Auto email: how it works and how to set it up

An auto email to every new enquiry, sent within a minute of the form being submitted, is the single fastest improvement most service firms can make to their lead handling. The prospect gets an immediate confirmation, a named person and a clear next step, and your team gets time to prepare a proper call. This article answers how to build that one instant response email on the levelpartner.ai platform, what it should say, and how it fits into a wider lead response process.

Why the first minute matters

A prospect who fills in your enquiry form is often comparing two or three firms the same afternoon. The firm that responds first sets the frame for the conversation. It does not have to be a call within a minute; a clear, human-sounding email within a minute buys you the hour it takes to call properly.

Without an auto email, the prospect's experience is silence. They do not know if the form worked, who will contact them or when. Some will move on to the next firm in their search results before you notice the enquiry.

What a good instant response contains

Five things, in this order:

1. Confirmation that the enquiry arrived.
2. The name of the person who will contact them.
3. When that person will be in touch, as a specific promise.
4. One useful thing to look at while they wait, such as a short case summary or a page explaining how you work.
5. A way to book a call directly if they prefer not to wait.

Nothing else. No company history, no service list, no newsletter sign-up.

Before you start

• An enquiry form in Sites that captures name, email, phone and what the enquiry is about.
• A rule for who owns new enquiries, so the email can name them.
• A booking calendar, if you want to offer a direct booking link.
• A verified sending domain in Settings.

How to set it up

1. Go to Automation, select Workflows and click Create Workflow.
2. Choose Start from Scratch.
3. Click Add New Trigger and select Form Submitted.
4. Under Form Is, pick your enquiry form and save the trigger.
5. Add the Assign to User action and choose the users in rotation.
6. Leave split traffic set to equally for an even share.
7. Add a Send Email action below the assignment.
8. Fill in From Name, From Email and a clear Subject.
9. Write the Email Body, adding custom values such as first name.
10. Click Send Test Mail, then Save Action.
11. Add an Internal Notification with the user type set to assigned user.
12. Turn the Publish toggle on and click Save.

Writing it so it sounds like a person

The instant response should read like a note the owner would have written if they had seen the enquiry straight away. Something like this:

"Hi Tom, thanks for getting in touch about your website rebuild. I'm Priya, and I'll call you before 3pm tomorrow to talk it through. In the meantime, here is a two-minute read on how we usually run a project like yours. If you would rather pick a time, you can book straight into my diary here."

Specific, short, and signed by a name. For other wording approaches, our marketing email sample and email blast templates show the contrast between a personal note and a broadcast.

What it replaces in a growing firm

It replaces the shared inbox notification that someone eventually reads and forwards. It replaces the generic "thank you for your submission" page that tells the prospect nothing. And it replaces the anxiety of a prospect wondering if anyone noticed them.

It does not replace the call. The email promises a call; your team still has to make it within the time you promised.

The time it takes each week

Nothing to run it. The weekly discipline is checking that the promise in the email is kept: that owners actually call within the stated time. If they regularly cannot, change the promise rather than breaking it.

The mistake most people make

Promising a response time the team cannot meet. "We'll call you within 15 minutes" sounds impressive and fails the first time everyone is in a meeting. Choose a promise you can keep every working day, such as "before the end of the next working day", and keep it.

When not to use it

If your enquiry volume is very low and each enquiry is a large, complex brief, a personal reply from a partner within the hour may be better than any auto email. Even then, consider an auto email outside working hours only.

To add a second and third message for enquiries that go quiet, see the guide to automated follow up emails. If the email itself is the main thing you want to automate, rather than the whole lead process, read what an auto emailer is and which emails to automate first.

Troubleshooting

The email names the wrong owner. The assignment step runs after the email step. Move the assignment above the email so the owner is set before the email sends.

Spam submissions get the email too. Add a captcha to the form and a filter in the workflow that excludes obvious junk, such as empty company fields.

Prospects reply and nobody sees it. The reply-to is set to a no-reply or unmonitored address. Change it to the owner's mailbox.

Out-of-hours enquiries expect an immediate call. Add a branch that changes the promised response time when the form is submitted outside working hours.

Frequently asked questions

Should the auto email include our prices?

Usually not. The prospect has asked to talk, not for a price list. Pricing is better discussed on the call, where you can understand what they need first.

Can the auto email go by SMS instead?

You can send both. SMS gets read faster, email carries more detail. Many firms send a two-line SMS and a fuller email at the same moment.

What if the enquiry comes from an existing client?

Add a condition that checks whether the contact already has a client tag. Existing clients should get a message from their account manager, not a new-lead response.

Do we need a different auto email for each service?

Only if the next step differs. If every enquiry leads to the same discovery call, one email with the service name merged in is enough.

The journey this guide describes