Out-of-office replies
How automatic replies are recognised, why they don't stop a sequence, and how they delay the next email.
When someone is away, their mailbox often answers by itself ("I'm out of the office until Monday"). Vecta recognises these from the signals mail programs put in them and from subjects like "Automatic reply" or "Out of office".
- An auto-reply doesn't count as a reply: the person stays in the sequence.
- Their next follow-up waits 3 days after the auto-reply, so it doesn't land while they're away.
- It shows as Out of office on the person's contact page, on the run page and in the People list, and it is left out of reply counts.
- If they later answer for real, that real reply replaces the auto-reply, takes them out of the sequence, and reaches Atlas as a reply.
Example
Sam's follow-up 1 goes Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon his mailbox replies "Away until next week". His follow-up 2 was due Thursday; it now goes no earlier than Friday. On Monday he writes back for real: no more follow-ups.
If an auto-reply was missed
A few mail programs send away messages that look like normal emails. Then Vecta reads it as a real reply and the person leaves the sequence. If that happens, add them back from the campaign's People list (Resume) or to another campaign.
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