Automate reminders and follow-ups

An automation (a rule, or what other apps call a workflow) does something for you when something happens: emails a client who hasn’t answered a quote, reminds them about a past-due invoice, texts them that the crew is on the way, or tells the office a quote was approved. Every business starts with a set of rules, most of them on.

Find Automations

Open Settings and choose Automations, under Automate and connect. You can also go straight to /automations on your Crewtavo address, or search for “automations”.

Owners, and admins and office staff whose role has Automations, can see and change rules. Rules that start from subcontractors’ job offers also need Subcontractors, and rules about autopay need Invoices.

The top of the page shows Active rules, Done in the last 7 days, Waiting to run (follow-ups with a wait that haven’t gone yet) and Failed in the last 7 days. Choose the failed count to see what went wrong.

The starter rules

Rule	What it does	Starts
Tell the office when a quote is approved	Notifies owners, admins and office: “Quote #1042 approved”.	On
Tell the office when a client asks for changes	Notifies owners, admins and office when a client chooses Request changes on a quote.	On
Tell the office when a client says yes to a price range	Notifies owners, admins, office and estimators to book the site visit.	On
Tell the office about new online requests	Notifies owners, admins and office about requests from your booking and website forms, the Client Hub and referrals.	On
Tell the office when an invoice is paid	Notifies owners, admins and office when an invoice is paid in full, if anything was paid on it (not one a referral credit covered whole).	On
Follow up on quotes after 3 days	Emails the client three days after you send a quote, if it’s still waiting for an answer, with their link to it.	On
Remind clients when an invoice is past due	Emails the client the balance and their link to pay, the day after the invoice’s due date.	On
Remind clients the day before a visit	Emails the client the day before each scheduled visit or assessment.	Off
Text the client when the crew is on the way	Texts the client when a crew taps On my way. Needs texting.	Off
Ask for a Google review after a job	Sends your review link a day after a job is completed (not recurring work). Set it up in Marketing → Reviews.	Off
Ask for a Google review on recurring work	Sends your review link a day after a recurring job reaches the visit you chose in Marketing → Reviews, once for each job.	Off
Ask for referrals after a job	Emails the client their referral link a week after a job is completed (not recurring work). Set it up in Marketing → Referrals.	Off
Re-engage past clients	Emails clients a year after their last visit, once each time they go quiet. An automated campaign in Marketing → Campaigns.	Off
Win back lost quotes	Emails the client 30 days after a quote is marked lost, if it still is. An automated campaign in Marketing → Campaigns.	Off

Each rule in the list shows a sentence saying what it does, like “When an invoice becomes past due: email the client.”, and how many times it’s run.

The review, referral and campaign rules are set from Marketing, and you can change them here too. They’re skipped while Marketing is uninstalled, except Follow up on quotes after 3 days, which Marketing shows as Close pending quotes. A rule that’s an automated campaign says so at the top, with a link to Marketing → Campaigns: its emails to clients count opens and clicks, and Re-engage and Win back go as marketing emails with an unsubscribe link.

Turn a rule on or off

Use the switch at the left of the rule. You’ll see “Rule turned on” or “Rule turned off”.

• Turning a rule off cancels the follow-ups it has waiting.
• Turning a rule on works from then on. It doesn’t go back for quotes sent or visits finished before.

Inside a rule, the same switch is at the top (On or Off). Choose Save changes after flipping it there.

Duplicate or delete a rule

From a rule’s ⋯ menu in the list:

• Duplicate makes a copy, opens it, and says “Rule copied. It’s off until you turn it on.” Use it to make a second reminder from one that works.
• Delete removes the rule. Follow-ups it has waiting are cancelled, and its history is deleted. Inside a rule, it’s ⋯ then Delete rule.

To start from nothing, choose New rule.

Edit a rule

Choose a rule to open it. The sentence at the top says what it will do as you change it. Give it a Rule name and, if you like, a Description. Then it reads in four steps.

When

What starts the rule:

• Clients: A client is added, A client hasn’t had a visit in a while, A client earns a referral credit
• Requests: A request comes in
• Quotes: A quote is sent, A quote is approved, A client asks for changes to a quote, A client says yes to a price range, A quote is marked lost
• Jobs: A job is created, A job is completed, A recurring job reaches the visit set in Marketing
• Visits: A visit is tomorrow, A crew is on the way, A visit starts, A visit is completed, A client asks to reschedule, A client asks to cancel
• Invoices: An invoice is sent, An invoice becomes past due, An invoice is paid in full, A payment is received
• Subcontractors: A job is offered to a sub, A sub takes a job offer, A sub turns down a job offer, A job offer to a sub runs out
• Autopay: Autopay is set up, An autopay charge fails, A saved card expires next month. See Autopay.

A visit is tomorrow goes out from 8 in the morning, your time, the day before a scheduled visit or assessment (not tasks).

