Exact values
Reference Reviewed · not yet fact-checked
In short
What status values exist in Reply?
Contact statuses are fourteen per-sequence labels Reply assigns automatically, from Active to Called. Stages are separate editable engagement labels you set yourself. Account stages run New through Closed-lost, sequence toggles show six colors from green Active to blue Completed, email validation returns Valid, Risky, or Invalid, and inbox threads carry one category each.
Reply labels objects with several independent status families. The two most often confused are contact statuses and contact stages:
Statuses are not stages. A contact status describes processing within a specific sequence and is assigned by Reply automatically based on the interaction (with some manual exceptions). A contact stage is an editable label for the level of interaction and engagement across your entire outreach — you set it yourself, and it is not tied to any one sequence.
Contact statuses
Each contact in a sequence carries one or more of these 14 statuses. Statuses can combine — Replied usually comes together with Finished, and a Bounced contact can also show Opened (the recipient provider's email checker, or your own view of the bounce-back message).
| Status | Meaning | Assigned when | User-settable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active | The contact can receive emails; replies are tracked | The contact is added to an active sequence | Yes — change to Paused, Finished, Out of office, or Opted out anytime; to Bounced or Replied only after at least one email was sent |
| Paused | Sending and reply tracking stop temporarily | Set manually; only possible for contacts that are in a sequence | Yes — revert to Active to resume |
| Missing data | No emails are sent until resolved | A template variable has no matching value in the contact's profile | Removal only — fill in the variable or remove it from the template, then clear the status manually |
| Bounced | An email came back undelivered | A send is returned (invalid address or other reasons) | Yes — assignable after at least one email; not retained when the contact moves to a different sequence |
| Out of office | Further steps stop until the status is removed | An auto-reply with out-of-office keywords is detected | Yes — change to Active manually, or configure automatic out-of-office handling |
| Finished | No emails are sent; reply detection stops | The contact replies to a sequence email, or all steps have been sent | Yes — back to Active only if steps remain or new steps were added |
| Contacted | The contact received at least one email from the current sequence | The first email is delivered | No |
| Opted out | No further outreach; the only status retained outside sequences; the contact cannot be moved to another sequence | The contact clicks the opt-out link, or an unsubscribe reply is sorted into the Do not contact inbox category | Yes — set and removed manually; any team member can assign it |
| Replied | The sequence stops for the contact by default; reply tracking stops | A reply arrives from the address you emailed (including forwarded from the thread), or an SMS reply to a sequence-related SMS | Yes — assignable after at least one email |
| Opened | The contact opened a tracked email | The open-tracking pixel fires (opens tracking enabled in sequence settings) | No |
| Clicked | The contact clicked a tracked link | Link tracking is enabled and a link in the email is clicked | No |
| Auto-replied | Comes together with Finished; further steps stop | An automatic reply is detected | No — cannot be set or removed manually |
| To call | The contact is due for a call | The contact reaches a Call step in the sequence | Yes — from the contact sidebar |
| Called | A call action was logged; permanent until removed | A Call task is completed, a Cloud Calls call is made, or a call is logged via the contact sidebar | Removal only — via the contact sidebar |
With Team Edition in public mode, only the sequence owner can change a contact's status. The exception is Opted out, which any team member can assign. After Replied, the sequence stops by default unless replies handling is set to Continue sending emails — see Sequence stopping.
Contact stages
Stages label how much you are interacting with a contact throughout the entire outreach process — labels like Interested, Engaging, Not Interested, Do Not Contact, and others. You assign them yourself from the People page (More → Set stage).
| Rule | Value |
|---|---|
| Creating new stages | Not possible — only the existing stages can be edited |
| Editable fields | Name, label color, description |
| Name length | 21 symbols maximum |
| Description length | 512 symbols maximum |
| Where to edit | Settings → Contacts → Contact stages |
Account stages
Accounts group contacts by company — the API noun is Company, see Companies. Each account can carry one stage marking its phase in the outreach pipeline, from initial contact to deal closure.
