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Follow up leads outside work hours via WhatsApp

We use the WhatsApp Business API to follow up your leads. They get the chance to schedule an appointment or qualify themselves.

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Half an hour online. You hear whether it fits, what it costs and how fast it can go.

Jamal CederMeta Tech Provider · · 7 min read
Meta Tech Provider

Lead follow-up via WhatsApp is an automated message within one minute of an enquiry, even outside work hours, with questions or a link to schedule a call. It is intended for leads that cool before a salesperson can call. The response comes back into the company's own system. The WhatsApp number stays the company's own. Overtoom, a Meta Tech Provider in the Netherlands, builds this bespoke per client on the WhatsApp Business API.

Do you also have old leads that went cold? Then read about reactivating leads who previously said no.

Why you need to be there immediately

You invest time, energy and money in advertising, your website, comparison sites. A lead you fail to reach costs you that money.

This is one of the most important sales rules. The moment someone shows interest, that interest is not exclusive to you. It can fade. You need their attention and you must keep it.

Harvard Business Review published in March 2011 a study of 1.25 million leads across 42 US companies. Companies that tried to make contact within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead as companies that tried an hour later. Qualifying meant, in the study: a real conversation with someone who decides.

Leads with money are often busy during the day. That is why they fill in forms at 20:40 or on Sunday morning. Calling is not appropriate then.

This is not a chatbot. It is a fixed sequence of messages and a form. The templates and form are determined in advance and approved by Meta. An automated WhatsApp message stands ready with questions to qualify the lead or a proposal for a follow-up call.

  1. Tuesday 20:40

    Sanne requests a quote for solar panels from Dorpsveld Zonnetechniek, a fictional installation company.

  2. Within a minute

    She receives a personal WhatsApp message thanking her and asking if she will answer three short questions.

  3. Straight after

    She opens the form in WhatsApp and enters: homeowner, pitched roof facing south, roughly 3,500 kWh per year. Then the message asks if an adviser may call her tomorrow.

  4. Wednesday morning

    She taps "Yes, call me". In the dashboard she shows as "callback request open".

  5. Then

    The adviser calls with her roof and usage in hand, instead of cold.

Two ways to start the conversation

In both options you first thank the lead personally, using their first name. You choose how the WhatsApp message looks.

Qualify in the chat

  • You ask short questions via a WhatsApp Flow.
  • The lead types answers into the form within the chat itself.
  • The response comes back structured into your system.
  • You call the next morning with that information.

Confirm straight away with a link

  • You confirm them immediately with a short message.
  • "Hi {{voornaam}}, thanks for your enquiry. You can reply to this message now. We'll pick it up first thing when we're open again. And here's a link to schedule a call."
  • Your team picks up the responses first thing when you're open again.
  • The lead chooses the moment for the call themselves.

The rest of the page works out option 1: the form, the dashboard and how it is built.

Why WhatsApp, not email

Four characteristics of WhatsApp explain why follow-up works here.

It gets read, and fast

In a measurement of 226 messages for one client, 20 August to 7 September 2026, the median time to open was 26 minutes for the first message and 47 minutes for the reminder. Not a benchmark. It was a campaign to people who showed interest earlier but had been quiet for a while. For a fresh enquiry there is no figure yet.

The inbox versus WhatsApp

So much arrives in your email. It is harder to respond to. It feels less personal. You feel no obligation to reply. WhatsApp feels immediate. The barrier is lower. You get a message from the company you just asked something of. That feels natural.

A reminder costs one message

Whoever read the message but did nothing gets one reminder after two days. Only that person. Only if they read but did not fill in a form, did not schedule a call, did not reply. Whoever replies STOP, even with punctuation after it, gets nothing more.

The sender is visibly a company

At the top of a business WhatsApp chat are the company name and logo. The blue tick only appears if Meta gave that tick to the company, via a Meta Verified subscription or as an official business account. The lead sees who is writing. The message is personal: it contains the lead's first name and a thank you for the enquiry. Alex Hormozi writes in $100M Leads: "I never respond to phone calls. But, I reply to direct messages far more."

Follow-up flowSanne→Dorpsveld Zonnetechniek

The conversation, as Sanne sees it.

Sanne is a fictional lead. The messages follow the real structure of a campaign Overtoom builds.

Scenario

Dorpsveld Zonnetechniek receives dozens of solar panel enquiries every week. Most visitors want to know first if their roof is suitable. The company wants to respond quickly, without immediately putting an adviser on the line.

D

Dorpsveld Zonnetechniek

last seen recently

24h service window closed

Messages are end-to-end encrypted.

Sanne enters her own situation. She decides whether an adviser may call. That person then already knows what she wants.

Speed

Tuesday 20:40. Sanne requests a quote for solar panels from Dorpsveld Zonnetechniek, a fictional installation company.

Hi Sanne, thanks for your enquiry at Dorpsveld Zonnetechniek. Will you answer three short questions? Answer questions

Answer questions

A form opens in WhatsApp with three questions about her property. Sanne enters: homeowner, pitched roof facing south, roughly 3,500 kWh per year.

Thanks Sanne. I have passed on: homeowner, pitched roof facing south, 3,500 kWh per year. The adviser now knows what he can do for you.

May an adviser call you tomorrow to discuss your situation? No obligation, just a quick chat. Yes, call me / Message me first

Wednesday morning

Yes, call me

The adviser sees the enquiry with her answers. In the dashboard she shows as "callback request open".

Press play to see the conversation.