A client hasn’t had a visit in a while is checked each morning at 10. Say how many days under Only if, with Days since their last visit (30 to 730). It’s what Re-engage past clients in Marketing → Campaigns runs on.

A recurring job reaches the visit set in Marketing fires once for each recurring job, after the visit you pick under Recurring work in Marketing → Reviews (the 3rd, to start with). A recurring job stays active, so A job is completed doesn’t fire for it.

A client earns a referral credit fires for the client who referred a friend, once the friend pays their first invoice. See Referrals and referral credits.

A client asks to reschedule and A client asks to cancel fire when a client asks from their Client Hub. Nothing moves until someone approves it. See Reschedule and Cancel.

Wait

Run right away, or Wait first and set how many minutes, hours or days. Not every trigger can wait: a client going without a visit, changes requested, visits tomorrow, on the way and starting, clients asking to reschedule or cancel, payments received, autopay charges failing, and subs turning down or missing an offer run right away.

Only if (optional)

With no conditions, the rule “Runs every time.” Add condition to narrow it:

• Its status (when the rule runs): the quote, invoice, visit or other record’s status, like Awaiting response or Past due.
• Client tags, Client status and Client lead source.
• Total and Line items, for quotes, jobs and invoices.
• Where the request came from, for requests: Booking or website form, Client Hub, Referral, Phone, Email, Entered by staff or AI assistant.
• Type, for jobs and visits: One-off job, Recurring job, Job visit, Assessment or Task.
• Job type, for visits and invoices: the job they’re on, One-off job or Recurring job.
• Invoice type: Standard, Deposit, Progress billing or Visits.
• Amount paid, for invoices. An invoice a referral credit covered whole was paid $0.00.
• Days since their last visit, for clients.
• On autopay: Yes or No, for clients, jobs and invoices.

Conditions are checked when the rule runs, after the wait. That’s what makes a follow-up safe: “Its status is Awaiting response” means a quote the client approved in the meantime gets no follow-up. All the conditions have to be true.

Then

What the rule does, one or more actions in order (Add action):

• Notify my team: a notification for the people you pick under Who (Owners, Admins, Office, Estimators, Crew leads, Field crew, and on visit rules People on the visit, or on job rules People on its next visits), with a Title and Details.
• Email the client, with a Subject and Message.
• Text the client, up to 640 characters. Over 160 characters goes as more than one text.
• Add a client tag or Remove a client tag.
• Add a note to the client: a note only your team sees.
• Create a task on the schedule, Due the Same day, the Next day, or in 2, 3, 5, 7, 14 or 30 days.
• Ask for a Google review, Send by Email, Text message or Text and email. It uses your review link, messages and reminders from Marketing → Reviews, and asks each client at most once every 6 months. See Ask for Google reviews.
• Ask for referrals: emails the client their referral link, at most once every 6 months. The message is in Marketing → Referrals. See Referrals and referral credits.
• Change the status, for quotes (Mark lost or Archive) and requests (Archive).
• Invite to autopay, by email or text: a link to save a card and agree to automatic charges. See Autopay.

Ask for a Google review and Ask for referrals are skipped while Marketing is uninstalled (“Marketing is off, so this action is skipped.”), and for clients who unsubscribed from marketing.

Rules about subs’ job offers can only notify the office and create tasks.

Emails and texts a rule sends show in the client’s conversation in Messages.

Fill in names and links

Under each message are the names and links you can fill in. Choose one to put it where your cursor is. It goes in as a {{variable}} and is filled in for each client:

Choose	Puts in	Becomes
Client first name	{{client.first_name}}	Jane (a business name stays whole)
Client name	{{client.name}}	Jane Smith
Your company	{{company.name}}	Acme Lawn
Your phone	{{company.phone}}	Your business phone
Number	{{number}}	The quote, invoice, job or request number
Title	{{title}}	Its title
Total	{{total}}	Its total. A price range shows the range, and a quote with options says “3 options from $8,400”
Balance due	{{balance}}	What’s still owed on an invoice
Client Hub link	{{link}}	Their link to the quote or invoice in the Client Hub. On a rule about a client, the Hub’s home, where they can ask for work
Last visit date	{{last_visit}}	The client’s last completed visit, on a rule about a client
Visit date	{{date}}	Thursday, October 29
Visit time	{{time}}	“ at 9:00 AM”, or nothing for an anytime visit
Arrival time	{{eta}}	While a crew is on the way, “ and should arrive in about 20 minutes”, or nothing when that isn’t known
Address	{{address}}	The property’s address

In an email, a Client Hub link on a line of its own becomes a View online button (Request work in Marketing’s Re-engage and Win back emails). In a notification, note or task for your team, and the copy of an email kept on the client’s timeline, it’s the office’s copy of the link (as Copy Client Hub link on the client’s page makes), so nobody on the team can use it to act as the client.

