Nurturing

When a lead arrives, Gene sends an automatic AI first reply, and you can add a short drip of timed follow-ups after it. This is on by default for every connected source.

You set it up in each source's Welcome flow, on the Inbound tab.

Overview#

Open a source on Inbound and switch to its Welcome flow tab. The flow is the channels to send on plus an ordered list of message steps:

• The first step sends as soon as the lead arrives, or after a short wait you pick.
• Each later step waits a chosen number of days after the previous one. The sequence stops as soon as the lead replies.
• Messages can use {{first_name}}, {{last_name}}, and any field you collect from that source.
• Wording choices written as {Hi|Hey|Hello} send as one option per lead (the same one every time for that lead), never with the braces.

The welcome auto-reply is on by default. New leads get this sequence automatically unless you turn off Gene AI on the source's Settings tab. So does a contact you already had who fills in the source's form, as long as Gene has never messaged them (an imported or hand-added contact); someone Gene already talks to gets a follow-up in that conversation instead. There is no separate Nurturing tab in Flows; this per-source Welcome flow is where nurturing lives.

A lead who fills in several forms in a row gets one first message, not one per form.

Who writes the first message#

• You typed it: it goes out exactly as written, with merge tags like the lead's first name filled in. Gene does not rewrite it and it costs nothing extra.
• You left it empty: The first message card shows AI handles this. Gene writes the first message for each lead from what they filled in. Choose Write my own to replace it, or Let Gene handle this (above your message) to return to the automatic message. It follows, in this order of weight, the source's or form's own AI instructions, then First-reply guidance in AI > Sales agent, which applies to every new lead. Gene writes it before looking at any listings, so it may repeat what the lead is looking for but never says you have options or matches for it; the replies after it check your real inventory. A first message Gene writes costs 1 credit. If Gene cannot write one, a short generic welcome goes out instead.
• On the official WhatsApp API the first message is always the approved template. Left empty, the card shows AI handles this too, reading "Gene sends a short welcome for each lead, approved by WhatsApp as your template." Gene cannot write a personal message per lead there, so the same short welcome is submitted to Meta as your template and sent to every lead.
• An email with an HTML design is never rewritten or translated: it goes out as designed, with the merge tags filled in for each lead.
• Later steps go out as you typed them, translated when the lead needs another language.
• When you write the first message, the line under it explains how it is sent. An empty automatic first message shows the AI handles this card instead.

On WhatsApp via the Meta API#

The lead has not written to you yet, so every step goes out as a template Meta has approved, whatever its delay.

• The first message is submitted to Meta as soon as it saves.
• If a source still has no approved welcome template when its first lead arrives, Gene submits that source's first message right then and holds the lead until Meta approves it.
• Gene checks every ten minutes, for up to a day. After that the welcome is stopped and an internal note says why.
• A rejected template is not sent to Meta again unchanged. Edit the message and the new version is submitted.

Language of the welcome#

The welcome goes out in the lead's language: the language the lead gave you, otherwise the one a Smart rule picks.

A welcome Gene writes itself also follows Languages Gene replies in on the Sales agent page: a lead's language that is not on your list goes out in your first listed language. It also uses your assistant's name and your Always, Never and If-then rules.

On WhatsApp via the Meta API, when no template in that language is approved yet, Gene translates the first message and submits it under that language. It holds the lead for up to 30 minutes before sending the default welcome instead.

