- 1
Open campaign Settings
In the campaign builder, go to the Settings tab and find the Contact Engagement section.
- 2
Enable auto-pause
Tick Auto-pause unengaged contacts.
- 3
Set the threshold
In Unengaged emails before pause, enter how many consecutive cold emails to allow before pausing (minimum 1; the field defaults to 3 if left blank).
- 4
Understand 'unengaged'
A contact is considered cold once they've had N consecutive emails with no opens, clicks, or replies.
- 5
Know it needs manual resume
“Paused contacts stay paused until manually resumed.” They don't restart on their own.
- 6
Track paused contacts
Paused contacts still read as Active on their Inbox row, but the conversation shows a Paused journey card.
Pro tips
Hard-won shortcuts that keep warm-up on track.
Match the threshold to your sequence length
Pausing after 3 cold emails on a 5-step sequence saves the last two sends on contacts who'll never engage.
Not the same as delivery-protection auto-pause
This is engagement-based auto-pause, separate from the setting that watches bounce/spam rates — you can run both.
Manual resume is intentional
It forces a human decision on whether a cold contact is worth re-approaching, rather than silently retrying forever.
A rising pause count is a list-quality signal
Growing cold segments usually need better targeting or cleaning — not more emails.
Frequently asked questions
Where is auto-pause?
Campaign Settings → Contact Engagement, the “Auto-pause unengaged contacts” checkbox.
What counts as unengaged?
N consecutive emails with no opens, clicks, or replies — you set N.
What's the minimum threshold?
1. The field defaults to 3 if left blank.
Do paused contacts resume automatically?
No — they stay paused until you manually resume them.
Is this the same as delivery-protection auto-pause?
No. This pauses individual cold contacts based on engagement; delivery protection pauses on bounce/spam-rate thresholds.
Where do I see paused contacts?
In the Inbox they still show as Active, but the conversation shows a Paused journey card.
Ready to put this into practice?
Start your FirstSales trial and launch a warmed, authenticated mailbox in minutes.
Start for $1