Creating Smart Plans

A Lofty Smart Plan is a robust lead nurturing feature that combines email drip campaigns with tasks to help you communicate with your leads on a continuous basis. If you choose to add a call/text package to your account, you can also build auto-texts into your campaigns.

We get a lot of questions about our powerful tool, Smart Plans. This article will review how to create, edit, and manage your Smart Plans. 

Where are Smart Plans?

To find Smart Plans, navigate to Marketing > Automation > Smart Plans.

Smart Plan Guide

The Smart Plan Guide will show recommendations for Smart Plans based on where the lead is at in the purchase/rent/sell process.

This guide can be found in the Marketing > Automation> Smart Plans > Guide icon.

The Guide will display the different stages of the purchase/rent/sell process.

1. Click to see details about that stage

2. Short explanation about the stage and how a lead would be considered under this stage

3. How the Smart Plan can be used to help leads in that stage

4. Recommended Smart Plan templates from the Lofty Library based on the stage selected

5. Triggers the start of a new standard Smart Plan. This will not automatically add any steps or conditions based on the stage.

Smart Plan Libraries

Depending on the type of Lofty account you are on, you may see options for My Smart Plans, Office Smart Plans, or Company Smart Plans. These are Smart Plan libraries that have been created on your Lofty account, for use with your leads.

If Auto-Apply is turned ON, then the Smart Plan will automatically run for any applicable leads in your Lofty CRM. Auto-Apply can be enabled on your own Smart Plans, as well as on Office/Company Smart Plans.

The Smart Plan Library is full of templates that can be imported into "My Smart Plans" or "Office/Company Smart Plans".

To find the Library, navigate to Marketing > Automation > Smart Plans > Library.

To create a new Smart Plan, click + Add New. 

Click the Tab My Smart Plans if you want to create Personal campaigns or Company Smart Plans if you want to share them with the rest of your agent users.

There are various types of Smart Plans. You will have the option of recurring and non-recurring plans.

Select the type of plan and click "start" to begin building your Smart Plan.

Non-Recurring Smart Plan

Standard Smart plans will trigger a selected amount of time after the smart plan is created or new leads are imported. 

Recurring Smart Plans

All recurring Smart Plans can recur for up to ten cycles. Please keep in mind, that you will need to keep "auto-apply" enabled for the Smart Plan to apply each cycle. Here are the different recurring plans:

New Year

Triggers on January 1st

Christmas

Triggers on December 25th

Valentines Day

Triggers on February 14th

Birthday

Triggers on the birthdate tied to the lead's profile.

The lead birthday will be displayed on the profile:

Lead Date

Triggers on a date that has been set up as a "custom field" on the lead profile.

Learn More: Custom Fields

Transaction Date

Triggers on a date that is specific to a transaction.

Learn More: Transaction Management Introduction

Setting the Recurring Smart Plan Date

When creating a recurring date smart plan, you have the option to set the plan to trigger on a Specific Date or a Fixed Date.

Specific Date

Triggers on a specific date selected. For example, if the Specific Date is a Birthday, it will trigger on the lead's birthday.

Fixed Date

Triggers on the exact date selected. When setting the Fixed Date, it will trigger the exact calendar date each year.

Scheduling the Recurring Smart Plan

When scheduling the smart plan, the frequency can be either Yearly, Monthly, or Weekly and can scheduled for up to 10 cycles.

Smart Plan Settings

The first step when creating a new Smart Plan is the settings.

Here, you will give the Smart Plan a name, determine which leads the plan should apply to, set the Smart Plan scope, and set the conditions that will pause the Smart Plan.

Target Lead Type

This setting will determine what type of leads the Smart Plan will apply to. 

You can find the Lead Type in the leads profile details: 

Shown below are the different filters you can use for your Target Lead Type.

EQUALS TO

INCLUDE ALL

INCLUDE ONE OF

Plan Scope

All Lofty users will have the option to create My Smart Plans. My Smart Plans can only be viewed, edited, and applied by the Agent who created them. 

Company Smart Plans can be applied to the entire account. They are visible to all users. Users with the "Manage Template —— Entire Company" permission (see Organization - Permission Profiles) can manage any Company Smart Plans.

Office Smart plans are visible to all users under the office and any sub-offices (if applicable). Users with the "Manage Template —— User's Office" permission can manage the Smart Plans for their office and any sub-offices. 

Auto-Pause

This section will automatically pause the Smart Plan under certain conditions. 

The lead responds/reaches out

• This includes the lead sending an email to a Lofty user, calling a Lofty number, sending a text message to a Lofty number, and replying to the AI. 

An outbound call is logged as "talked"

• A call was made to the lead and the call was marked as "talked" after the call in the dialer window. 

The lead's pipeline changes

• The lead's pipeline was changed. Please note that the Smart Plan step action to "change pipeline" will also result in the pausing of this Smart Plan, in addition, to manually changing a lead's pipeline stage.

