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~10 minutes setup

What Follow-ups Are in Irelia

The concept, why they’re template-based, and what you’ll configure

What You'll Need

Prerequisites before starting

Step-by-Step Setup

Complete walkthrough (Steps 1–4)

Quick Checklist

Verify everything is ready

FAQs

Common questions answered

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Introduction

Not every prospect replies right away. Some get distracted, some need a nudge, some forget the conversation ever happened. Without a follow-up strategy, those leads quietly disappear — and so does the money you spent acquiring them. Irelia’s follow-up sequences solve this. You build an ordered series of WhatsApp messages that get sent automatically at the intervals you choose, and the sequence keeps running step by step until it reaches the end — or until the lead hits one of the stop conditions you’ve set (goal reached, qualified, or disqualified) — or until AI is disabled for the contact. Every agent has its own follow-up settings, so you can tune the cadence and tone to match each agent’s role. This guide walks you through setting up a follow-up sequence from scratch — from understanding why follow-ups in Irelia work the way they do, to activating your first sequence on a live agent.
This article covers how to configure the sequence. For guidance on what to write in your follow-up messages and how to time them effectively, see the companion guide: WhatsApp Template Best Practices — How to Write Messages That Get Replies and Stay Compliant.
By the end of this guide, you’ll have: ✅ A clear understanding of how Irelia’s follow-up system works and why it’s template-based
✅ One or more WhatsApp templates created and ready to use as follow-up messages
✅ A multi-step follow-up sequence configured on your agent with custom timing
✅ Stop conditions set so the sequence ends automatically when a lead converts or disqualifies
✅ The sequence active and running on WhatsApp

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💡 What Follow-ups Are in Irelia

In Irelia, a follow-up is a pre-approved WhatsApp template message that gets sent automatically to a lead who hasn’t replied — scheduled at a specific delay after the conversation started. You chain multiple follow-ups together to form a sequence, and each agent has its own sequence configured in its Follow-up tab. There’s one design choice that shapes everything: Irelia follow-ups are templates, not free-form messages. Here’s why that matters.

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Why templates (and not dynamic messages)

WhatsApp enforces a strict rule called the 24-hour messaging window. Once a contact replies to your agent, you have 24 hours to send free-form messages. After that window closes, you can only re-engage that contact using a pre-approved WhatsApp template — a message Meta has reviewed and stamped as compliant. If Irelia tried to send follow-ups as dynamic, AI-generated messages, you’d be locked out the moment a lead went silent for more than a day. That’s exactly when follow-ups matter most. By building the follow-up system on templates, Irelia lets you:
  • Re-engage leads at any point in time — even days or weeks after their last reply, with no 24-hour window restriction.
  • Stay on the right side of Meta’s rules — every follow-up message has already been reviewed and approved by Meta before it goes out.
  • Protect your WhatsApp number’s quality rating — templates are the safest way to reach inactive contacts, since they’re the channel Meta sanctions for re-engagement.
Follow-ups currently work on WhatsApp only. Facebook Messenger and Instagram are not supported by the follow-up system at this time.

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Per-agent configuration

Every AI agent in your Irelia account has its own Follow-up tab and its own sequence. Different agents can run completely different cadences — a high-urgency booking agent might follow up after 2, 6, and 24 hours, while a long-cycle B2B agent might wait days between touches. Activating, editing, or pausing follow-ups on one agent has no effect on any other agent.

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What you’ll configure

A complete follow-up setup has three pieces, and you’ll build all of them in the steps below:
  1. Templates — the WhatsApp messages that get sent.
  2. A sequence of steps — the order and timing of those templates.
  3. Stop conditions — the rules that decide when to halt the sequence early for a specific lead.

