Hello there, Saleshandy users! 👋
We have fantastic news to supercharge your email campaigns and make your life much easier. 🌟
Get ready for a journey through the realm of pausing and resuming prospects, Out of Office (OOO) detection, and how it all works seamlessly to elevate your campaign management. 🌐
So, grab your seat, as It's time to level up your email game! 📧🚀
🏖️Out of Office Detection, Auto Pause, and Resume ⏯️
What is Out-of-Office Detection?
The Auto Pause & Resume feature is a game-changer in itself. It automatically detects those pesky OOO (Out of Office) email responses. When it spots one, it marks the prospect as "Out of Office" and pauses them in all active sequences. No more bothering prospects who are temporarily unavailable! 🚫
But it gets even cooler. We're using AI to scan OOO emails and determine when the prospect is returning to the office. If it finds that return date, the prospect will automatically resume at the right time. Talk about efficiency! 💼
Why Out-of-Office Detection?
Our goal is simple: to make your email campaign management smarter and more efficient. This feature simplifies prospect management, prevents unnecessary emails from landing in the inboxes of unresponsive leads, and ensures you engage with prospects at the perfect moment. Plus, it cuts down on manual work, making your life easier! 🤖
How to Set up Out-of-Office?
Manage out-of-office settings for the prospects that will be applicable for email replies.
📺Video Guide
🪜Steps to Follow
1️⃣ Navigate to Settings > User Settings > Out of Office
2️⃣ By Default, Enable out-of-office workflow will be turned on. However, you have two options to choose from
Pause Prospects for Predefined days when an out-of-office reply is detected.
Pause Prospects as per the return date found in the out-of-office email text (Our AI will do this). If no date is found, pause the prospects for predefined days.
Remember: You can pause the prospects for a minimum of 1 day and a maximum of 100 days using the Out of Office setting.
3️⃣ Click on Save.
When the Out-of-office setting is turned on, The Auto Pause & Resume feature will automatically detect OOO email responses. When an OOO response is identified, the prospect will be marked as "Out of Office," and they will be paused in all active sequences. This ensures that no further email steps are sent to prospects who are temporarily unavailable.
If our AI has detected an Out-of-office reply in Sequence, it will displayed under Sequence > Prospects > Outcomes as Out of Office, and this will change the status of Prospect from Active to Paused.
There are two ways to check Pause and resume activity. It will say the prospect has been paused for X days for Sequence Y because an Out-of-office reply is detected.
Select the Sequence > Prospects > Select the Prospect > Activity.
Navigating directly to the Prospect tab from the left side panel, select the prospect, and look for the Prospect activity tab slider, where you'll find the reason why it's paused.
Remember: If emails sent to prospects are going into their Spam folder and these prospects have set up their OOO setting ON, Saleshandy will not be able to identify the reply as OOO. For Saleshandy to identify OOO reply from prospect, main email sent to the prospect has to drop in the inbox.
How does Out-of-Office Detection work?
You're in control. You can easily pause and resume prospects, but once a prospect is paused because of an OOO response, they're paused in all active sequences. No prospect is left behind!
Our AI will scan OOO emails and retrieve return dates, automating the resume process.
You can choose to pause prospects for a set number of days or based on the return date found in the email text. Flexibility at its finest!
And guess what? OOO email replies will be registered in the Unified Inbox.
But wait, there's more!
Picture this: Your prospect paused for 14 days due to an OOO reply, but surprise – they reply on day 10! 📅Boom! Their status changes from "Paused" to "Replied." 🚀
Our AI reads their response and adjusts the Outcome accordingly. It's like email magic! 🪄
Auto OOO replies are detected, and prospects are in a "Paused" state.
Prospect's Activity:
If the prospect decides to unsubscribe from your sequence, guess what? Their status gets a makeover to "Unsubscribe." 🚫
User's Activity:
If you, our brilliant user, mark the prospect as unsubscribed, voila! Their status also turns into "Unsubscribed." 📤
But what if the prospect decides to bounce? No worries! You mark them as bounced, and their status switches to "Bounced." 🙅♂️
When the prospect has completed their journey and you mark them as finished, their status gracefully transitions to "Finished." 🏁
And the cherry on top: If the prospect responds to your email, their status shines as "Replied." 💌
Only the Paused prospect can be resumed by the user and the OOO detection system.
