Can Kit follow up on a new inquiry on its free plan?

Yes, for one kind of inquiry. Kit's free plan, called Newsletter, allows one basic visual automation, so one kind of inquiry can get an automatic follow-up email and the rest cannot.

For a small business, that is often enough. It works if you spend that one automation on the right inquiries.

What does Kit's free plan allow?#

Kit's help center says Newsletter plan users can set up one basic visual automation. Unlimited visual automations need the Creator or Creator Pro plan. That line is on Kit's page about visual automations.

A visual automation is the part of Kit that sends email on its own. It starts at an entry point. One entry point is "Is added to a tag." When a person gets that tag, they enter the automation.

A sequence is a set of emails, such as one today and one in three days. Kit only sends a sequence when it is added to a visual automation. So on the free plan, every automatic follow-up, one email or several, runs through that one automation.

Kit's help does not say what "basic" leaves out. It also does not say how many contacts or emails the free plan includes. Check your own account for those.

Which inquiries should get the one automatic email?#

Spend it on your best inquiries: the ones you would call first. These are often called hot leads.

The reason is simple. A slow reply costs you the most when the job is one you really want. You might be on a roof, in a meeting, or asleep when a good inquiry comes in. An automatic email can tell that person you got their message and what happens next.

An inquiry that fits you less well can usually wait a day for a reply. Waiting costs less there, so the free automation does less good.

This only works if your inquiries arrive in Kit already sorted. Kit starts automations on a tag, so each kind of inquiry needs its own tag. In Qualiform, each lead who says yes to OK to email them is added to Kit with the tag for their priority, such as Qualiform Hot. You start your one automation on that tag.

There is a fair case for the opposite choice. If you already phone every hot inquiry within the hour, an email to them adds little. Spend the automation on the next group down instead. Those are the people who would otherwise wait.

What happens to everyone else?#

Everyone without the automated tag gets nothing from Kit until you send it. On the free plan, that means a broadcast.

A broadcast is a one-time email you send yourself. In Kit, you click Broadcasts, then "+ New Broadcast," and write it. On its Publish page, you pick "Send email." Under "Who would you like to send this to?" the default is "All Subscribers." You can add a filter to send only to people with a certain tag. Kit's help shows this filter, but it does not say whether the free plan includes it. Check in your account.

In practice, this is a habit. Pick a time, such as every Friday morning, and send one broadcast to each tag you care about. Two things to know:

1. A broadcast to a tag goes to everyone with that tag, not only this week's new inquiries. Write it so it still reads well to someone who got last week's.
2. The automation does not look back. Anyone tagged before you turned it on will not get the automatic email. Send those people a broadcast once.

This is slower than an automation, and it depends on you remembering. For a business with a handful of inquiries a week, it is often fine. You may reply to most of them in person anyway.

When is it worth paying for Creator?#

Creator gives you unlimited visual automations. It is worth it when one automation no longer matches how you work. Consider it when:

1. You want each kind of inquiry to get its own email. A hot inquiry gets "here is a time to talk." A cooler one gets "here is what we charge, and how to book later."
2. You run more than one form, such as one for quotes and one for bookings, and each needs its own follow-up.
3. The weekly broadcast keeps slipping. If you skip it, the people it was meant for hear nothing. An automation does not forget.

Stay on the free plan if you get only a few inquiries a week, if you reply to most of them yourself, or if one automatic email for your best inquiries covers what you need. Paying for automations you do not use buys nothing. This post does not list Kit's prices, so read Kit's own pricing page before you decide.

How do you know your follow-up works?#

Send one real inquiry through your own form, as a visitor would. Answer so it lands in your best group, and say yes to emails.

Then open Kit and check three things:

1. The person is there, with the tag your automation starts on.
2. They entered the automation.
3. The email arrived in the inbox you used.

Kit's help pages do not say outright that a tag added by another tool starts an automation. This one test is how you find out for your own account. The guide to a Kit sequence for new inquiries by priority walks through each click to build the automation before you run the test.