hours. The last thing you want is to text a lead at 11 PM on a Saturday night. Respecting people’s time builds trust and keeps you compliant with messaging best practices.
As you build out your campaign, consistency is key. Keep the formatting the same across all your messages so the system can process them correctly. Once you’ve mapped out your entire sequence, save your action plan.
Activating Your Campaigns
Creating the campaign is only half the battle—you also need to know how to deploy it. Follow Up Boss gives you multiple ways to activate your text drip campaigns based on what works best for your workflow.
- Create a lead flow that automatically triggers the campaign when certain conditions are met
- Set up automations that launch based on specific lead behaviors
- Manually use the “Start Action Plan” feature directly from a lead’s profile
This flexibility means you can automate where it makes sense while still maintaining manual control when you need it.
To manually launch an action plan for a specific contact, navigate to their lead profile, locate and select “Start Action Plan,” type in the name of your campaign, and select “Activate Plan.” You’ll see your message appear as scheduled, and from there, the automation takes over.
Taking It Further with Bulk Texting
Here’s a bonus feature that can be a real time-saver: Texting Betty also allows you to send bulk text messages to up to 100 contacts at once. This is perfect for those situations where you need to reach a segment of your database quickly—maybe announcing an open house, sharing a new listing, or sending a market update.
If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed or just want a head start, there’s good news. You can connect with the support team to access free pre-made drip campaigns that provide a solid foundation. You can use these templates as-is or customize them to match your voice and strategy.
The combination of Follow Up Boss and Texting Betty puts powerful automation at your fingertips. You can stay top-of-mind with your leads, provide value consistently, and free up your time to focus on the high-value activities that actually close deals. The key is to get started, test your messaging, and refine your approach based on what resonates with your audience. Now it’s time to put this into action and elevate your outreach game.
