Follow Up Boss AI: How to Automate Lead Follow-Up

Follow Up Boss AI is a set of features built into the CRM: smart summaries, smart messages, suggested tasks and predictive lead prioritization, all included at no additional cost (FUB AI). They help agents catch up, write replies and pick who to call next.

To have AI start conversations with new leads by text or phone, you connect an outside tool. Follow Up Boss lists AI texting partners such as Structurely and Ylopo's Raiya (FUB texting), and its public API supports custom tools (FUB API docs).

What Follow Up Boss AI does today

Follow Up Boss describes four AI features on its AI page as of October 2026 (FUB AI):

Smart summaries recap a call or a lead's whole history. Follow Up Boss marks this feature "In beta."
Smart messages suggest texts and emails based on the lead's activity.
Suggested tasks propose follow-ups you activate with one click.
Predictive lead prioritization tags high-intent Zillow buyers and qualified sellers automatically.

Follow Up Boss says many of these features "rely on data produced by the FUB Calling feature," which is a paid add-on for the Grow plan. Follow Up Boss lists Calling at $39 per user per month on Grow, as of October 2026, while Pro includes unlimited calling and texting (pricing).

Follow Up Boss also says account data is not used to train global AI models (FUB AI). Zillow, which owns Follow Up Boss, describes the same direction in its annual report: Follow Up Boss "is now enhanced with AI-supported smart message suggestions, client insights, call summaries" (Zillow 10-K).

Step 1: Build the native automation first

AI works best on top of clean follow-up rules. Set these up in Follow Up Boss before adding any outside tool (Smart Lists, Automations, email and Action Plans).

Set Lead Flow. Decide how each lead source is assigned: round robin, first to claim, or by price or ZIP code. Automations do not route brand-new leads, so this step comes first.
Create Smart Lists. Follow Up Boss suggests examples such as a "New Leads" list for leads created less than 7 days ago, or a list of leads with fewer than three calls.
Build an Action Plan for new leads. Use automatic emails, automatic texts with templates and agent call tasks. Start from one of the 500+ community-built Action Plan templates and edit it.
Add Automations for signals. Trigger on a new lead or an older lead becoming active again, then send an email, create a task, update a field, notify a teammate or reassign the lead.
Turn on FUB Calling. Calls made inside Follow Up Boss feed smart summaries and suggested tasks.

Step 2: Add AI calling and texting through the API

Follow Up Boss documents a public API, and any company providing services to a Follow Up Boss customer must register its system and send X-System and X-System-Key headers (FUB docs). A working setup for an AI responder follows these steps:

Send new leads to the events endpoint. Follow Up Boss says POST /v1/events is the best way to add a lead: it avoids duplicates, applies Action Plans and assigns the agent from Lead Flow (FUB docs). Leads sent through POST /v1/people skip those automations, so an AI tool that creates leads that way can leave a new lead with no Action Plan and no assigned agent.
Subscribe to webhooks. Use peopleCreated for new leads and peopleStageUpdated for stage changes. Only the account owner can create webhooks, and your endpoint should respond within 10 seconds (FUB webhooks).
Choose the API key carefully. Each user has a unique key with that user's access: an agent's key sees only their assigned people, while a broker's key sees the whole account (FUB authentication).
Write every result back. Log calls with POST /v1/calls. Texts sent by an outside system can be recorded with POST /v1/textMessages, which saves a log only; Follow Up Boss notes "No actual text messages are sent" (FUB docs).
Respect rate limits. Limits use a sliding 10-second window; a 429 response comes with a Retry-After header (FUB rate limits).
Sync opt-outs both ways. A STOP reply in the AI tool must stop the Action Plan in Follow Up Boss, and a do-not-contact flag in Follow Up Boss must stop the AI tool.

Speed is the reason to start from the webhook rather than a scheduled sync. In a 2007 InsideSales.com and MIT study of more than 15,000 web leads, contact odds dropped 100 times between a 5-minute and a 30-minute first call (study).