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📋 What You’ll Need

Before you start configuring the sequence, make sure you have:
  • A WhatsApp channel connected to your Irelia account. If not, start with How to Connect WhatsApp Business to Irelia. Required
  • At least one AI agent created and configured. The follow-up sequence lives inside the agent. Required
  • One or more WhatsApp templates ready to use as follow-up messages — each with at most one placeholder (X). You’ll create these in Step 1 below if you don’t have them yet. Required

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🔧 Step-by-Step Setup

1

Create your follow-up templates

Open the agent you want to configure follow-ups for, click the Follow-up tab at the top, and look at the right-side panel labeled Follow-up — Here you can create and manage WhatsApp templates to use as follow-ups. This is where the templates that power your sequence live.Create one template for each step you plan to have in your sequence. A typical starter sequence has 3 templates: a gentle nudge, a value reminder, and a final close.
Follow-up templates can have at most one dynamic placeholder — X. Templates with two or more variables won’t appear in the sequence dropdown later. This constraint exists because follow-ups run automatically — there’s no operator in the loop to fill in custom values per lead. Here’s how Irelia handles that single allowed placeholder:
  • If the template uses X — Irelia auto-fills it with the lead’s name as it appears in the Chat Panel. Every Irelia lead has a name on file, so this works for every send with no extra setup.
  • If the template has no placeholders — it’s sent exactly as written.
For the full template creation walkthrough — including how to submit to Meta for approval, format your message, and track status — see How to Create a WhatsApp Template in Irelia. For guidance on what to write and how to time the messages effectively, see WhatsApp Template Best Practices.
Success! You now have at least one approved WhatsApp template ready to use as a follow-up.
2

Build the sequence

Still inside the Follow-up tab, move to the central area of the screen — this is where you build the ordered list of steps. To add a step, click the add-step control and a new step block appears, numbered automatically (1°, 2°, 3°, and so on).Each step has three things to configure:

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1. Wait time (hours) — required

How many hours Irelia should wait before sending this step. The reference point depends on which step you’re configuring:
  • Step 1 counts from the moment the chat was created.
  • Step 2 and every step after it count from the moment the previous step was sent — so the number you type is the gap between consecutive follow-ups, not a delay from the start of the chat.
For example: Step 1 set to “wait 3 hours” + Step 2 set to “wait 19 hours” means Step 1 fires 3 hours after the chat began, and Step 2 fires 19 hours after Step 1 — landing 22 hours after the chat started.
You don’t need to do the math across steps. If you want Step 2 to land 3 hours after Step 1, just set Step 2’s wait time to 3 — Irelia counts from the previous step’s send time automatically.

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2. Send at hour (clock time) — optional

If you want the step to land within a specific hour of the day, enable this and enter an hour between 0 and 23. Leave it off if you’re happy for the message to fire as soon as the wait time is up.When set, the two fields run in sequence: first Irelia waits the hours you set in Wait, then it holds the message until the next occurrence of the hour you chose in Send at hour and sends it within that hour range. It’s not a precise scheduler — “Send at hour 8” means the message goes out somewhere between 8:00 and 8:59.For example: Step 2 is set to “wait 19 hours” with “Send at hour 8”. If Step 1 was sent at 1 PM, 19 hours later would be 8 AM the next day → Irelia sends Step 2 during the 8 AM hour. If Step 1 was sent at 8 AM, 19 hours later would be 3 AM → Irelia waits a few more hours and sends during the 8 AM hour later that morning.
Use this to keep your sending hours human. Setting it to a value between 8 and 21 prevents Irelia from waking your prospects up in the middle of the night, which protects both your reply rates and your number’s quality rating.

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3. Template — required

Open the template dropdown and pick one of the approved templates you created in Step 1. The dropdown only lists templates that fit a single rule: at most one dynamic placeholder.A placeholder is a dynamic spot inside the template’s text — written as X — that gets replaced with a real value at the moment the message is sent. For follow-ups, that single allowed placeholder is automatically filled with the lead’s name as it appears in the Chat Panel. For example, a template written as “Hi X, just checking in — did you get a chance to think it over?” will go out to a lead named Marco as “Hi Marco, just checking in — did you get a chance to think it over?” — with no extra setup on your side. Every Irelia lead has a name on file, so this works for every send. If your template has no placeholders at all, it’s sent exactly as written.If a template you expected is missing from the dropdown, it likely has 2+ variables and needs a follow-up-friendly version with one placeholder or none.
Repeat for every step in your sequence. You can drag steps to reorder them using the handle on the left side of each step block.
Success! Your sequence steps are built and ordered.
3

