A lead follow-up system is the fixed sequence that runs between an inquiry and a booking: an immediate acknowledgement, a human callback inside a stated window, a second touch two days later, a third around two weeks, and a logged end. Each automated touch is bounded by the consent the contact actually gave.
The five touches, in order
The sequence is five touches: an automated acknowledgement within minutes, a human callback attempt inside the window that acknowledgement promised, a second attempt two days later on a different channel, a third around two weeks out, and a recorded close. Anything past that is re-engagement, which is a separate campaign with its own consent.
| Touch | When | Channel | What it has to contain | The rule that bounds it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acknowledgement | Within minutes, at any hour | The channel they used | A real next step: live times or a booking link, never a promise | Consent for the channel; for an informational text the FCC says consent may be oral |
| Human callback | Inside the window the acknowledgement promised | Phone | A live attempt, and a voicemail naming the business and a number | Solicitation hours, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time (47 CFR 64.1200) |
| Second touch | About two days later | A different channel from the first | One new piece of information, not a nudge | Written consent if the message is commercial rather than informational (FCC) |
| Third touch | About two weeks out | A stated close, and a working opt-out | Opt-out live for at least 30 days, acted on within 10 business days (FTC) | |
| Recorded close | On booking, revocation, or the last attempt | None | The reason the sequence ended, written to the log | Revocation honored within ten business days (47 CFR 64.1200) |
The consent rule behind every automated touch
Every automated message in the sequence needs consent before it sends, and which consent depends on what the message does. The FCC's consumer guide on unwanted robocalls and texts puts the split plainly: "Commercial texts require written consent; for informational texts, your consent may be oral." A booking confirmation and a promotion are not the same message.
The rule underneath that guide is 47 CFR 64.1200, the FCC's regulation implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. It bars calls made with an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice without the prior express consent of the called party, and raises that to prior express written consent when the call includes an advertisement or constitutes telemarketing.
That section defines prior express written consent narrowly: a written agreement bearing the signature of the person called, authorizing such messages, and naming the number they may go to. A checkbox doing none of those is not what the rule names.
Two honest limits, as of October 2026. That section's consent paragraphs do not use the words text message; texts are treated as calls by FCC interpretation and case law, not by the words of the rule. And whether a given platform is an automatic telephone dialing system after Facebook v. Duguid (2021) is a question the regulation does not settle. This is a build note, not legal advice.
The hours, and the words that end the sequence
Two boundaries bind the schedule. Telephone solicitations to a residential subscriber may not run before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., local time at the called party's location, under 47 CFR 64.1200. And a contact may revoke consent by any reasonable means: a reply of stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel or unsubscribe counts on its own.
The revocation clause is a deadline, not a preference, which is what most sequences miss. That same section requires a revocation made in any reasonable manner to be honored within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days from receipt.
The email touch answers to a different regulator. The FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide for business says the law covers all commercial messages with no business-to-business exception, that the opt-out has to keep working at least 30 days after the message goes out, that requests have to be acted on within 10 business days, and that a valid physical postal address is required, as of October 2026.
Those two ten-business-day clocks are the useful coincidence here: one deadline, written once into whatever holds the contact record, satisfies both.
What the system logs, and why the log is the deliverable
A follow-up system that cannot show its own history is not a system. Six fields make it auditable: the channel the inquiry arrived on, the timestamp of the first reply, the consent captured and when, every send attempt with its outcome, any revocation and the date it was honored, and the reason the sequence ended.
Those six fields do three jobs. They prove consent if anyone asks, which is the only form that proof takes. They show which touch produces bookings, so the sequence shortens on evidence rather than instinct. And they make first-reply time a number rather than an impression.
How long the sequence runs
The sequence ends on one of three events: the contact books, the contact revokes, or the stated number of attempts is spent. Pick that number for coverage rather than from a cadence statistic, because the widely repeated claim that most sales need five follow-ups has no published report behind it.
That claim is usually credited to a National Sales Executive Association, for which no verifiable study is traceable. Our post on speed to lead statistics sorts which response-time figures here hold up.
So set the end deliberately and write it down. Three attempts over two weeks is defensible. So is nine over two months, if the contact consented and the log still shows bookings at attempt eight. A sequence whose length nobody chose is not.
Where these systems actually break
Three failures account for most of it. The acknowledgement promises a human call that no rota covers, so the promise ages badly. The second and third touches sit in a tool nobody owns once the person who built it moves on. And consent is captured in one system while the sending happens in another.
The third is the expensive one. Consent collected by a web form, held in a CRM and acted on by a separate texting platform leaves the revocation deadline depending on a sync nobody tests. The fix is one record of consent every sender reads before it sends.
Follow-up that runs: what this looks like in a build
In a build the sequence is four connected parts: one intake point for every channel, an automated first reply that offers real times off the calendar, a missed-call text back that fires while the crew is working, and follow-up that continues until somebody books or opts out. The log sits underneath all four.
Mirastart builds that layer. Booking systems that calculate genuine availability and confirm automatically, missed-call text back, follow-up automation, and reporting that puts first-reply time and consent status next to booked work all run in production for Charlotte businesses. Retainers start at $3,000 a month, the fee is not a share of ad spend, and every account stays in the client's name.
Sources
- 47 CFR 64.1200 - Delivery restrictions (FCC rules implementing the TCPA) - Prior express consent and prior express written consent, the 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. solicitation window, and revocation honored within ten business days. Cornell LII mirror; official text at ecfr.gov.
- Stop Unwanted Robocalls and Texts (FCC consumer guide) - The FCC's plain-English split between commercial texts, which require written consent, and informational texts, where consent may be oral.
- CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business (FTC) - No business-to-business exception, an opt-out that stays functional at least 30 days, requests acted on within 10 business days, and a valid physical postal address.