Every client on Contacted has a stage. Stages are mostly set automatically as the conversation progresses, but you can override any of them manually.
Draft In Inbox
The message was saved as a draft in your own mail app instead of being sent directly. This happens when you use draft mode for outreach.
Because the draft sits in your inbox, the system has no way to know when (or if) you send it. This stage doesn't advance to Contacted on its own - once you send the draft yourself, update the client's status manually. See Updating A Client's Status Manually.
Scheduled
The client has an outreach queued for a future date but hasn't received it yet. This applies to manual sends where you chose Schedule for later in the compose drawer. See Scheduling Sends And Automated Follow-Ups.
When the scheduled send fires, the client moves to No Reply.
No Reply
The client has been messaged but hasn't responded yet. This is the most common starting state for any active outreach.
If they're in an active sequence (e.g., a refinance follow-up at day 7), they stay in No Reply between sends.
Interested
The client replied with positive sentiment. Our sentiment classifier interprets things like "tell me more", "what would it look like", "let's chat" as positive.
When a client moves to Interested:
- Any queued follow-ups are cancelled.
- The Interested tab count ticks up.
- This is your hot list - work it first.
Not Interested
The client replied with negative sentiment. Things like "no thanks", "I'm staying with my current lender", "remove me" classify as negative.
When a client moves to Not Interested:
- Queued follow-ups are cancelled.
- Future auto outreach will skip them.
Inactive
The client is unreachable or has explicitly opted out. Reasons include:
- Email bounced (invalid address).
- They clicked unsubscribe.
- Long-term no engagement across multiple touches.
You can move clients out of Inactive manually if the situation changes (e.g., they update their email).
Archived Clients
Archived clients (for example, a mortgage that was already past maturity when it was imported) no longer show on Contacted by default. To see them, switch the type filter to Archived.
Turning Follow-Ups Back On
If a client's automated follow-ups were turned off, the Next column shows a Turn on follow-ups button instead of a scheduled date. Click it to re-arm the cadence - the system catches the schedule up based on how much time has passed since the last send, so the client doesn't get two catch-up emails at once.
Auto Vs Manual Stage Setting
- Draft in Inbox - set once, when your message is saved as a draft instead of sent; only you can move it forward, since the system can't see when you send it from your mail app.
- Scheduled, No Reply - purely automatic.
- Interested, Not Interested - automatic when sentiment is detected; manually overridable.
- Inactive - automatic on bounces/unsubscribes; manually overridable.
See Updating A Client's Status Manually for overrides.
What To Do Next
- Understand how replies map to stages: Reply Tracking And Sentiment.
- Manually update a stage: Updating A Client's Status Manually.