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| New | The account is new to the outreach pipeline |
| Qualified | Sales-qualified account |
| Meeting booked | A meeting is booked with a decision-maker |
| Negotiating | Negotiations are in progress |
| Disqualified | The account is not relevant |
| On hold | Contact later |
| Closed-won | The deal was completed successfully |
| Closed-lost | The deal was lost |
The same editing rules apply as for contact stages: stages cannot be created, only edited (name, color, description; 21-symbol names, 512-symbol descriptions). Selecting None removes the stage from an account. Accounts can be filtered by stage with Equals, Does not equal, or None conditions.
Sequence toggle states
Every sequence has a toggle whose color summarizes its state; hovering shows a tooltip with details.
| Toggle | State | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Green | Active | The sequence is running — just launched, restarted after a pause, or working through its steps |
| Gray | Inactive | Not running — newly created and never launched, paused, or archived |
| Red | Action required | Missing or invalid settings; the sequence cannot run until fixed |
| Orange | Issues detected | Warnings that need attention |
| Yellow | Limits reached | Temporarily paused because a limit was hit |
| Blue | Completed | All contacts finished the sequence; no active contacts left |
Red — action required triggers
- The sending email account was removed or disconnected
- The connected LinkedIn account was removed
- There are sending errors
- There are no contacts in the sequence
- The sending schedule is missing
- The sequence is under review and suspended after reaching the 8% bounce-rate threshold
Orange — warning triggers
- Some contacts have no sending email account assigned
- Some contacts have no LinkedIn account assigned
- Contacts are missing required data
- Sending from some email accounts stopped due to a provider block
- The sequence reached a 4% bounce rate
- The voice profile is missing
Yellow — limit triggers
- The email account's daily sending limit was reached
- The active contacts limit for the current billing period was reached
- The sequence daily limit was reached
- LinkedIn's weekly limit for connection requests was reached
- The email provider blocked sending: daily sending quota exceeded
Exact limit values: Limits.
Email validation statuses
Reply checks each email address and classifies it into one of three groups.
| Status | Meaning | Guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Valid | Verification completed; no high-risk factors detected | Safe to put into sequences |
| Risky | The recipient's mail server states the recipient exists, but the send may still bounce or be of low value | Treat as Valid; keep Risky addresses to up to 20% of a list to avoid high bounce rates |
| Invalid | The address failed validation | These contacts do not receive sequence emails |
An address is marked Risky for one of three reasons: the domain is a well-known disposable email address provider (DEA), the mail exchanger is a catch-all that accepts non-existent addresses, or the mail exchanger hides a honeypot/spam trap.
An address is marked Invalid when validation returns one of three error groups:
| Error group | Examples |
|---|---|
| Syntax errors | Missing @ separator, invalid characters, unclosed quoted words or comments, two adjacent dots, invalid local-part or total length, non-compliant domain part |
| DNS errors | The domain does not exist, or has no valid DNS records and cannot accept messages |
| Mailbox errors | The mailbox does not exist, the mail exchanger refuses to accept messages, or the address uses an international mailbox name the server does not support |
Inbox categories
Inbox categories label email threads by the contact's interest. Reply's AI assigns them automatically by analyzing the tone of replies; you can reassign, clear, or bulk-assign them manually.
| Rule | Value |
|---|---|
| Default categories | Interested, Not interested, Do not contact, Not now, Forwarded, Meeting intent |
| Custom categories | Can be created and edited |
| Categories per thread | One — the exception is Meeting intent, which is a subcategory and can accompany another category |
| Assignment | Automatic by AI, with manual assign/reassign/clear, individually or in bulk |
A reply sorted into Do not contact triggers the Opted out contact status. How classification feeds outreach: Reply classification.
FAQ
Are contact statuses the same as contact stages?
No. Statuses are per-sequence processing labels assigned automatically by Reply; stages are editable engagement labels you assign yourself across all outreach. They live in different places and answer different questions.
Can I create a new contact or account stage?
No — stages cannot be created, only edited. You can change the name (up to 21 symbols), label color, and description (up to 512 symbols) of the existing stages.
Does the Bounced status follow a contact into another sequence?
No. Reply does not hold onto the Bounced status when a contact is moved to a different sequence. The only status retained outside sequences is Opted out.
Related
Build with Reply
- REST API: docs.reply.io — status fields and the operations that change them
- MCP: agents.reply.io/mcp — contact status, stage, and inbox category operations