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Scheduling Replies

Unibox

Leads don’t reply on your schedule. When you answer at your 9 AM and it’s 2 AM for them, your reply sits under everything that arrives in their morning. Scheduling lets you write the reply now and have Reachkit send it at a better time, from the same inbox and in the same thread, exactly as if you had pressed Send at that moment.

Scheduling a Reply

  1. Open the conversation in Unibox and write your reply as usual. Attachments, To and Cc work the same as for any reply.
  2. Click the arrow next to Send. The Schedule send menu opens.
  3. Check the timezone at the top of the menu (see below) and pick a time:
    • This morning or Tomorrow morning: the next 8:00 AM in that timezone
    • This afternoon or Tomorrow afternoon: the next 1:00 PM in that timezone
    • Monday morning (8:00 AM), shown unless the next morning already is a Monday
    • Pick date and time to choose any moment from a minute to a year ahead, then click Schedule
  4. The reply appears at the bottom of the conversation with the time it will go out.

Scheduled replies are sent by Reachkit’s servers, so your browser doesn’t need to stay open.

The conversation’s inbox has to be connected to schedule a reply, the same as to send one. If it’s disconnected, reconnect it first.

Which Timezone the Times Are In

The Times in dropdown at the top of the Schedule send menu sets the timezone for the presets and for Pick date and time. It starts on:

  1. The campaign’s timezone, when the conversation comes from a campaign. That’s the timezone on the campaign’s Schedule tab, usually where your leads are, so Tomorrow morning means their morning.
  2. The timezone you used last, for conversations without a campaign.
  3. Your own timezone, taken from your browser, the first time you schedule.

Change it whenever a lead is somewhere else. When the timezone isn’t your own, every time in the menu also shows what it is for you, for example Tue 8:00 AM with Tue 7:00 PM your time below it. Daylight saving changes between now and the send time are taken into account.

If a campaign’s timezone is wrong, fix it on the campaign’s Schedule tab: that is also when the campaign itself sends.

What You See While It Waits

  • The conversation shows the scheduled reply as its last card, with the send time (in the timezone you picked, and in yours when they differ), who it goes to, and who scheduled it.
  • The conversation list shows a clock with the send time next to the conversation.
  • If you start another reply in that conversation, the reply editor reminds you that sending it puts the scheduled one on hold.
  • Teammates see the same thing, and anyone with Unibox access can send it early or edit it.

A conversation can have one scheduled reply at a time. While one is waiting or on hold, the arrow next to Send is unavailable in that conversation. To schedule a different reply, first edit that one, or discard it if it’s on hold.

Sending Early or Editing

  • Send now sends it right away. If the conversation’s inbox is disconnected, you’re told straight away instead.
  • Edit takes it off the schedule and opens it in the reply editor as your draft, with its attachments and the same To and Cc. The editor notes that it’s no longer scheduled: send it, change it, schedule it again, or delete it.

If the conversation already has a different draft, send or clear that draft first, since editing the scheduled reply would otherwise overwrite it.

When a Scheduled Reply Goes on Hold

A scheduled reply only goes out if nothing new happened in the conversation since you scheduled it. That way it never lands after the conversation has moved on, like a “please remove me” or a “we went with someone else”.

Reachkit puts a scheduled reply on hold when:

  • They reply before it goes out. Auto-replies such as out-of-office messages don’t count.
  • Another reply is sent in the conversation, by you, a teammate, or through the API.
  • It can’t be sent, for example because the inbox is disconnected or the workspace can no longer send. Reachkit tries three times over about six minutes before it holds the reply.

A reply on hold is never sent. It stays in the conversation with the reason, and the conversation list shows Reply on hold. From there:

  • Edit puts it back in the reply editor so you can rework it into a new reply, and send or schedule that.
  • Discard deletes it, attachments included.

At the time it would have gone out, whoever scheduled it gets an email saying it didn’t go out and why, as long as they still have Unibox access in that workspace.

This also makes a scheduled reply a simple follow-up: write the nudge now, schedule it a few days out, and it only goes out if they haven’t replied by then.

FAQ

Does a scheduled reply look any different to the lead? No. It goes out from the conversation’s inbox, in the same thread, like any reply sent from Unibox.

Can I schedule the first email of a new conversation? No. Scheduling is available for replies in existing conversations.

Can I schedule a reply through the API? No. Scheduling is part of Unibox. Replies sent through the API go out right away, and a reply sent that way puts a scheduled reply in the same conversation on hold.

I scheduled a reply and it didn’t go out. Why? Open the conversation: the scheduled reply shows On hold with the reason. Usually the lead replied before the send time, or another reply was sent in the conversation. Use Edit to rework it and send it.

The time was wrong for my lead. What happened? Check the timezone it was scheduled in: the card shows it. The menu starts on the campaign’s timezone, so a campaign set to the wrong timezone schedules in the wrong one too. Fix the campaign’s timezone on its Schedule tab, and pick the right one in Times in when you schedule.