- Builders and renovation businesses
- Gyms and fitness studios
- Venues that take functions and events
- Trades that win work on hipages and ServiceSeeking
- Real estate appraisal and buyer follow-up
- Agencies following up new-business enquiries
On Autopilot’s AI Lead Engine is an AI lead follow-up system for Australian service businesses. It picks up every new enquiry from your website forms, Meta and Google lead ads and listing portals, scores it against your criteria, drafts a personal reply in your voice with a booking link, and logs it in your CRM, usually within minutes. It costs $2,000 to set up and $499 a month (AUD, ex GST), and goes live in 10–14 working days, including a 3-day shadow test.
How much does AI lead follow-up cost in Australia?
With On Autopilot, AI lead follow-up costs $2,000 to set up and $499 a month, ex GST and month to month: $7,988 in year one, then $5,988 a year. The monthly fee includes hosting, Claude API usage, the CRM connection, monitoring, the weekly digest and ongoing tuning. Your CRM subscription and ad spend stay on your own accounts.
| What you pay for | Cost (AUD, ex GST) |
|---|---|
| Setup, one-off: source mapping, scoring rules, voice training, CRM connection, testing | $2,000 |
| Monthly: hosting, Claude API usage, CRM connector, monitoring, weekly digest, tuning | $499 a month |
| Year one in total | $7,988 |
Why does reply speed matter so much?
Because interest fades quickly. In a study of 1.25 million online sales leads published in Harvard Business Review, firms that tried to contact a lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as firms that waited even an hour longer, and more than 60 times as likely as firms that waited a day or more (Oldroyd, McElheran and Elkington, HBR, March 2011). The data is American and from 2011, but the pattern is familiar to anyone who has chased a lead the next morning.
Most businesses know this and still reply late, for three reasons: someone has to be watching the inbox at all hours, a fast reply also has to be a good reply, and volume spikes (a lead ad that takes off, a new listing) swamp the team. AI Lead Engine handles all three.
What does the AI Lead Engine do?
It collects every enquiry in one place. Website contact forms, Meta (Facebook and Instagram) lead ads, Google lead forms, your enquiry inbox, and portal enquiry emails such as Domain and realestate.com.au.
It scores each one. We set the criteria with you. For a builder that might be budget, block, plans, finance and timing. For a real estate agency following up appraisal requests: the property, the suburb and when the owner might sell. The agent reads the enquiry, returns a score using structured outputs, and tags the lead.
It drafts a personal reply. Not “thanks for your enquiry, we’ll be in touch”. It refers to what the person actually asked, answers the obvious questions, asks one or two qualifying questions if needed, and includes your booking link.
It logs everything in your CRM, so your best leads sit at the top of the pipeline and nothing lives only in someone’s inbox.
It says no nicely. Enquiries that are not a fit get a courteous reply and, where it helps, a pointer elsewhere, so your team’s time goes to the leads that can buy.
How do we build it?
AI Lead Engine goes live in 10–14 working days, including a 3-day shadow test:
- Kick-off and voice (days 1–2). We list every enquiry source, agree the scoring criteria and collect 10 to 15 replies you were happy with as voice examples.
- Pipeline (days 3–6). We connect the sources and your CRM and build the scoring and drafting.
- Shadow test (days 7–9). The engine runs on recent real enquiries without sending anything. You review its scores and drafts.
- Soft launch (days 10–12). One source goes live, with every reply approved by you.
- Full launch (days 12–14). All sources on. You choose which lead types, if any, it may send on its own.
In the first month we review low-confidence drafts every fortnight and tune the scoring and voice. Tools: Claude through the Anthropic API, your CRM’s API, Meta and Google lead webhooks, and Calendly or Cal.com for bookings.
What is not included?
- Your CRM, booking tool and ad platform subscriptions, and your ad spend.
- Cold outreach. It replies to people who contacted you. It does not buy lists or send unsolicited marketing.
- Regulated advice. It never gives credit, financial, legal or migration advice.
- Extra brands or business units. A second brand with its own voice and pipeline is quoted separately.
AI Lead Engine vs the alternatives
| Option | Cost | Reply speed | Personal reply? |
|---|---|---|---|
| The team replies when free | Staff time | Hours, often the next day | Yes |
| CRM auto-responder template | Usually included in your CRM | Instant | No, the same text for everyone |
| A sales assistant or VA | Wages or VA fees | Business hours | Yes |
| On Autopilot AI Lead Engine | $7,988 in year one | Minutes, any hour | Yes, drafted from the enquiry |
An auto-responder tells people you received their message. The Lead Engine answers it. If you also need someone to handle the human side of follow-up, our sister business DotVA supplies virtual assistants, and on managed AI Scale a DotVA assistant can work alongside your agents.
Who is it for, and who is it not for?
It suits businesses where an enquiry is worth real money and speed wins the job: builders and renovators, gyms and fitness studios, venues that take functions, trades that win work on hipages and ServiceSeeking, real estate agencies following up appraisals and buyers, and agencies chasing new business. For mortgage brokers and recruitment agencies it is usually the second agent, after an AI Front Desk handles first replies and bookings.
If you get fewer than about 20 enquiries a month, it is probably more than you need. Look at the AI Front Desk or a one-off Quick Start build at $497.
What rules apply in Australia?
- Spam Act. Replying to someone who has just asked you a question is answering their request. Adding them to ongoing marketing needs consent, a clear sender and an unsubscribe option under the Spam Act 2003 (see the ACMA’s guidance).
- Privacy. Leads are personal information. Your privacy policy should say an AI service processes enquiries, including overseas, under the Australian Privacy Principles. We document the data flow for you.
- Licensed advice. If you hold an Australian financial services or credit licence, the engine stays on the admin side: it acknowledges, qualifies with questions you approve, and books the conversation. Wording you do not want used (such as promises about rates) can be blocked in its instructions.
Where does this come from?
The building blocks are the same as the lead pipeline we run for our own virtual assistant agency, DotVA: every form submission goes to a Cloudflare Worker that filters spam, scores the lead, separates job applicants from buyers and records it in a lead database and dashboard. Want this and other agents looked after for you? See managed AI, or every price on the pricing page.