Set the stop conditions

A sequence shouldn’t keep messaging a lead who has already converted or who you’ve ruled out. Stop conditions prevent that. They sit in the Stop follow-up sequence when panel on the right side of the Follow-up tab, and you can enable any combination of these three:
  • The contact has reached the goal — Stop the sequence as soon as the lead reaches the goal you defined for the agent (e.g. booked a call, completed a purchase).
  • The contact is qualified — Stop the sequence as soon as the lead is marked as qualified.
  • The contact is disqualified — Stop the sequence as soon as the lead is marked as disqualified.
Stop conditions use OR logic. If you enable “reached the goal” and “is disqualified”, the sequence stops as soon as either condition is met. The lead doesn’t need to satisfy both — any one of the enabled conditions is enough to halt the follow-ups for that specific lead.
A safe default for most agents: enable reached the goal and disqualified. This keeps the sequence running for everyone who’s still in the middle of qualification, and stops it as soon as the lead is either won or ruled out.
📌 There’s also one automatic stop you don’t need to configure. If AI is disabled for a contact — for example, when an operator takes over the conversation manually — the follow-up sequence pauses for that lead, regardless of your stop-condition toggles. If AI is re-enabled before the next scheduled follow-up fires, the sequence picks back up normally. If the next follow-up’s send time passes while AI is still disabled, that step is lost and the sequence stops permanently for that lead.
Success! Your stop conditions are configured.
4

Activate the sequence

At the top-right of the Follow-up tab, you’ll see the Active toggle next to the WhatsApp channel icon. Switch it ON. From this moment, every new conversation handled by this agent on WhatsApp enters the follow-up sequence — and the steps you configured will fire on schedule unless a stop condition is hit first.
🎉 Congratulations! Your follow-up sequence is live. New leads handled by this agent on WhatsApp will now receive the sequence automatically until they hit a stop condition or run through every step.

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✅ Quick Checklist

Before you walk away from the Follow-up tab, double-check that everything is in place:

Setup Checklist

  • WhatsApp channel is connected to your Irelia account
  • All follow-up templates are created and show as Approved in the right-side panel
  • Every template you’re using has 0 or 1 placeholder (X only)
  • Each step in the sequence has a template assigned
  • Wait times are set correctly (Step 1 from chat creation; Step 2+ from the previous step’s send time)
  • Time-of-day values, if used, are within human-friendly hours (e.g. 8–21)
  • Stop conditions match how you want the sequence to end for converted or disqualified leads
  • The Active toggle is switched ON

