Setting up the responder

Setting up the responder is a short guided process. You connect the inbox replies should come from, choose how much the responder does on its own, and send a test — all before a single real message goes out.

Connect your inbox

1. Open Responder in your account and choose Connect inbox.
2. Sign in to the email account you’d like replies to come from and approve the connection.
3. Lead Source confirms the connection. From now on, replies come from this address and appear in its sent items.

You can disconnect at any time, and nothing sends while no inbox is connected.

Choose how hands-on you want to be

During setup you’ll pick one of three ways to run the responder. You can change this later.

Simple

The quickest start. You answer a few questions about your business, the responder generates replies, and you review them before they send. Good for getting going fast with full oversight.

Approved

A guided setup that walks through your first reply, how leads should be routed, and how sends should happen — then has you test and review before going live. Good when you want more say over exactly what goes out.

AI Complete

The most capable setup. You train the responder on your business, give it a persona and a way of speaking, choose its mode, and test it thoroughly before it starts replying. Good once you’re confident and want the responder to carry more of the conversation.

Review before send

Whichever setup you choose, you can keep review before send switched on. With it on, the responder drafts each reply and holds it for your approval — you read it, tweak it if you want, and then it goes. It’s the safest way to build trust in the responder before letting it send on its own.

Start with review on

We recommend leaving review before send on for your first stretch of real leads. Once you’ve seen a run of replies you’re happy with, you can let the responder send the first reply automatically.

Test before you go live

Every setup ends with a test. Send yourself a sample lead and read the reply the responder produces. Check that it sounds like you, gets your details right, and points people to the right next step. Only when you’re happy do you switch it on for real leads.

Turning it off

You can pause the responder whenever you like. While paused, new leads are still captured and waiting for you in your Leads list — the responder simply stops replying until you switch it back on.