What you can do#

• Applies to: Shown when the source has connected forms. All forms (default) is the welcome every form gets; pick a form to give it its own. A form with its own welcome shows "(custom)"; clear all its messages to put it back on the default.
• Channels: WhatsApp and Email, each with a switch and up and down arrows, and a choice between One channel, in order and All channels at once. In order, each lead gets the welcome on one channel: Gene tries them top to bottom and sends on the first one the lead can be reached on, so a lead with no phone number gets Email. All channels at once sends the first message on every channel that is on and that the lead left details for; follow-ups go out on the first one in the list. With only one channel on, a lead who left only the other contact detail still gets the welcome there (a phone number gets WhatsApp, an email address gets email). A channel that is not set up is skipped even when it is on. When WhatsApp refuses the lead's number (not on WhatsApp, or no country code), Gene marks it Not on WhatsApp. When the lead left an email, the welcome carries on by email if One channel, in order has Email after WhatsApp on this source, or if your workspace sends email from its own verified domain (even when this source lists WhatsApp only). The same happens when WhatsApp sends to the lead keep failing. Gene's later follow-ups switch to email only when Email comes after WhatsApp on this source; otherwise they stop. The failed conversation appears in Inbox > Open with a note only your team sees. It does not try the same WhatsApp message again the next day. Set on All forms, for every form of the source.
• Every written email Gene sends from here opens with "Hi" and the lead's first name (in the language of the email) and ends with a sign-off from your assistant's name and company, plus an Unsubscribe link. You do not need to type a greeting or a sign-off into a step: they are added only when the step has none, so the same steps read naturally on WhatsApp too. An HTML design is sent as it is, with its own greeting and footer. The upcoming email in Scheduled shows them already.
• Email messages: With Email on, the Messages section has a WhatsApp | Email switch, so email leads can get their own messages. See Email messages.
• Smart rules: Rules written in your own words, like "anyone from Belgium or the Netherlands gets Dutch" or "if the lead asks for a human, send it to Nico". The first rule that matches wins. Set on All forms. With no rules, every lead is handled the same way.
  • A rule can look at who the lead is (the country their number is from, the page or source they came from, an answer they gave on the form) or at what they ask for in the chat.
  • A rule can reply in a language, hand the lead to someone, tag it, or stop replying.
  • Each rule says underneath when Gene checks it: as the lead arrives, or on every message they send.
• Draft with AI: On each step's card. Writes that step's message for you (a follow-up step is written as a follow-up to the messages above it). You can edit it after.
• Step delay: Step one goes out as soon as possible (after a random wait of up to five minutes), or 5 minutes to 8 hours later. Later steps offer 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, a week, or 2 weeks after the previous step. The exact choices are under Step timing.
• Message body: Free text per step, with variable insertion.
• Follow-ups: With only the first message, the space under it shows an AI handles this card: "Gene checks every lead at 9:00 in their own timezone and writes a follow-up when one is due." That is Gene's daily check (see Follow-ups). Write my own adds your first follow-up step; after that, Add follow-up appends another. Steps after the first can be removed, and removing them all brings the card back.
• Insert variable: Pill buttons that drop {{variable}} into the active message.
  • first_name and last_name are always available.
  • The rest come from the confirmed field mappings on that source and from the questions the form asks, under the name the form asks them by. A field the form gives no name to is left out, because it would arrive empty.
  • There is one variable style: a WhatsApp template's {{1}} shows as {{first_name}}, and a form's own field names (Voornaam, Nombre, E-mail) fill in like first_name and email.
• Saving: There is no Save button. See Saving.

Email messages#

Set on All forms, with Email switched on. A form with its own welcome still uses that one list on every channel.

• Until you give email its own messages, email leads get the WhatsApp messages written up as an email, with a greeting and sign-off. The Email side says so, with three ways to start: Write a separate email (starts from your WhatsApp messages), Upload HTML and Draft with AI.
• Each email step has a Subject, a Preview text (the line inboxes show after the subject), its timing (the same choices as the WhatsApp steps) and either a written message or an HTML design.
• Upload HTML: pick an .html file (up to 512 KB). It is cleaned and also saved to the Template library, so you can reuse it in a campaign. Over 102 KB you get a warning that Gmail may clip it. Replace HTML swaps the design.
• Draft with AI: Gene writes a designed HTML email on your workspace's branding (logo or name, area and reply address), with a subject and preview text, from the source's AI instructions and what you sell. A later step is written as a follow-up to the emails above it. You can edit it after.
• A designed email shows a preview, and its words sit under it as the plain-text version, sent with the design for inboxes that do not show HTML.
• With only a first email, the same AI handles this follow-up card sits under it, and Write my own adds a follow-up email. After that, Add follow-up email appends a step. Use the WhatsApp messages instead removes the email messages and puts email back on the shared ones.
• Insert variable types into the email you are editing. Merge tags in a design fill in per lead.

