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Auto-pause a campaign when delivery degrades

Set bounce and spam-complaint thresholds so a campaign pauses itself before a bad sender reputation spreads. Your deliverability safety net.

  1. Open the campaign → Settings tab

    In your campaign, open the Settings tab and scroll to Auto-pause when delivery health degrades.

  2. Turn on auto-pause

    It's off by default: flip the toggle on to arm the safety net and unlock the threshold fields.

    Turn on auto-pause
  3. Set the bounce rate threshold

    Default 5% (range 1–20, step 0.5). If the campaign's bounce rate climbs past this, it pauses itself. Keep it at or below 5% unless you have a specific reason not to.

  4. Set the spam complaint threshold

    Default 0.1% (range 0.01–1, step 0.01). Complaints above this pause the campaign. 0.1% is the widely-cited industry danger line: don't raise it casually.

  5. Understand what “pause” means

    When a threshold trips, sending stops so you can investigate: your reputation stops bleeding before it hits a blocklist.

  6. Save and launch

    Save settings; the protection runs for the life of the campaign. If it ever auto-pauses, check the campaign: a trip means list quality or targeting needs a look, not just a resume.

  7. Apply it to every real campaign

    Because it's off by default, set it deliberately on each campaign: especially on new domains and cold lists.

Pro tips

  • Turn it on for every cold campaign

    It's off by default, so an un-armed campaign has no brakes. The defaults (5% bounce / 0.1% spam) are sane: arming it is the important part.

  • Don't raise the spam threshold to dodge a pause

    0.1% is where mailbox providers start punishing you. If you're tripping it, fix the list, not the number.

  • A pause is a diagnosis, not an annoyance

    Auto-pause fires because something's wrong upstream: bad data, wrong audience, weak warm-up. Investigate before resuming.

  • Pair it with verification and warm-up

    Auto-pause is the last line; verified contacts (fewer bounces) and warmed mailboxes keep you from ever hitting the thresholds.

Frequently asked questions

What does Delivery Protection do?

It auto-pauses a campaign when its bounce rate or spam-complaint rate exceeds a threshold you set, protecting your sender reputation.

Is it on by default?

No: it's off by default. Turn it on per campaign in the Settings tab.

What are the default thresholds?

Bounce 5% (range 1–20), spam complaints 0.1% (range 0.01–1).

Why those defaults?

They match widely-cited danger lines: bounce rates over ~5% and complaint rates over 0.1% are where mailbox providers start throttling or blocking senders.

What happens when a threshold is exceeded?

The campaign pauses sending so you can investigate before your reputation degrades further.

Is this per campaign or per mailbox?

Per campaign. Per-mailbox daily limits are a separate setting on the connector.

My campaign auto-paused: what should I do?

Review list quality, targeting, and warm-up before resuming; a trip usually means an upstream problem.

Can I make the thresholds stricter?

Yes: lower the bounce threshold (down to 1%) or the spam threshold (down to 0.01%) for extra caution on fragile domains.

Deliverability

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Install with AI

Your coding agent sets up the FirstSales CLI and skills for you.

Prompt for Claude Code

I'm setting up FirstSales (https://firstsales.io), an AI outbound sales platform: campaigns, contacts, a reply inbox, deliverability and lead signals. Help me get my workspace sending real, good emails end to end, from Claude Code.

Read these first so you know how FirstSales works:
- Developer docs and API: https://developer.firstsales.io
- CLI: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@firstsales.io/cli
- Skills for coding agents: https://github.com/firstsalesio/firstsales-skills (read README.md and GUIDE.md)

Setup
1. Install the CLI: npm install -g @firstsales.io/cli
2. Install the FirstSales skills:
   claude plugin marketplace add firstsalesio/firstsales-skills
   claude plugin install firstsales@firstsales
3. Ask me if I already have a FirstSales account. If not, send me to https://app.firstsales.io to sign up.
4. Ask me to create an API key under Settings → API → API Keys, with only the scopes we need.
   Never ask me to paste the key into this chat. Tell me to run this in my own terminal, so the key stays hidden:
   read -rs FS_KEY && firstsales auth login --api-key "$FS_KEY"; unset FS_KEY
5. Run `firstsales whoami` and tell me which workspace and organisation we are connected to.

Then ask me about my business: what I sell, who I sell to (roles, company size, countries), my best customers, and what I use today for outbound (tools, lists, mailboxes). Walk me through:
1. Teaching FirstSales my business: website, offer, proof points and case studies in the knowledge base, so the AI writes like someone who knows the product.
2. Connecting my sending mailboxes and checking my sending domain: SPF, DKIM, DMARC and warm-up. If anything is unhealthy, tell me the exact DNS record to add.
3. Bringing in contacts: import my CSV or CRM export into a clean list, remove duplicates and bad emails, and block domains I must never email (customers, competitors, my own).
4. Building my first campaign: the right list, senders, steps and timing. Write the sequence with me, show me the drafts, and do not launch until I say yes.
5. Setting up Signals if it fits: find people engaging with LinkedIn posts about topics my buyers care about, and turn them into leads.
6. Inviting my team and giving each person the right access.

Once campaigns run, show me how to work the reply inbox from here: which replies need an answer, draft responses in my voice, and move good conversations into deals. If I use Cal.com, connect it so follow-ups can offer my booking link (not the first email).

Throughout, as you learn about my business, proactively suggest and help create:
- Reply templates for the questions and objections my prospects are likely to raise, based on my product, site and codebase if you can see them.
- Campaign ideas and segments worth testing, with the reason for each.

Safety rules:
- Show every change as a dry run (--dry-run) first and wait for my yes. Never send emails, launch campaigns or delete anything without my yes.
- Tell me before anything that spends credits, and how many.

Be opinionated. If the docs give a sensible default, just use it. Don't make me choose between five options.