How does reply detection work?
See what counts as a reply, what it stops, and where detection can miss.
3 min read
Replies stay in Gmail. ColdMerge watches campaign threads, records the result, and stops follow-ups when a person answers.
What ColdMerge needs
Section titled “What ColdMerge needs”Connected mailboxes require Google’s Send email and Read email permissions. Read access is used only to match replies and bounces to threads ColdMerge started. Unmatched mail is not stored.
A reply is normally detected within a minute. An hourly safety check catches missed notifications.
When a mailbox gets its first successful watch, including after a reconnect, ColdMerge also checks recent campaign conversations for replies that arrived before watching began. This background check can stop pending follow-ups. An automatic response does not prevent it from finding an earlier human reply.
What an incoming message does
Section titled “What an incoming message does”| Kind | Result |
|---|---|
| Human reply | Stops this campaign’s follow-ups to that person |
| Auto-reply | Stops nothing |
Permanent bounce (5.x.x) |
Stops every live sequence for the contact and suppresses the address |
Temporary bounce (4.x.x) |
Changes nothing |
When a message is ambiguous, ColdMerge treats it as a human reply. That avoids continuing a sequence after someone may have answered.
A sender’s request to suppress delivery receipts or automatic responses does not make their reply an auto-reply. ColdMerge needs a separate signal that the message was generated automatically.
A bounce can follow a Sent message. Sent means Gmail accepted it. Bounce means the recipient’s server returned it later.
What a reply does not stop
Section titled “What a reply does not stop”A human reply stops follow-ups only in the campaign that received it. The same contact may continue in another campaign.
Suppression is broader. An unsubscribe, permanent bounce, manual suppression, or erasure stops unfinished sends across the Organization. When a reply asks you to stop, use Mark as opted out to suppress that person everywhere.
Known detection limits
Section titled “Known detection limits”If Gmail accepted a send but its response was lost, ColdMerge recovers the conversation and checks for replies that arrived while the send was uncertain. Follow-ups wait for that check. A recovered human reply stops the sequence just like a reply detected live.
| Situation | Result |
|---|---|
| Gmail puts the reply in Spam, or a filter moves it out of the inbox | ColdMerge may not see it |
| The mailbox is unwatched for more than about a week | Older Gmail change history may be unavailable |
| The recipient starts a new conversation instead of replying in the thread | ColdMerge cannot match it safely |
| The Gmail thread cannot be recovered safely | No follow-ups are queued for that recipient |
Check the sending mailbox’s Spam folder occasionally. If a real reply is there, stop that person’s follow-ups yourself.
Choose reply alerts
Section titled “Choose reply alerts”- Open Settings, then Notifications.
- Set Replies to Email, one per reply, Email, daily digest, or Bell only.
- Select Save preferences.
The bell always receives reply alerts. Email alerts contain who replied, the campaign, time, a one-line preview, and a link to Gmail. ColdMerge never puts the full reply body in an alert.
Email previews decode escaped characters and omit recognizable quoted history. If no preview remains, open the Gmail thread to read the reply.
Replies also update Analytics and the campaign’s progress.