Someone filled out your contact form three weeks ago. You meant to follow up after the first email went unanswered, but then a client deadline hit, then the weekend happened, and now it’s been 21 days and that lead has almost certainly moved on. You lost a potential client — not because your offer was wrong, but because the follow-up never happened.
Inconsistent follow-up is one of the most expensive problems solopreneurs have, and it’s entirely solvable. This article walks through how to automate lead follow-up using Make.com and ConvertKit — a three-touch sequence that runs automatically, converts more prospects without any manual chasing, and never lets another inquiry disappear into the void.
Why manual follow-up always fails solopreneurs
Manual follow-up has a fatal structural flaw: it requires you to remember to do it at the exact right moment while you’re already busy doing everything else. That moment almost never comes.
The research on follow-up timing is consistent — the first 24 hours after an inquiry are when response rates are highest. A prospect who filled out your contact form at 2pm on Tuesday has mentally moved on by Wednesday morning if they haven’t heard back. By day three, your chances of converting them drop significantly. By day seven, most have hired someone else or decided to wait on the project entirely.
Manual systems can’t reliably hit that 24-hour window when you’re managing active clients, creating content, and handling the other 40 things a solopreneur juggles in a week. Automated systems can hit it every single time, for every single lead, without your involvement.
The other problem with manual follow-up is inconsistency. Some leads get three touchpoints. Others get one email and silence. The ones who don’t convert often aren’t objecting to your offer — they just weren’t followed up with at the right cadence. Automation solves inconsistency by treating every lead identically, regardless of how busy you are when they inquire.
Your action: Count how many leads you’ve received in the last 90 days. Then count how many received a second follow-up after their first response — or after not responding to your first reply. That gap is your conversion leak.
The three-touch follow-up sequence that converts
A follow-up sequence doesn’t need to be complex. Three well-timed, well-written touchpoints handle the vast majority of conversion scenarios — the interested prospect who just got busy, the intrigued-but-not-ready prospect, and the prospect who needs one more piece of information to decide.
Touch 1: The same-day response (automated, within minutes of form submission)
The first message goes out automatically the moment a lead submits your contact form. It’s not a sales pitch — it’s a confirmation that sets the right expectations. “Thanks for reaching out — I received your message and will follow up within one business day with more information about [service]. In the meantime, here’s a link to [relevant resource or case study] that might be helpful.”
This message serves two purposes. It confirms the submission was received, which immediately reduces prospect anxiety. And it delivers something valuable before you’ve asked for anything, which sets a different tone from a generic “I’ll be in touch” auto-reply.
Touch 2: The follow-up if no response at 72 hours (automated, three days after Touch 1 with no reply)
If the prospect hasn’t responded within three days, this message fires automatically. It’s short, warm, and assumes the best. “I wanted to follow up on your inquiry — I know inboxes get busy. I’d love to chat about your project and see if there’s a good fit. Would any of these times work for a quick 20-minute call?” Include a Calendly link.
The 72-hour timing is deliberate. Earlier feels pushy. Later means the window has narrowed. Three days after the initial inquiry is the optimal re-engagement window for most service-based businesses.
Touch 3: The soft close at 10 days (automated, ten days after original inquiry with no reply)
The final automated message is the one most solopreneurs skip because it feels uncomfortable to send. “I haven’t heard back from you, so I want to make sure I’m not cluttering your inbox. I’ll close out this inquiry on my end — but if the timing wasn’t right and you’d like to revisit this in the future, I’d love to hear from you. Just reply to this email whenever works.”
This message converts at a surprisingly high rate because it removes pressure entirely. Prospects who weren’t ready say yes at this point more often than at any point after Touch 2. And for prospects who genuinely aren’t interested, it clears your pipeline cleanly.
Your action: Write the copy for all three touches before building any automation. Getting the tone right matters more than the technical setup. Touch 1 should feel warm and immediate. Touch 2 should feel casual and low-pressure. Touch 3 should feel like you’re doing them a favor by wrapping up cleanly.
How to build the automation in Make.com and ConvertKit
The trigger for this entire sequence is a form submission — the moment a prospect fills out your contact form, the sequence begins. Typeform or Tally work well as intake tools and both integrate directly with Make.com.
Setting up the trigger and first touch
Create a new Make.com scenario with a Typeform → Watch Responses trigger. The first action is a Gmail → Send an Email module that fires immediately — zero delay — with your Touch 1 copy. Map the prospect’s name and inquiry details from the form fields into the email body using Make.com’s variable system.
Simultaneously, add a ConvertKit → Add Subscriber module that adds the prospect to your email list with a “Lead — Pending” tag. This creates a record of every prospect in your email platform regardless of whether they become a client — useful for future nurture sequences.
Adding the conditional follow-ups
The 72-hour and 10-day follow-ups require conditional logic — they should only fire if the prospect hasn’t replied. Make.com handles this with a combination of a Sleep module (for the time delay) and a Gmail → Search Emails module that checks whether a reply thread exists before sending the follow-up.
The sequence works like this: after the Touch 1 email sends, a Sleep module holds for 72 hours. When it wakes, a Gmail search checks for replies from the prospect’s email address in the last 72 hours. If no reply exists, Touch 2 sends. If a reply exists, the scenario routes to a branch that skips Touch 2 and tags the contact as “Lead — Replied” in ConvertKit instead.
The same logic applies for Touch 3 — a 10-day Sleep module, a Gmail reply check, and a conditional send.
The ConvertKit integration advantage
Using ConvertKit alongside Make.com gives you a permanent record of every lead that enters your pipeline, tagged by their follow-up status. “Lead — Replied,” “Lead — Booked Call,” and “Lead — Closed (No Response)” tags let you segment your list months later. The prospect who didn’t hire you in March because the timing was wrong might be ready in September — and a well-segmented ConvertKit list means you can reach exactly that audience with one targeted email.
Your action: Set up your Typeform intake form and connect it to Make.com today. Build the Touch 1 email first and test it by submitting your own form. Once Touch 1 sends correctly, add the conditional logic for Touch 2. Build incrementally — one working step is better than a broken full sequence.
The bottom line
Automating lead follow-up is one of the clearest ROI automations a solopreneur can build. The three-touch sequence — same-day confirmation, 72-hour warm follow-up, and 10-day soft close — converts more prospects without any manual effort, and does it consistently for every lead regardless of how busy your week gets.
Build Touch 1 today. Get it working. Add Touch 2 this week. By the end of the month you’ll have a complete follow-up system that never drops another lead — and you’ll wonder how many clients you missed before you had it.
Your next step: Open Make.com, connect Typeform, and write your Touch 1 email copy right now. Keep it under 100 words, make it warm, and include one useful link. That first touch alone — sent within minutes of every inquiry — will improve your conversion rate before you’ve built anything else.