What happens when someone replies to your emails?

When a prospect sends a human reply to your automated outreach, a manual task appears in your task list. The sequence stays paused until you review the reply and choose how to proceed.

For Outlook, Vaam also checks messages from the prospect after your first sequence email, including messages in another conversation. This check includes other email addresses saved for the prospect.

Gmail checks the conversations that your sequence emails started, both in the background and before each send. A new reply in another conversation is not detected. This also applies when the message comes from an email address saved for the prospect.

After you select Continue sequence, Vaam checks both providers for newer replies. A newer human reply pauses the sequence again.

Gmail out-of-office replies

Vaam lets the sequence progress after a confirmed automatic vacation reply. It can also continue an earlier pause caused only by that reply. The next action follows the sequence’s normal timing.

The subject alone does not confirm an automatic vacation reply. Vaam keeps the pause if it cannot confirm the reply or safely continue. Earlier reply tasks with incomplete information can still need your review.

A human reply that Vaam already detects stays protected for the same prospect in the same sequence. A later vacation reply or deletion of the human reply does not remove that protection. Later emails from your sequence do not move the start of the reply check.

Continue sequence tells Vaam to continue after the replies you already handle. Vaam retains those replies and checks for later human replies. A later human reply pauses the sequence again.

Vaam cannot recover a reply deleted before it checks that reply. Earlier replies that Vaam no longer retains can also be unavailable. This limit does not remove a human reply that Vaam still retains.

Outlook keeps its existing reply behavior.

Manage prospect responses

1. Go to your task list. You will see the number of manual tasks that need your attention.

2. Click “Review” to assess the prospect’s response.

3. Open the reply in your own email client. Vaam shows which prospect to look for and provides a shortcut to that conversation if you connected Gmail.

4. Choose one of the two buttons:

   • Continue sequence keeps the automation running. Use it after you review the reply and decide to continue. An out-of-office task can still need this action when Vaam cannot confirm that it can safely continue. The sequence continues with its next step.
   • End sequence stops the automation. Use it when the prospect is interested or when there is nothing more for the sequence to do. You then take over the conversation yourself.

5. Answer the prospect from your own email inbox when you take over the conversation.

[!NOTE] A reply task stays paused until you choose Continue sequence or End sequence, unless Vaam confirms that it can automatically continue a Gmail out-of-office pause.

If Vaam cannot check the conversation

Before Vaam sends an automated email, it reads the email conversations that earlier emails in the same sequence started with that prospect. That check keeps an automated email from going out after the prospect has answered in one of those conversations.

The first email has no earlier sequence conversation to check, so Vaam sends it without this check.

If your email provider has a temporary problem, Vaam holds the send. It waits about 15 minutes and tries again.

After three temporary failures, Vaam stops the sequence for that prospect and adds a review task titled Reply check failed. Other prospects continue as normal.

If the conversation is deleted, belongs to another mailbox, or cannot be read with the account’s permissions, the sequence continues. Vaam records the reason and check time. The same rule applies when a previous Gmail send has no saved conversation. A human reply that Vaam already detects still pauses the sequence.

To continue:

1. Reconnect your email account.
2. Open the task and select Review.
3. Select Try the current step again, then select Confirm.

Vaam checks the conversation again before it sends. If the prospect has replied, Vaam stops the sequence as for any other reply.

See Email connection lost if the connection is the cause.

One exception

If a reply task stays unreviewed for 10 business days, Vaam closes the sequence for that prospect automatically and marks it complete. Your email conversation is not affected.