The tags that triggered the Smart Plan are deleted

• When the tags are added to trigger the Smart Plan in the application conditions are removed/deleted

The "source" of the lead changes

• When the source of the lead is changed after the Smart Plan is applied

Triggers

The Triggers tab indicates how/when the Smart Plan will be applied and to what leads. 

For Standard Plans, there are ten (10) triggers available:

Lead Created

• The Smart Plan will run automatically when the lead is newly created in the CRM

Lead Assignment Changed

• The Smart Plan will run automatically when any lead role is manually assigned or reassigned

Tag Changed

• The Smart Plan will run automatically when tags are added or removed from the lead

Segment Changed

• The Smart Plan will run automatically when the lead is added or removed from a Segment

Pipeline Changed

• The Smart Plan will run automatically when the lead's pipeline is changed

Lead Meets Specified Conditions

• The Smart Plan will run automatically when the lead details change

Lead Contact Permission

• The Smart Plan will run automatically when the lead contact permission is changed

Last Touch

• The Smart Plan will run automatically, dependent on the last contact with the lead

Website Behavior

• The Smart Plan will run automatically, dependent on the lead's website behavior

Communication

• The Smart Plan will run automatically, dependent on the lead's call, text, and email behavior

For Recurring Plans, there are eleven (11) triggers available: The 10 listed above and the date trigger. Click + Add another trigger to add one of the other triggers to the recurring plan.

*Please note* The conditions follow the "or" logic. For example, if you have selected multiple groups under the conditions, the lead can belong to any of the groups and the Smart Plan will apply.

Once you have set the triggers, the option for "auto-apply" will appear: 

If Auto-Apply is enabled, you also have the option to enable "Auto Re-apply". The auto re-apply setting will allow this Smart Plan to automatically be re-applied to a lead that the Smart Plan has already run for if that lead meets the trigger conditions again.

Actions

After setting the triggers, the last step is to put the actions that occur with the Smart Plan. The Smart Plan will start with one step, and you can add up to 80 steps.

Smart Plan Actions

There are several different types of Smart Plan steps. All steps will create a task.

The steps that show "Auto" will automatically be sent out after the Smart Plan is saved and at the selected time.

The Smart Plan actions are defined below:

1. Auto Email: Automatically sends an email to the lead.
2. Auto Text: Automatically sends a text to the lead and allows you to add a business card. Learn more: Virtual Business Cards
3. Email: Create a task to email the lead.
4. Text:  Creates a task to text the lead.
5. Call: Create a task to call the lead.
6. Postcard: Design and automatically send a postcard to leads. You can design and pay for the postcard here as well. Learn More: Self-Service Mail / Mailers
7. Letter: Design and automatically send a letter to leads. You can design and pay for the letter here as well. Learn More: Self-Service Mail / Mailers
8. Zapier Zap: Triggers a Zapier Zap.  Learn More: Zapier Zaps + Smart Plans
9. AI Assistant Action: Choose an action you want the AI to take (I.E monitor the lead's behavior). 
10. Notification: Sends an email to a specified email address or Lofty user
11. Change Pipeline: Automatically moves the lead to the pipeline selected.
12. Change Segment:  Automatically add/remove the lead from a segment.
13. Change Tag: Automatically add/remove a tag from a lead. 
14. Start Smart Plan: Automatically start a new Smart Plan. You can have multiple Smart Plans running so if there are additional steps after the "start Smart Plan" step, the current Smart Plan will continue. 
15. Buyer Property Alert: To set up a property alert, you will need to set the search criteria while creating the Smart Plan.
16. Checklist: Creates a list of tasks to be completed. You can assign tasks to any role that is under the lead.
17. Other: Creates a general task. You can choose what the task is for.
18. Slybroadcast: Slybroadcast is a service that can be used to send pre-recorded “ringless voicemails”. You will only see this option if you are subscribed to Slybroadcast. Learn More: Slybroadcast Integration 
19. Reassignment Group: This is a great option for any Lofty users who want to mass reassign their leads. As a refresher, the Reassignment Groups Help Center article is here: Reassignment-Groups
    1. Note:
       1. When the Reassignment Group Action is applied to multiple leads, the New Lead notification for each Lead is queued and sent to the Reassignment Group Assignee in turn. That is, if a Lofty user is re-routing hundreds of leads to an agent, that agent will get hundreds of "New Lead" notifications. 
       2. If multiple Smart Plans have Reassignment Group actions, they will be executed in chronological order.
       3. The Reassignment Group action is not available for Private Leads. If a Private Lead reaches a Reassignment Group action in a Smart Plan, that step will be skipped and recorded in the Smart Plan Log.
          • There will be Smart Plan Logs for the following:
            1. The Reassignment Group action starts
            2. The Reassignment Group action ends
            3. When the lead gets to the Reassignment Group action, but the Reassignment Group has been deleted
            4. When a private lead gets to the Reassignment Group action and that smart plan step is skipped

You can also select at what point the Smart Plan step will run.