Step 3: Make the webhook path reliable

A first call in under 60 seconds depends on the webhook arriving and being handled. Follow Up Boss documents the details (FUB webhooks):

The event is a pointer, not the lead. A peopleCreated notification carries resourceIds and a uri, and your system then fetches the person through the API. Custom fields are "not returned by default," so request fields=allFields if your scripts use them.
Failed deliveries are retried, slowly. If your endpoint does not answer with a 2XX code, Follow Up Boss will "attempt to retry the request up to 5 times," waiting 1, 5, 5, 10 and then 30 minutes. A lead stuck in that loop is already late, so acknowledge at once and queue the call separately.
Two webhooks per event. There is "a limit of two web hooks per event per system," so register one and fan out inside your own system.
Verify the sender. Each request carries a FUB-Signature header that you can check against your X-System-Key.
Log the appointment too. The API has an Appointments endpoint, so a booked showing can sit on the Follow Up Boss record, not only on a calendar.

Example: assume a hypothetical buyer inquiry reaches Follow Up Boss at 9:12 p.m. on a Saturday. In this hypothetical case the webhook fires, the AI tool fetches the record, calls in under 60 seconds, asks the team's questions and books an 11 a.m. Sunday showing. In the same hypothetical case it logs the call and the appointment, so the assigned agent starts Sunday with a booked showing instead of a cold lead.

Follow Up Boss integrations for texting, voicemail and AI

Follow Up Boss says it connects with 250+ integrations (FUB AI). Its texting page groups partners into drip texting (Agent Legend, CallAction), AI texting (Ylopo's Raiya, Structurely) and human-powered texting (Aiva, Verse) (FUB texting). That makes Structurely an add-on to Follow Up Boss rather than a replacement CRM; see Swiftleads AI vs Structurely for how AI texting compares with voice.

Slybroadcast does not appear on that texting page. Zapier connects the two, with templates that "Deliver Slybroadcast voice messages to new Follow Up Boss contacts" or start a campaign when a lead's stage changes (Zapier). Check consent first: the FCC ruled in 2022 that "ringless voicemail" to wireless phones "requires consumer consent because it is a 'call'" under the TCPA (FCC 22-85). This is general information, not legal advice.

Is a third-party AI assistant safe to connect?

Searches such as "is Follow Up Ace safe" come up because these tools need deep access. Follow Up Ace describes itself as "AI, built for Follow Up Boss" that prepares SMS and email drafts "ready for your review" (Follow Up Ace). Before connecting it, or any other assistant, check four things:

Whose key it uses. Follow Up Boss says an API key "provides the same privileges as the user's login credentials" (FUB authentication). Use the narrowest user that can do the job.
Whether it sends or drafts. A tool that drafts for review carries less risk than one that sends on its own.
Where your data goes. Ask for the vendor's security documentation and data retention terms in writing.
How opt-outs flow. Confirm an opt-out recorded by the tool, such as a STOP reply, reaches Follow Up Boss within minutes.

AI follow-up or an ISA team for database re-engagement

Follow Up Boss Automations are built to catch "the moment an older lead shows renewed interest" and create a task or send an email when it happens (FUB Automations). That surfaces the signal. Someone still has to talk to the person.

An ISA team gives you human judgment on those conversations but works set hours. An AI responder covers nights and weekends and hands the warm lead to an agent. You can also split the work: AI for the first touch, people for the conversation that follows. Our AI ISA vs human ISA cost comparison runs the numbers.

Where Swiftleads AI fits

Swiftleads AI is an AI responder for inbound real estate leads. It responds to inbound real estate leads in under 60 seconds, 24/7/365, by voice, SMS, email or WhatsApp in 15+ languages, qualifies them on budget, timeline, property type and pre-approval, books appointments on your calendar and syncs to your CRM.

Compliance comes first: it contacts only inquiries and people who gave consent, plays a call-recording disclosure, honors opt-outs on every channel, and keeps follow-up compliant with TCPA, A2P 10DLC and DNC requirements. See how an AI voice agent works.

For a broader look at AI on calls and texts, see AI that calls, texts and emails your leads. The connection method for your account is confirmed during scoping. What syncs with Follow Up Boss and how it is set up: Swiftleads AI + Follow Up Boss. Pricing is by custom quote, based on lead and call volume, channels, integrations and workflow. To add a first-minute response to your lead flow, Book for a quote.