Replies are going to the wrong mailbox

A reply goes to whichever address the prospect's email app replies to: the Reply-To address if your email had one, otherwise the From address. Distro can only see replies that arrive in the mailbox of the Google account you connected. If replies land anywhere else, they won't show in Distro's Inbox and won't stop the sequence.

Symptoms

• Replies arrive in a different inbox than the one you connected to Distro.
• Replies reach you in Gmail or Outlook but never appear in Distro's Inbox.
• A prospect replied, but follow-ups kept going.

Likely causes and fixes

A Reply-To address is set

Check whether the campaign or single email has a Reply-To:

• Campaign: in the composer, look for a Reply to row under From. It's added from the ⋮ menu next to From. Remove it, or set it to your connected Google account's address.
• Single email: click Cc / Bcc and check the Reply-to field. When it's empty, replies go to your sender.

Distro adds a Reply-To only when you set one in Distro. Gmail also has its own reply-to setting for each "Send mail as" address, so if replies still go elsewhere, check that address in Gmail Settings → Accounts too.

You're sending as an address hosted at another provider

If your From address lives at Microsoft 365, Zoho or another host and you send it through Gmail's "Send mail as", replies go to that provider's mailbox. Distro can't read it. Options:

• Move the sending mailbox to Google Workspace, or use a Workspace alias.
• Set a Reply-To pointing at your connected Google account's address.
• Watch that other mailbox yourself and stop prospects who reply.

See Send cold email from your custom-domain email.

The alias belongs to a different Google user

A Workspace alias delivers to the user it's attached to. If sales@company.com is attached to a teammate rather than the account you connected, replies go to their inbox. Ask your admin which user owns the alias, and connect that user's account or move the alias. See How to add a Google Workspace alias.

The address is a group or shared address, not an alias

If the address is a Google Group or shared mailbox, replies are delivered to the group's members or the shared mailbox, not necessarily to your connected inbox. Use a real alias of the connected user for campaigns.

Forwarding or routing rules move the mail

Gmail filters, forwarding, or Workspace routing rules set by your admin can move replies out of the inbox before you see them. Review filters in Gmail and ask your admin about routing.

The prospect wrote a new email instead of replying

Distro recognises replies by the email thread and its message headers. A brand-new email (or a reply forwarded from another address) may not be matched to your campaign. See How Distro detects replies.

Check your fix

Use Compose single email on the Campaigns page to send one email, with the same From and Reply-To settings, to another address you own. Reply from that address and see where the reply lands. If it reaches your connected Google account's inbox but not Distro, see A reply is not appearing in Distro. For how stopping works, see How stop-on-reply works.

This article is about email. Replies on LinkedIn never come to a mailbox: see LinkedIn replies and stop on reply.