Follow-up add-on
after the call, with consent.
Follow-up keeps the conversation going after the call, on the channels the caller agreed to: booking confirmations and reminders by SMS or WhatsApp, owner alerts, and one inbox for replies.
01What it does
- Confirmation and reminders of a booking by SMS (Telnyx) or WhatsApp (Meta Cloud API templates).
- "We have your message" after a message is taken (SMS or WhatsApp).
- Cancellation notice when a booking is cancelled; pending reminders are dropped.
- Alerts to the business owner (SMS or WhatsApp): every message (urgent ones always), every booking, or a one-line summary of every call.
- One inbox for replies on WhatsApp, Instagram and SMS: console → Follow-up inbox, where a person answers. The business also gets each reply by e-mail.
It is a separate module in src/addons/followup/. Without that folder Answerbell runs exactly as before; with it, the module appears under Settings → Follow-up, Follow-up inbox, and a Follow-up tab on every client. It is off until you switch it on.
The add-on's settings page lists every channel the module supports, with its own help text. This page covers SMS, WhatsApp and Instagram.
02Consent first
- On the client's Follow-up tab, pick the channels callers may choose, then update the agent.
- After a booking, the agent asks once: "May I send you the confirmation and a reminder by SMS or WhatsApp?" It passes the channel only on a clear yes.
- Answerbell records the consent (channel, number, time, the call's id) and queues the messages, only when the booking's number is the number the call came from. A number the caller merely said gets nothing: it could be someone else's.
- STOP (also /stop, odhlásiť, odhlásit, abmelden, rezygnuję, leiratkozás, стоп …) stops every message to that number on that channel at once and is confirmed once. Console → Follow-up inbox → Opt-outs lists them.
Every first message says it comes from the AI assistant and how to stop. Marketing messages are not part of the add-on and must not be sent through it.
03The platforms' rules, and how the add-on keeps them
| Platform | Rule | What the add-on does |
|---|---|---|
| Since 2026-01-15 Meta does not allow general-purpose AI assistants on the Business Platform; assistants for one business's own support and bookings are allowed (WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy). | No AI chat on WhatsApp at all. Automated messages are fixed booking texts; an incoming message gets at most one fixed hand-over sentence a day, then a person answers from the inbox. | |
| A business starts a conversation only with an approved template; free text only within 24 hours of the person's last message (WhatsApp pricing). | Confirmations, reminders, cancellations, acknowledgements and owner alerts are sent as your approved Utility templates; replies typed in the inbox are refused after 24 hours. | |
| A business can only answer someone who wrote first, within 24 hours (Instagram messaging API). | Instagram is replies-only: DMs land in the inbox with one hand-over sentence; nothing is sent after a call. | |
| SMS | Transactional messages to a number that agreed; honour STOP. | Only booking-related texts after consent; STOP handled (Telnyx also handles STOP on many routes). |
| EU AI Act art. 50 | People must be told they deal with an AI. | The call opens with the disclosure; every first message repeats that it is automated. |
04Setup
Settings → Follow-up:
| Channel | You need |
|---|---|
| SMS | A Telnyx number with messaging (or an approved alphanumeric sender + messaging profile id), a Telnyx API key, and for replies and STOP the Telnyx public key; inbound webhook https://<public URL>/addons/followup/telnyx on the messaging profile. |
A WhatsApp Business Account in Meta Business Manager, its phone number id, a system-user access token with whatsapp_business_messaging, the Meta app secret and a verify token; webhook https://<public URL>/addons/followup/meta subscribed to messages. A client can use its own number (its phone number id on the client's tab). | |
The professional account linked to the same Meta app, its id, a token with instagram_manage_messages; the same webhook, subscribed to Instagram messages. |
05WhatsApp templates to submit (category Utility)
Submit one per language you use (codes: sk, cs, en, de, pl, hu, uk; override in Settings if Meta approved another code). Suggested bodies, with the parameters in the order the add-on sends them:
| Setting | Parameters | Suggested body (English) |
|---|---|---|
| Booking confirmation | 1 business, 2 service, 3 date, 4 time, 5 code | {{1}}: your booking for {{2}} on {{3}} at {{4}} is confirmed. Booking code {{5}}. This is an automated message from the AI assistant. |
| Reminder | 1 business, 2 service, 3 date, 4 time, 5 code | {{1}}: a reminder of {{2}} on {{3}} at {{4}} (code {{5}}). |
| Cancellation | 1 business, 2 code, 3 date, 4 time | {{1}}: booking {{2}} on {{3}} at {{4}} is cancelled. |
| Message received | 1 business | {{1}}: we have your message and will get back to you. This is an automated message from the AI assistant. |
| Owner alert | 1 business, 2 what happened | {{1}}: {{2}} |
Add a quick-reply button "STOP" if you like; its text arrives in the inbox and stops the messages.
06Costs
Telnyx bills each SMS; Meta bills WhatsApp utility templates per message (and, since 2026-10-01, utility messages inside the 24-hour window too); Instagram messages are free. See each provider's price list.
The request and webhook shapes follow the providers' API references (checked 2026-11-09). Before selling, send one SMS, one WhatsApp template and one Instagram reply on real accounts with your own keys.