Automated lead follow-up: DIY vs done-for-you costs

What does automated lead follow-up cost?

There are two ways to buy it. DIY, in Zapier or Make: a tool subscription (free tier upwards, climbing with task volume) plus a few evenings of setup, and for a simple two-app sequence that is genuinely all you need. Done for you: a one-off, fixed-scope build, typically £2,000–£10,000 in the 2026 UK market for a system that captures, qualifies and routes every enquiry across your tools (an illustrative market range, not our rate card).

For our own pricing: every project starts with a free audit and ends in a fixed-scope quote you approve before the build starts. For complex work, a deeper paid discovery (the Automation Roadmap) is available and credited in full against the build if you go ahead. The mechanics of what a follow-up system should do (capture, acknowledge, qualify, route, hand over) are covered step by step in how to automate lead follow-up.

The comparison at a glance

Illustrative 2026 UK figures. The build figure is a typical market range, not a rate card. Zapier's and Make's own pricing is on their sites and climbs with task volume.

When DIY genuinely wins

Build it yourself when the job looks like this:

• One form, one CRM, one acknowledgement email. New enquiry lands, the contact is created, a thank-you goes out within a minute. Zapier and Make were made for this, and you can have it live before lunch.
• Low enquiry volume. A handful of leads a week gives you room to handle qualification and routing by hand.
• Someone in the business enjoys building it. The first sequence takes an evening; the second takes twenty minutes.

The five steps in how to automate lead follow-up work at DIY scale too: start with capture and the instant acknowledgement, and add the rest as volume grows.

When done-for-you wins

• Leads arrive from several sources. Website forms, ads, an inbox and the phone all need to land in one CRM, tagged and assigned, before any follow-up can be consistent.
• Qualification needs judgement. Reading each enquiry, scoring it on budget and intent, and drafting a reply in your tone is AI design work rather than drag-and-drop.
• The sequence touches revenue. A hot lead routed to a booking link within minutes is worth monitoring, alerting and a named owner. That is what done-for-you workflow automation delivers: fixed scope, agreed in writing after a free audit, built on the tools you already run.

What moves the price

• The number of lead sources. Each channel is another connection to build and test.
• Qualification depth. Tagging by form field sits at the low end; AI scoring plus a drafted reply sits at the high end.
• Routing complexity. One alert is simple. Hot leads to a booking link, warm leads to a nurture sequence and the rest to a polite reply is a branching system.
• Monitoring. A watched, revenue-touching sequence carries a retainer; a DIY zap carries your attention.

FAQ

How fast should an automated follow-up reply go out?

Within minutes. A reply while interest is high is the entire point of automating follow-up: the acknowledgement is instant and consistent, and a person steps in where the relationship starts.

Is Zapier or Make enough on its own?

For a simple sequence between two or three apps, yes. The ceiling arrives when leads come from several sources, the enquiry needs reading and scoring, or the sequence needs someone watching it.

What does a done-for-you build include?

Scoping against your process, the build across your lead sources and CRM, testing on live enquiries, documentation and a handover your team can run. With us that is a fixed scope, quoted after a free audit and approved before the build starts.

What are the ongoing costs?

DIY, the tool subscription plus your time. For a monitored system, UK retainers typically run £500–£3,000+ a month depending on scope (an illustrative market range).

Get your fixed number

Tell us how leads reach you today and you'll get a free audit and a fixed-scope quote. If a DIY sequence fits, you'll be pointed to the recipe.