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❓ FAQs

Because WhatsApp’s 24-hour messaging window blocks free-form messages once a contact has been silent for more than a day — which is exactly when follow-ups are needed most. Templates are the only Meta-approved way to re-engage a contact outside that window. By building follow-ups on templates, Irelia lets you reach leads at any point in time without breaking compliance or risking your number’s quality rating.
Not at the moment. Follow-up sequences currently run on WhatsApp only. Messenger and Instagram support may come in future updates.
It depends on which step you’re looking at. Step 1’s wait counts from the moment the chat was created. Step 2 and every step after it count from the moment the previous step was sent — so the wait you type is the gap between consecutive follow-ups, not a delay from the start of the chat. Example: if Step 1 is “wait 3 hours” and Step 2 is “wait 19 hours”, Step 1 fires 3 hours after the chat began, and Step 2 fires 19 hours after Step 1 — landing 22 hours after the chat started.
It pins the send to a specific hour of the day. The two fields run in order: first Irelia waits the number of hours you set in the Wait field (counted from the chat creation for Step 1, or from the previous step’s send for later steps), then it holds the message until the next occurrence of the hour you chose in Send at hour and sends within that hour range. It’s not precise to the minute — “Send at hour 8” means the message goes out somewhere between 8:00 and 8:59. Use it as a guardrail to keep your sends inside human hours.
Because they have 2 or more dynamic placeholders. Follow-up templates can have at most one placeholder (X), and that placeholder is automatically filled with the lead’s name. Templates with more variables can’t run automatically because there’s no operator in the loop to fill in custom values per lead. Either use a template with 0 or 1 placeholders, or create a new follow-up version of the template that fits the rule.
The lead’s name as it appears in the Chat Panel. Every lead in Irelia always has a name on file, so there’s nothing extra to configure on the follow-up side — X is filled in automatically for every send. See The Chat Panel — Monitor, Analyze, and Manage Your Leads for how lead names are stored and displayed.
A reply on its own doesn’t stop the sequence. Only the stop conditions you configured (goal reached, qualified, disqualified) or having AI disabled for the contact can halt it. What a reply does do is reopen the 24-hour messaging window, which lets your AI agent pick the conversation back up in free-form mode. If the lead then goes silent again, the next scheduled follow-up still fires on schedule.If you want a reply to actually end the sequence, make sure your agent’s qualification logic moves the lead into a “qualified”, “disqualified”, or “goal reached” state when the reply warrants it — that’s what trips the stop condition.
Yes — follow-ups are retroactive. When you activate a sequence (or add steps to an existing one), Irelia doesn’t only consider brand-new chats — it also evaluates every chat already in progress against your Step 1 wait time. Whether an existing lead actually receives the follow-up depends on a single comparison: the wait time vs. how old the chat already is.
  • Wait time is longer than the chat’s current age → the trigger point is still in the future, so the follow-up will fire normally when that point is reached.
  • Wait time is shorter than the chat’s current age → the trigger point is already in the past, and Irelia does not fire the step retroactively. That lead is skipped for Step 1.
Here’s a concrete example. Say you have a lead who started chatting with the agent 2 days ago (48 hours) and went silent. You then activate a follow-up sequence:
  • If you set Step 1 to wait > 48 hours (say, 50 hours), the lead hasn’t yet reached the threshold — they’ll receive the follow-up in roughly 2 hours, when their chat age hits 50 hours.
  • If you set Step 1 to wait < 48 hours (say, 24 hours), the threshold is already in the past for that lead — Irelia won’t fire the follow-up retroactively, and the lead is skipped.
Use this to your advantage. If you want stale, abandoned leads to receive your new follow-up sequence, set Step 1’s wait time longer than the age of those leads. If you want to leave old conversations alone and only target fresh ones going forward, set Step 1’s wait time shorter than the age of the oldest lead you want to skip.
Each follow-up message sent consumes 10 credits — the same as any other WhatsApp template send through Irelia. A 3-step sequence sent to 100 leads who never reply would cost 3,000 credits. Stop conditions help you keep this cost down by halting the sequence the moment a lead converts or disqualifies.
Yes — every agent has its own Follow-up tab with its own templates, steps, stop conditions, and active toggle. Configuring follow-ups on one agent has zero effect on any other agent.
Yes. Add, remove, reorder, or re-time steps at any time. Changes apply to new conversations going forward. Conversations already in progress continue with the schedule that was active when their sequence started.
No — Irelia’s built-in follow-up sequences always belong to the same agent that owns them and don’t switch the lead to a different agent. If you need an agent handoff at the follow-up stage, send the message through the API using a Trigger-tab template that belongs to the target agent. See How to Start Conversations with Irelia for the full explanation of agent routing.
The follow-up sequence pauses for that lead. What happens next depends on timing:
  • AI is re-enabled before the next follow-up fires — the sequence resumes normally as if nothing happened.
  • The next follow-up’s send time passes while AI is still disabled — that step is lost, and the sequence stops permanently for that lead. It won’t pick back up even if AI is re-enabled later.
This means a quick disable-and-re-enable (e.g. an operator jumping in briefly) won’t break the sequence, but a longer takeover will end it. If you need to restart follow-ups for a lead whose sequence was stopped this way, you’ll need to reset them manually.

🆘 Need Help?

Irelia.ai Support:
  • Contact support in the WhatsApp priority support group or send an email to info@irelia.ai
  • Include: a screenshot of your Follow-up tab configuration, the agent name, and the lead phone number you’re investigating (if the issue is about a specific conversation)