Speed wins in home services. The contractor who follows up first is the one who books the job. But when you are juggling estimates, job sites, and a growing team, it is nearly impossible to manually text or email every new lead within minutes. That is where automations come in.
Best ROI CRM lets you build automated SMS and email sequences that fire the moment a trigger event happens, whether that is a new lead arriving, a status change, or a lead going cold. In this tutorial you will set up your first automation from scratch so your follow-ups run on autopilot while you focus on closing deals.
Before You Begin
Make sure you have completed the initial account setup from Tutorial 1. You will also need the Admin or Manager role to create and activate automations. If you plan to send SMS messages, confirm that your company phone number has been verified under Settings > Communication.
Building Your First Automation
Navigate to Automation Settings
From the left sidebar, click Settings, then select Automations. You will land on the Automations dashboard, which lists every automation your team has created. New accounts start with a blank slate, so do not worry if the list is empty.
The dashboard shows each automation's name, trigger type, action type, current status (active or paused), and the number of times it has fired in the last 30 days. Use this view later to monitor performance and troubleshoot.
Create a New Automation
Click the + New Automation button in the top-right corner. A creation panel will slide open. Start by giving your automation a descriptive name, for example "New Lead Welcome SMS" or "Estimate Follow-Up Email — Day 3." Clear naming makes it easy for your whole team to understand what each automation does at a glance.
Choose a Trigger
The trigger is the event that starts the automation. Best ROI CRM supports several trigger types designed for home service workflows:
- New Lead Created — fires the moment a lead enters the system from a web form, manual entry, or import.
- Lead Status Changed — fires when a lead moves to a specific status, such as "Estimate Sent" or "Follow-Up Needed."
- No Contact After X Days — fires when a lead has had no logged interaction (call, text, or email) for a number of days you define.
For your first automation, select New Lead Created. This ensures every inbound lead receives an immediate response, even if your team is on a roof or in the field.
Pro Tip: The "No Contact After X Days" trigger is one of the most powerful re-engagement tools available. Set it to 3 or 5 days and pair it with a friendly check-in message. Contractors who reactivate cold leads with a single automated text often recover 10 to 15 percent of otherwise lost opportunities.
Set the Action
Next, choose what happens when the trigger fires. You have two action types:
- Send SMS — delivers a text message to the lead's mobile number.
- Send Email — sends an email to the lead's email address.
SMS tends to have significantly higher open and response rates for home service leads, often above 90 percent. Email works well for longer-form content like estimate summaries or educational follow-ups. For a new lead welcome, Send SMS is usually the best choice.
Write Your Message Template
Now write the message your leads will receive. Best ROI CRM supports dynamic merge fields that automatically pull in real data so every message feels personal. Available merge fields include:
- {{first_name}} — the lead's first name
- {{company_name}} — your company name
- {{assigned_rep}} — the name of the assigned sales rep
- {{lead_source}} — where the lead came from
Here is an example welcome SMS that performs well for contractors:
"Hi {{first_name}}, thanks for reaching out to {{company_name}}! We received your request and a team member will be in touch shortly. Reply STOP to opt out."
Keep SMS messages under 160 characters when possible to avoid splitting into multiple segments. For emails, use a clear subject line and keep the body concise, leading with the value to the homeowner.
Pro Tip: Always use the lead's first name with the {{first_name}} merge field. Personalized text messages see reply rates two to three times higher than generic ones. A homeowner who sees their own name is far more likely to respond than one who receives a message that feels mass-produced.
Set Timing and Delays
You can choose to send the message immediately when the trigger fires, or add a delay. Delays are entered in minutes, hours, or days.
For a new lead welcome message, immediate is almost always the right choice. Speed to lead is critical. Studies consistently show that contacting a lead within five minutes makes you seven times more likely to qualify them compared to waiting even 30 minutes.
For follow-up sequences, stagger your messages. A common cadence for home service contractors is:
- Immediate welcome SMS on lead creation
- Follow-up email at 24 hours with more information about your services
- Check-in SMS at 3 days if no response
- Final follow-up email at 7 days with a limited-time offer or seasonal promotion
You will create a separate automation for each step in the sequence. Name them clearly, for example "New Lead — Day 0 Welcome," "New Lead — Day 1 Info Email," and so on.
Activate and Monitor
Review your automation summary at the bottom of the creation panel. Double-check the trigger, action, message content, and timing. When everything looks right, toggle the automation to Active and click Save.
Your automation is now live. Head back to the Automations dashboard to watch it work. The dashboard updates in near real-time, showing how many times the automation has fired and its delivery success rate.
If you need to make changes, click on any automation to edit it. You can also pause an automation at any time without deleting it, which is useful for seasonal campaigns or when you want to A/B test different message variations.
Pro Tip: Always include opt-out language in your SMS automations, such as "Reply STOP to opt out." This is required by carrier regulations and helps you maintain a clean, compliant contact list. Best ROI CRM automatically handles opt-out replies so you do not need to manage them manually.
Next Steps
You now have your first automation running. As leads flow in, you will see immediate improvement in response times and engagement rates. Build out a full follow-up sequence using the staggered cadence above, and experiment with different message templates to see what resonates with your market.
Ready to measure the impact? Head to Tutorial 7: How to Run Reports and Track Performance to learn how to pull reports on lead engagement, rep activity, and pipeline conversion so you can refine your automations with real data.
