Reply Inbox

The reply inbox monitors your outreach mailbox via IMAP, automatically classifies replies, and deduplicates incoming messages.

How It Works

flowchart TD
    A[Poll IMAP Inbox] --> B[Search for New Messages]
    B --> C[Fetch Message Headers + Body]
    C --> D{Already Processed?}
    D -->|Yes| E[Skip Duplicate]
    D -->|No| F[Find Matching Attempt]
    F --> G[Classify Reply]
    G --> H[Store Reply Record]
    H --> I[Update Lead Status if Interested]

    style A fill:#e3f2fd
    style G fill:#e8f5e8
    style E fill:#ffebee

IMAP Configuration

Setting	Env Var	Default
IMAP host	IMAP_HOST	— (required)
IMAP port	IMAP_PORT	993
IMAP username	IMAP_USER	— (required)
IMAP password	IMAP_PASS	— (required)
Fetch limit	IMAP_FETCH_LIMIT	50

Fetch limit

IMAP_FETCH_LIMIT controls how many messages are processed per poll cycle. Increase for high-volume mailboxes, decrease to reduce IMAP load. Default is 50.

Polling for Replies

API: POST /api/v1/backlink-outreach/replies/poll

The reply monitor:

1. Connects to IMAP over SSL.
2. Sanitizes the sent_from_email before searching (prevents IMAP injection).
3. Searches for messages sent to your outreach address.
4. Fetches up to IMAP_FETCH_LIMIT recent messages.
5. For each message, checks if it's already been processed (deduplication).
6. Matches the reply to an existing outreach attempt by sender email.
7. Classifies the reply and stores it.

Reply Matching

Replies are matched to outreach attempts using the from_email field:

• The system looks up find_attempt_by_from_email(from_email) to find the most recent outreach attempt sent to that email address.
• If no match is found, the reply is still stored but not linked to an attempt.

Deduplication

The system checks reply_exists(from_email, subject) before storing a new reply. This prevents duplicate entries when the same message appears in multiple IMAP folders or is fetched in overlapping poll cycles.

Auto-Classification

Replies are automatically classified based on content analysis:

Classification	Signals
Interested	"sounds good", "tell me more", "interested", "let's do it", "I'd love to"
Not interested	"not interested", "no thanks", "unsubscribe", "remove me", "stop sending"
Out of office	"out of office", "auto-reply", "automated response", "on vacation"
Replied	General reply that doesn't match other categories

Manual override

Auto-classification is a best-effort guess. You can manually reclassify any reply in the UI by clicking the classification tag and selecting a different one.

Auto-Suppression on "Not Interested"

When a reply is classified as "not interested", the sender's email is automatically added to the suppression list to prevent future outreach.

Reply Inbox UI

The inbox shows:

• From: Sender name and email.
• Subject: Email subject line.
• Classification tag: Color-coded auto-classification badge.
• Date: When the reply was received.
• Linked attempt: The outreach attempt this reply matches (if any).
• Lead status: Current status of the associated lead.

Actions

Action	Description
View	Read the full reply body.
Reclassify	Change the auto-classification.
Update lead status	Move the lead to "replied" or "placed".
Compose follow-up	Open the email composer pre-filled with a follow-up draft.

Monitoring Best Practices

1. Poll regularly: Set up a scheduled job to call the poll endpoint every 5-15 minutes.
2. Review unclassified: Check "Replied" (generic) classifications and manually tag them.
3. Act on interested leads quickly: Respond within 24 hours for best conversion.
4. Check out-of-office dates: Schedule follow-ups for after the return date.
5. Review suppression entries: Periodically audit the suppression list for accidental additions.

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Next: Analytics — campaign performance tracking and exports.