Saving#

• Every change to the channels, rules, steps, delays and email messages saves on its own, about 1.6 seconds after your last edit.
• The marker at the bottom shows Saving..., then Saved, or "Not saved. Try again" if a save fails. Click Try again to resend your edit.
• Your edits stay put when you switch to another tab of the source and back.
• Picking another form under Applies to first saves any edit still waiting to the welcome you made it in, then loads the other one. The switch itself saves nothing.
• With WhatsApp on (in any position), a changed first message is resubmitted to Meta for approval automatically. A welcome written here is submitted as a template when it saves, and once approved it shows up in Flows > Template library.

Popups and drawers#

The Welcome flow is a tab inside the source editor drawer (opened by clicking a source on Inbound). It has no further popups of its own.

Tips#

• Keep the first message short and human. It is the AI's opener, sent a few minutes after the lead arrives (a random wait of up to five minutes, unless you set a longer one).
• Use follow-up steps sparingly. One or two timed nudges read as attentive; a long drip reads as automated.
• To turn nurturing off for a source without deleting its steps, switch off Gene AI on the Settings tab.
• A lead on Do not contact gets no welcome message or follow-up step. If the switch goes on partway through, the remaining steps are not sent.

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Details#

Every control on the Welcome flow tab, with its exact wording, for when you need to look something up. The tab sits in the source editor on Inbound, next to Settings, Field mapping and Leads. A one-off import has no Welcome flow tab.

Source editor, Welcome flow tab#

The welcome sequence for the source: the first message and any follow-up steps. Gene AI, which sends it, is on by default. The welcome only goes out when Gene AI is on for the source; replies after it are separate.

• Applies to: Select, shown when the source has connected forms. All forms (default), then each form by page, with "(custom)" when it has its own welcome. A form cleared of all its messages falls back to the default.
• Channels (All forms only): a One channel, in order | All channels at once switch, then WhatsApp and Email rows, each with up and down arrows and a switch, plus a "Not set up" badge where the channel is not connected.
• Smart rules (All forms only): Add rule adds a sentence-style rule ("if the lead asks for a human, send it to Nico"). The first rule that matches wins.
• Messages: One or more steps, each with a multi-line body and a delay (see Step timing).
  • With Email on (All forms only), a WhatsApp | Email switch above the steps. Email holds its own steps: Subject, Preview text, Upload HTML (Replace HTML once there is a design), Draft with AI, the message or plain-text version, the follow-up card (Write my own, then Add follow-up email) and Use the WhatsApp messages instead. See Email messages.
  • An empty first message shows AI handles this, with Write my own to customize it. A written first message has Let Gene handle this to clear it and return to automatic writing. Under a written message the line says: "Sent as written, with merge tags filled in. Choose Let Gene handle this for a personal first message." On the official WhatsApp API, an empty first message shows the same card with "Gene sends a short welcome for each lead, approved by WhatsApp as your template.", and under a written one the line says: "Sent as your approved WhatsApp template. Choose Let Gene handle this for Gene's short welcome instead." A designed first email says "Sent as designed. Merge tags fill in per lead." A written email says "Sent as written, under your subject."
  • Each step has its own Draft with AI button, which reads Draft follow-up with AI on later steps.
  • Under a lone first message, an AI handles this card for follow-ups (Gene's daily 9:00 check) with Write my own, which adds the first follow-up step. Once there is one, Add follow-up appends a step. Steps after the first can be removed.
  • A dash between clauses in a step (" - ", "—", "–") is sent as a comma or a full stop, on WhatsApp, on email and in the template submitted to Meta. Hyphens inside words, numbers and links are kept.
• Template library (when WhatsApp is on, on the WhatsApp side): fills the active step from a template already on the WhatsApp account. Each one is listed by its label and message, with its status and language in words ("Approved · Dutch", "In review · English"). The templates themselves are managed in the Template library.
• On the official WhatsApp connection (WhatsApp on in any position), the second step carries the hint "Sent as an approved WhatsApp template. Stops when the lead replies." The lead has not written to you yet, so WhatsApp only accepts an approved template there, whatever the delay. Gene sends each follow-up as one, and the sequence stops as soon as the lead replies.
• Insert variable: Pill buttons inserting {{variable}} into the active message (see What you can do for which variables are offered).
• WhatsApp approval banner (official connection): the welcome template's state. For example "Welcome template submitted, waiting for WhatsApp approval. New leads are held until it is approved." Or, after a rejection, Meta's reason and "Edit the message and it is resubmitted as soon as it saves."
• Saving: see Saving.

Step timing#