You can also select a Conditional Question and choose the task If the answer is Yes and if the answer is No. The list of Conditional Questions is below:

If the lead: 

• is a first-time home buyer?
• plan to buy a home in 3 months?
• has been pre-qualified for a mortgage?
• has an agent already?
• has a property alert?
• has an address in his/her Details?
• has an assigned lender already?
• has a phone number in his/her Details?
• has an email address in his/her Details?
• has already closed?
• has been in contact with me within the last week?
• has favorited listings?
• has requested a home evaluation?
• has requested to sell his/her home?
• has family members?

Assigning a Step

When creating steps, you will have an option to "assign to" a role. 

The task will be assigned to whichever role the step is assigned to. If the step/task is an auto email or auto text, it will be sent from the agent assigned to that role.

You can find the "roles" agents can be assigned to under the lead profile:

The lead has to have someone assigned to that role under their profile for it to work. 

Learn More: 

Assigning Leads to Custom Roles

Creating Custom Roles

Editing Smart Plans

To edit any Smart Plan, click on the settings gear to the right. 

Keep in mind, that you can only edit Company or Office Smart Plans if you have the correct permissions enabled. This is because changing Company or Office Smart Plans will affect the whole account.

If the Smart Plan edited is currently applied to a lead

• The step edited/added has not been completed on the profile

The Smart Plan will resume as normal and add the new task for that step to the lead's profile, it will not start over.

• The step edited has been completed/The step added has been passed

This step will not apply to the lead, the Smart Plan will not start over and will only apply to new leads or leads where the step was not completed. 

• If the Smart Plan you edited was removed from any lead

The Smart Plan will not auto-apply to that lead again. It will need to be manually added. 

Applying and Removing Smart Plans

There are different ways to remove and apply Smart Plans to leads.

Auto-Apply

Any Smart Plan that has "auto-apply" enabled will automatically apply to leads who meet the criteria. If auto-apply is disabled, you will need to manually apply the Smart Plan to leads. 

Manually Applying

To manually apply a smart plan for multiple leads (not using auto-apply), navigate to the People Page and check the box next to the leads you want to apply a Smart Plan to. Select the More menu > Smart Plan > Add Smart Plan

Next, select the Smart Plan and click Start

Smart Plans can also be manually applied from the lead's profile:

Removing

To remove a Smart Plan from all leads, click the Settings Cog Wheel > Remove from leads

Smart Plans can also be removed from multiple leads on the people page, the same process as mass adding a Smart Plan.

Remove/delete the Smart Plan for an individual lead by hovering over the Smart Plan and clicking the trash can icon:

Pausing and Resuming Smart Plans

Pause any Smart Plans that you want to stop for a period of time that you do not want the automations to continue. This could be if you are out of the office or taking time away from work. When you resume the Smart Plan, it will pick up right where it left off.

There are two ways to pause and resume your Smart Plans. 

1) Pause/Resume from the Smart Plan page

Navigate to Marketing → Automation → Smart Plans. Check the box next to the Smart Plan(s) you want to pause or resume. An option will be available at the top of the Smart Plan list to either Pause or Resume the selected Smart Plan(s).

The Smart Plans will pause/resume for all of the leads that are enrolled in that plan.

2) Pause/Resume from the People page

Navigate to People Page → select the leads you want to pause/resume a Smart Plan → Click More → Select Smart Plan → Select the option you want.

The Smart Plans that are applied to the selected leads will be available in the pop-up. Select the plans that you want to pause/resume. This will pause/resume the selected Smart Plans only for the selected leads.

Smart Plan Report

Smart Plan Report appears at the bottom of the Smart Plans tab.

This will display a report of the Company or Office Smart Plans including the total leads the smart plan is applied to, the total emails sent, the total finished Smart Plans, and more. Please see the definition for each column. 

• Total Leads Applied: Number of leads who have applied this plan
• Active Amount: The number of leads who are currently enrolled in this smart plan and the plan is actively running.
• Paused Amount: The number of leads who are currently enrolled in this smart plan but the plan has been paused.
• Finished Amount: The number of leads who have completed all the steps in this smart plan and reached the final step.
• Total Sent Emails: The total number of emails that have been sent through this smart plan.
• Open Rate (Total): The percentage of emails sent through this smart plan that have been opened by the recipients.
• Total Sent Texts: The total number of text messages that have been sent through this smart plan.
• Tasks Created: The total number of tasks that have been created through this smart plan

• Overdue (%): The percentage of tasks created through this smart plan that are past their due date compared to the current date.

  
  

  

Other Smart Plan Resources

Smart Plans FAQ

Zapier Zaps + Smart Plans

Smartplan Overview