Every reply to your sequences lands in one Inbox, whichever mailbox it came to. SimpleSend reads your mailboxes every few minutes, labels each reply as it arrives, stops or pauses the sequence for you, and lets you answer from the same mailbox, in the same thread.
How the Inbox works
Open Inbox in the Sequences section; the unread count sits next to it. The page has three panes: the conversation list, the open conversation, and a context panel. Replies are read from your mailboxes every few minutes, and Check now checks straight away. A line at the top sums up what's waiting, for example "3 need a reply · 2 interested · 5 unread".
On Teams, each teammate's Inbox holds the replies to their own sequences. LinkedIn replies have their own inbox on the LinkedIn page.
Filters and search
| Filter | Shows |
|---|---|
| Needs a reply | A person wrote last, and it isn't an out-of-office, a bounce, an opt-out or a clear no. The Inbox opens here. |
| Interested | Conversations labelled Interested or Wants a meeting. |
| All | Every conversation that isn't archived. |
| Unread | Anything you haven't opened yet. |
| Out of office | Auto-replies. |
| Opted out | People who asked to stop. |
| Bounced | Delivery failures. |
| Archived | What you've archived. |
Narrow the list by campaign (including Not from a campaign) or by mailbox, or search names, addresses and subjects. A sequence's Replies button opens the Inbox filtered to that sequence.
Labels
Each reply from a person gets a label as it lands. Out-of-office replies and bounces are recognised by rules. Hover a label to see whether it was Labelled automatically or is Your label.
| Label | What it means | Your next move |
|---|---|---|
| Interested | Positive. Wants to learn more, or asks for details or pricing. | Answer, then offer a time. |
| Wants a meeting | Proposes or accepts a call, or asks for times. | Confirm a time or send your link. |
| Has a question | Needs an answer before deciding. | Answer it plainly, then one next step. |
| Referral | Points you to a colleague who handles this. | Thank them, then write to the person they named. |
| Not now | A timing objection. | Ask when to check back, and note it. |
| Not interested | A clear no, without asking to be removed. | Thank them and move on. |
| Asked to stop | Asks to unsubscribe or never be contacted. | Nothing. They're suppressed already. |
| Wrong person | Says they aren't the right contact. | Ask who is, politely. |
| Replied | Any other reply: small talk, one-word answers. | Read it and decide. |
| Out of office | An auto-reply. | Nothing. Their sequence pauses. |
| Bounced | A delivery report. | Nothing. The address is suppressed. |
To change a label, pick one from the menu in the conversation header; No label clears it. Your label wins and is never overwritten by the automatic one. Choosing Asked to stop stops their sequence and suppresses the address, exactly as an automatic opt-out does.
What happens on its own
| When this lands | SimpleSend does this |
|---|---|
| A person replies | Stops that lead's follow-ups (Stop when they reply is on by default) and puts the conversation in Needs a reply. |
| A reply asking to stop | Stops the sequence and adds the address to your do-not-contact list, for your whole account. |
| An out-of-office | Pauses that lead until the business day after the return date the message names, or for about a week if it names none. |
| A hard bounce | Stops the sequence, marks the address invalid and suppresses it. |
| A soft bounce | Pauses that lead for a few days. |
| A spike in bounces | Pauses the mailbox or the sequence and shows why. |
If you turned Stop when they reply off in a sequence's settings, follow-ups carry on after a reply, except for anyone who asks to stop.
Working a reply, step by step
- Open Needs a replyIn Sequences, open Inbox. It opens on Needs a reply: the people waiting on you, newest activity first.
- Read the contextOpen a conversation. The panel on the right shows who they are, the campaign, the email that started it and why you wrote to them.
- Check the labelConfirm or change the label from the menu in the header. Your label always wins.
- Draft the replyClick Draft with AI for two options, or write your own. Your mailbox signature is added for you.
- Send from the same threadClick Send reply. It goes from the same mailbox, in the same thread, and ends the person's sequence if it was still running.
- Close the loopArchive the conversation when it's done, or use Never contact to suppress the address and stop every sequence it's in.
Answering well
The conversation header shows the person's name and label, their address and company, the subject, and the campaign it came from, with Sequence still running if steps remain. Each message shows which of your mailboxes it went through, and notes such as Campaign step, Sent from the inbox, Auto-reply or Delivery report.
The context panel is the part to read first: Who (title, company, email, phone, LinkedIn, industry), Campaign, The email that started it and Why we wrote to them, the research behind your first email.
Type your answer in the reply box. Don't add a signature: your mailbox's is added for you. Replies can run to 5,000 characters, and Send reply (or Cmd or Ctrl plus Enter) sends it from the same mailbox, in the same thread. If their sequence is still running, the box warns you that replying ends it.
AI reply drafts
Draft with AI writes two short replies from the conversation and your campaign brief, labelled Option 1 · direct and Option 2 · warmer. Click one to drop it into the box, edit it, and send. The drafts stay short, answer what the prospect said and end on one clear next step. When the prospect proposed a time, they accept it or offer alternatives; when the prospect asked to stop, they only confirm it. Drafting replies uses no credits.
Opt-outs and the do-not-contact list
Every email SimpleSend sends carries an opt-out line, an unsubscribe link and your business mailing address. The unsubscribe link opens a page where the recipient confirms, and the address is then suppressed. Replies asking to stop and hard bounces are suppressed on their own, too.
- To suppress someone yourself, click Never contact in the conversation header, then Confirm: never contact. Every sequence the address is in stops.
- The Do-not-contact list on the Mailboxes page shows everything suppressed and why. Add an email address or a whole domain there, for example a competitor or a current customer.
- Nobody on the list gets a sequence email from any mailbox on your account. On Teams, the list is shared by the whole team.
Reply alerts and forwarding
The Emails on button at the top of the Inbox controls reply alerts, and they're on by default. When someone replies, you get an email, unless you've already read the reply, and at most one per conversation an hour. Click it to switch to Emails off.
To get copies of incoming mail somewhere else as well, set Forward replies to in a mailbox's Settings on the Mailboxes page. Answer from the SimpleSend Inbox anyway, so the reply goes from the sending mailbox and the thread stays in one place.
A daily routine
- Open Needs a reply first thing, and answer Interested and Wants a meeting before anything else
- Clear Has a question and Referral the same day
- Glance at Out of office (those sequences resume on their own) and Bounced (a rising count means a list problem)
- Correct any label that's wrong, so the filters stay useful
- Archive what's finished, so Needs a reply stays short
For writing replies that move deals forward, see Cold Email Best Practices.