Follow-ups are not sending
The first email went out but follow-ups haven't. Check triggers, waits, reminder tasks, sending hours, the daily limit, and whether the person replied.
Follow-ups go out per person, not all at once. Each one waits for its own delay, then must match its trigger and fit the sending window and daily limit. Find one affected person in the campaign's Overview → Recipients: their status and Latest column ("Next email" plus a time) show where they are.
Their status explains it
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Waiting | They're in a wait between steps. The follow-up isn't due yet |
| Queued / In sequence | Due, and waiting for the sending window or daily limit |
| Replied | They replied, so remaining If no reply follow-ups stop. This is intended |
| Unsubscribed / Bounced / Blocked | They can't be emailed any more |
| Finished | They reached the end, or every remaining follow-up was skipped |
| Excluded | Skipped because a personalization field the email needs is missing |
| Failed | Sending failed for this person |
Likely causes
The wait hasn't passed yet
A follow-up's wait starts when the previous email actually went out for that person, not when the campaign launched. Business days skip Saturdays and Sundays. After the wait, the email still needs an allowed sending day and hour, so "3 business days" sent on a Friday afternoon lands mid-week or later.
The trigger didn't match, so it was skipped
The trigger is checked when the follow-up comes due. If it doesn't match, the follow-up is skipped for that person and they move on. The composer warns about this: "A follow-up whose trigger doesn't match is skipped for that person."
- If opened and If clicked only send to people with recorded, likely-human opens or clicks. Many mail apps block or pre-load images, so fewer people match than you might expect.
- If replied only reaches people who replied.
- If no open and If no click also skip anyone who replied.
Check each follow-up's trigger in the campaign's Emails tab.
A reminder task is waiting for you
If the sequence has a reminder task before the follow-up, that person's next steps wait until you mark the task Done or Skip in the Delivery tab under Your tasks.
The daily limit is full
Max emails per day counts first emails and follow-ups together. On a busy day, follow-ups roll over to the next sending day. See Choose your daily sending volume.
The campaign is paused, or the sender is disconnected
A paused campaign sends nothing until you click Resume. If the sender's Google account needs reconnecting, nothing can be sent until you reconnect it on Sending accounts. See Campaign is not sending.
They replied, unsubscribed or bounced
That's Distro working as intended. See Why a prospect stopped receiving follow-ups and How stop-on-reply works.
Fixes
- Confirm the person's status and next email time in Overview → Recipients.
- Handle any open tasks in Delivery → Your tasks.
- Check the follow-up triggers in the Emails tab. A launched campaign can't be edited; for future sends, duplicate it and use If no reply.
- Check Settings on the Overview for the daily limit and Sending schedule for the hours and timezone.
If a person shows Waiting or Queued well past the time their follow-up should have gone out, contact support from Help & support with the campaign name and the recipient's email address.
Email us at hello@usedistro.com with what you tried and what you see. Signed in? Help & support in the app has walkthrough videos and a message form.