Bounced and Unsubscribed prospects can not be paused
With the OOO detection system. It only pauses active prospects, keeping things efficient. 🚀
Now, if you've manually paused a prospect and they receive an OOO reply, two things can happen:
A. Your OOO setting is ON: The system adjusts the pause duration automatically.
B. Your OOO setting is OFF: Your manual pause duration stays as is. Your call!
You've got the power to pause those "Replied" and "Finished" prospects. And when you decide to hit the "Resume" button, they bounce back to being "Active." 🚀
Imagine a prospect has been on a 10-day pause because of an auto OOO reply detected by our system. 📅 But hold on, you decide to take charge and change the pause duration for that prospect to 15 days within your sequence. 🙌
Well, guess what? Saleshandy's got your back! The system syncs up and pauses the prospect for a fresh 15 days from that very moment. 🚀⏳
You can add paused prospects into new sequences and other active sequences. 🚀📅
Team dynamics and OOO settings 🤝
Teammate A has their OOO setting to "Pause for 7 days." So, Prospects detected Out of Office in Teammate A's sequence will be paused for exactly 7 days.⏳
Now, Teammate B is on the scene with an OOO setting of "Pause for 10 days." So, Prospects detected Out of Office in Teammate B's sequence will be paused for exactly 10 days.⏳
But wait, Teammate C is the maverick here with their OOO setting turned OFF. In their sequence, Prospects detected Out of Office won't be paused at all. Instead, they'll be marked as "Replied" even if it is an OOO reply.
If prospects are shared among the team, and there are 2 teammates and one admin. You've got Teammate A and Teammate B with their OOO settings ON and the Admin with their OOO setting turned OFF. 🤓
Teammate A : OOO setting Pause for 7 days
Now, picture this: Prospect XYZ is part of Teammate A's, Teammate B's and Admin's sequences. 🚀
If Prospect XYZ triggers an OOO response in Teammate A's sequence, here's what happens: 📅
Regardless of their settings, Prospect XYZ will be paused for 7 days for everyone involved – Teammate A, Teammate B, and the Admin. It's a synchronized pause party! ⏳
And here's the beauty of it: If someone on the team decides to hit the "Resume" button for a prospect in a sequence, it won't affect the status of that prospect in other team members' active sequences. Each sequence stays in its own lane! 🚗💨
When we pause prospects using OOO detection, it's a one-way street – everyone's in sync. But here's the cool part: You can manually resume a prospect in one sequence and keep them paused in another. It's all about giving you the control you need!
Once a prospect is resumed, whether by the system or you, they're back in action and start receiving the next steps in your sequence, just like before. 🚀📧
OOO email replies will be registered in the Unified Inbox.
If the recipient's email address (in the "To:" field) is active and only the BCC (blind carbon copy) recipient is sending OOO replies, don't worry – the OOO detection won't mark the "To:" recipient as OOO. 🚀📧
Troubleshooting OOO Detection in Saleshandy: Understanding Limitations and Solutions
It's important to understand that OOO detection has its limitations, and there may be scenarios where our tool cannot identify the prospect's reply as an OOO response. Here, we will explore these limitations and explain why Saleshandy may not always detect OOO replies.
Gmail: If vacation Responder is set without the subject line, then the reply from the prospect will be received in the same thread, and Saleshandy can successfully identify the reply as an OOO reply.
Gmail Limitation: We cannot identify auto-reply when the user has provided a subject line in their Vacation Responder settings. Because, in this case, the reply is received as a new thread, and we cannot find any related reference to the primary message.
Outlook/Zoho Mail/iCloud Mail: In Outlook, Zoho Mail, and iCloud Mail, even if the OOO reply is received as a new thread still, we can retrieve related references to the primary message. And Saleshandy can successfully identify the reply as an OOO reply.
Yahoo/AOL Mail
Yahoo/AOL Mail Limitation: We cannot identify auto reply because it's received in different threads, and we cannot find any related reference to the main message.
Yandex Mail
In YandexMail, an OOO reply is received in the same thread, and Saleshandy can successfully identify the reply as an OOO reply.
Note: Apart from the mentioned ESPs, if the auto-reply / OOO response is received in a different thread and no related reference to the main message is found, then the Saleshandy cannot detect the OOO reply.
Mission accomplished; you've successfully learned how to pause a prospect based on Out-of-Office reply detection.👏
Wishing you a delightful experience! ❤️
Happy Selling. 🤝
Warmest regards,
Saleshandy Team
👉 Next Steps
Check out the below article If you want to know more about
💡 Tip
Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. We're available on chat and ready to provide you with prompt assistance. 🤗