Qualifying in WhatsApp itself

The first message opens a form in WhatsApp itself. Not on a website.

The answers return to Dorpsveld Zonnetechniek's system. The adviser sees name, number and what Sanne entered. He calls with that information, not cold.

The form and templates are approved in advance by Meta.

Dorpsveld Zonnetechniek

Your quote for solar panels

Three questions, then the adviser helps you further.

Do you own the property?
What type of roof do you have, and which way does it face?
How much electricity do you use roughly per year?
Send answers

Software and custom work

You get a dashboard to work in and a connection that fits your systems exactly.

The dashboard

Logging in means overview. You see all leads in their current status, every figure clickable to the messages underneath. No exports to Excel, no manual work to track who is where.

  • Every lead sits in exactly one status, never in two at once
  • Every figure on screen opens to the underlying messages
  • Callback requests appear as a task list for whoever needs to pick them up
  • Unsubscribes happen automatically, STOP really means STOP

The connection to your system

Your requests already come in somewhere. We connect to that, so leads land in the dashboard automatically and updates flow back automatically. No double work, no manual retyping.

Any CRM or form with an API
First namePersonal greeting in every message
Phone numberRecipient with country code check and unsubscribe
Time of requestStarting point of the follow-up track
Sales repWho gets the alert for a callback request
StatusWriteback to source system on change

Different fields are different variables. The template changes, the connection does not.

Much software offers a connection that does a fraction of what you need. We start with the question: what do you want to achieve? As long as your system has an API, we build the bridge. That might mean pulling fields that are not included by default, or writing back a status you invented yourself. The dashboard stays the same, the connection becomes yours.

What it looks like in the dashboard

This is a demo run with 120 invented contacts. All statuses and numbers are invented. This is what the dashboard looks like once the campaign is running.

Solar panel enquiry follow-up

“Hi {{voornaam}}, thanks for your enquiry at Dorpsveld Zonnetechniek. Will you answer three short questions?”

120

Sent

117

Delivered

108

Read

31

Form completed

  • Appointment made9
  • Spoke to adviser, no appointment4
  • Callback request open3
  • Form completed, no follow-up15
  • Try again later6
  • Unsubscribed4
  • No response76
  • Not reached3

Delivered and read come from WhatsApp itself. The rest comes from the form and what the adviser enters. Nothing is estimated.

How it is built

The components, in the order a lead goes through them. Enough to understand what is being built, not enough to rebuild it yourself.

  1. 1

    The trigger from your system

    A new enquiry in your website or CRM starts the follow-up. For Dorpsveld Zonnetechniek, that is a form that goes to HubSpot. The integration reads the new contact, checks the phone number for country code and unsubscribe, and puts it in the queue. The number must be valid and not previously indicated as not wanting messages.

  2. 2

    The template and the form

    The first message is a template approved in advance by Meta, with first name as variable and a button that opens the form. The form is a WhatsApp Flow, a screen that sits in the chat itself. The questions are what the adviser wants to know before calling.

  3. 3

    The sequence with conditions

    The reminder goes to leads who read the first message but did not complete the form. The follow-up message falls within an evening window. The entire campaign is a list of steps, each with a moment and a condition. STOP with or without punctuation stops everything.

  4. 4

    The response back

    Every button press, every completed form and every delivery confirmation comes in as webhook and is stored with the contact. The fully completed form sets the status to qualified. The adviser sees in his system what happened and who he needs to call.

  5. 5

    A dedicated service per client

    The whole runs as a dedicated service per client on a dedicated server, with the WhatsApp Business API directly from Meta. The WhatsApp number is in the client's name and stays the client's. The integration works only for that client. No shared environment.

What it costs and how long it takes

You pay Overtoom a monthly fee, sometimes with a setup fee on top. There are always two options. The amounts are not on the site, because they depend on the number of steps and systems. In a thirty minute call you will hear them.

On top of that you pay Meta per template sent.

The lead time depends on two things. First, the approval of templates by Meta, usually within a day, sometimes a week. Second, how clean the data in your system is. If the phone numbers are already correct and your system has a usable API, then the connection itself is the fastest part.

See the page about what Meta charges per message for current rates.

Schedule a call

Half an hour online.

The one condition

Your system must have a usable API. HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, AFAS, Exact, and most webshops have one. A system that can only do exports also works, but then the response does not automatically go back to your system. We check that in the first call, so you know what is possible.

Systems this works with

HubSpotPipedriveSalesforceAFASExactShopify and WooCommerceYour own database or spreadsheet

Frequently asked questions

Is this a chatbot?

No. It is a fixed sequence of messages and a form. The templates and form are determined in advance with Overtoom and approved by Meta. The lead fills in the form or schedules a call. There is no free conversation with a bot.

Can I send a WhatsApp to a lead without asking?

You send to people who made an enquiry themselves and gave their number. That is the basis. Consent is the condition, not the trick. The form where they enter their number must make clear they will receive a WhatsApp message. Whoever replies STOP, even with punctuation after it, stops everything.

What if someone does not respond?

Then they get a reminder after two days, only if they read the first message but did nothing. If they do not respond then either, the sequence stops.

Does this work with my system?

If your system has a usable API, Overtoom builds the connection. HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, AFAS, Exact and most webshops work this way. A system that can only do exports works too, but then the response does not go back automatically. We discuss this in the first conversation.

Does this sound like your situation?

Tell us where your leads come in and how you follow them up now.

Half an hour online. You hear if it fits, what it costs and how fast it can go.

Schedule a call