A client earns a referral credit also has Friend’s first name, Their credit and Invoice the credit went on. A client asks to reschedule has Time they asked for and What suits them, and A client asks to cancel has Their reason. What suits them and Their reason aren’t offered in a task, because the crew sees tasks on the schedule.

You only see the ones that fit what starts the rule. Rules about subs’ job offers also have Sub’s name, Their price and, when they turn one down, Their reason; the price and reason go only in the office’s notifications, never in a task, because the crew sees tasks on the schedule.

Visit time starts with “ at”, so put it straight after the date with no space: on {{date}}{{time}}.

When you’re done, choose Save changes (or Create rule for a new one). If something’s missing, the rule says what, like “Action 1: the email needs a subject and a message.” Leaving with changes you haven’t saved asks “Leave without saving?”.

Changes to the conditions and actions apply to follow-ups already waiting too, since a rule runs as it is when its time comes. A new wait only applies to what happens from then on: a follow-up already waiting keeps the time it was given.

Test a rule

Test this rule, at the side of the rule, tries it on your most recent quote (or invoice, visit, whatever the rule is about) without sending anything. Choose Test with a recent quote, or Test at the top. You’ll see:

• Which record it used.
• “Conditions met: it would run”, or “Skipped:” and the condition that isn’t true.
• Each email, text or notification as it would read, filled in.
• Warnings, like a client with no email address, or email or texting not set up.

See what your rules did

The Activity tab lists every run, newest first. Show All, Failed or Waiting. Each run says Done, Failed, Skipped, Waiting, Running or Cancelled, what each action did (“✓ Emailed jane@example.com”), and Open quote (or invoice, job…) to go to the record.

• Retry runs a failed run again. Actions that already worked are skipped, so nobody gets the same email twice.
• Cancel stops a waiting follow-up before it goes.

Inside a rule, Recent runs shows just that rule’s.

When a rule doesn’t work

You see	What to do
“Jane Smith has no email address.” or “… has no phone number.”	Add it to the client, then Retry.
“Email isn’t set up yet. An admin can connect the company’s email in Settings → Email.”	Connect your email, then Retry.
“Text messaging isn’t set up (TWILIO_*).”	Texting isn’t set up for your Crewtavo. See Text clients with Twilio.
“Add your Google review link in Marketing → Reviews first.”	See Add your review link.
Skipped on a review ask, referral ask or campaign email	Marketing is uninstalled, or the client unsubscribed, was asked lately or can’t be asked. The run says which. See Who isn’t asked.
“No one on the team matches who this rule notifies.”	Pick someone under Who who’s on your team.
“There’s no client on this record.”	The rule can’t email, text or tag anyone, like a task with no client.
Skipped with “Conditions not met: …”	Working as meant: a condition wasn’t true when it ran.
Cancelled with “Rule turned off”	The rule was turned off while the follow-up was waiting.

When a rule that sends emails or texts is on but email or texting isn’t set up, the Automations page says so at the top. Notifications, tags and tasks still work.

Examples

Text clients the day before a visit

1. Open Remind clients the day before a visit.
2. Under Then, choose Add action, then Text the client.
3. Write the text, for example: Hi {{client.first_name}}, this is {{company.name}}. We'll be at {{address}} on {{date}}{{time}}. Questions? Call {{company.phone}}.
4. To text only, remove the Email the client action with its bin (Remove action) button. To send both, keep it.
5. Turn the rule On and choose Save changes.

It goes out from 8 AM the day before, for scheduled visits and assessments. To leave out assessments, Add condition: Type is not Assessment. Clients need a phone number that gets texts on their client record, and texting has to be set up.

Remind about a past-due invoice again after 14 days

Remind clients when an invoice is past due sends one email, the day after the invoice’s due date. For a second one two weeks later:

1. In the list, choose ⋯ on Remind clients when an invoice is past due, then Duplicate.
2. Rename it, like “Second past-due reminder”.
3. Under Wait, choose Wait first and set 14 days.
4. Add condition: Its status (when the rule runs) is Past due, so a client who’s paid meanwhile isn’t reminded.
5. Change the subject and message if you like. Keep {{balance}} and {{link}} in it, so they see what’s owed and can pay.
6. Turn it On and choose Save changes.

Want a third? Duplicate this one and wait 28 days. Writing an invoice off calls off its waiting reminders (see Write off an invoice).

Ask for a review after a job

The easiest way is Ask automatically in Marketing → Reviews, which sets this rule and the one for recurring work for you. See Ask for Google reviews. To change the wait, do it here:

1. Paste your Google review link in Marketing → Reviews and choose Save. See Add your review link.
2. Open Ask for a Google review after a job.
3. It waits a day after a job is completed. Change the wait if you’d like it sooner or later.
4. To text instead of email, change Send by to Text message, or Text and email for both.
5. Turn it On and choose Save changes.

Each client is asked automatically at most once every 6 months, however many jobs you finish for them, and reminders follow as set in Marketing → Reviews. It shows each request there, and whether they opened the link.