What Is Auto-Pause?
Auto-Pause is Prospi's built-in safety mechanism that automatically stops a campaign when it detects signals that your sender reputation may be at risk. Rather than letting a campaign with elevated bounce rates continue affecting your deliverability, Prospi pauses it so you can review and take action before resuming.
What Triggers Auto-Pause
Prospi monitors your campaign performance in real time. The primary trigger for Auto-Pause is your bounce rate:
Bounce Rate Threshold
When the bounce rate on a campaign exceeds the acceptable threshold, Prospi will automatically pause sending. High bounce rates signal to email providers (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) that you may be sending to invalid addresses - one of the fastest ways to get flagged as a spammer.
Why Bounce Rate Matters
Hard bounces (invalid email addresses) are the most damaging. Even a small percentage can trigger deliverability concerns.
Soft bounces (full inbox, server temporarily unavailable) are less severe but still worth monitoring.
Email providers track your bounce rate over time. Consistently high bounce rates can lead to your domain being blacklisted.
What Happens When a Campaign Is Auto-Paused
All sending from the campaign stops immediately
You receive a notification alerting you that the campaign has been paused
Leads already in the sequence retain their position - no data is lost
Your campaign analytics are preserved so you can review the situation
How to Resume a Paused Campaign
Before resuming, you should review and address the root cause:
Review your lead list. Remove any leads with invalid or unverifiable email addresses.
Check your bounce details. Go to your campaign analytics to see which emails bounced and why.
Clean your list. Use Prospi's enrichment tools to re-verify email addresses before resuming.
Resume the campaign. Once you have addressed the situation, click the Resume button on the paused campaign.
How to Prevent Auto-Pause
The best strategy is to avoid triggering Auto-Pause in the first place. Here are proven practices:
Maintain Clean Lead Lists
Always use Prospi's free lead enrichment to verify email addresses before adding them to a campaign
Remove catch-all domains or flag them for extra scrutiny
Regularly clean and update your lead database
Warm Up New Sending Accounts
New email accounts should start with very low daily limits (10-20 emails/day)
Gradually increase volume over 2-4 weeks
A warmed-up account with an established reputation is far less likely to see elevated bounce rates
Monitor Campaign Analytics
Check your campaign dashboard regularly for early warning signs
If you notice bounce rates creeping up, pause the campaign manually and clean your list before Auto-Pause kicks in
Use the Lead Lock Feature
Prospi enforces a 24-hour cooldown per lead per firm to prevent sending too many emails to the same person. This built-in protection also helps maintain your sender reputation.