Updated October 19, 2025

TL;DR: Set Instantly to pause or throttle email campaigns the moment placement, bounces, or complaints cross your risk thresholds. Most teams draw the line when inbox placement falls into the 80 to 85 percent range, since validity measured a 2024 global average of 83.5 percent. Keep hard bounces at or below 2 percent and spam complaints well under 0.3 percent, ideally below 0.1 percent. Use Inbox Placement tests, Warmup, and Unibox to fix issues, then re-ramp safely.

Poor inbox placement puts pipeline at risk. Manually watching every campaign is slow and inconsistent. Instantly automates the safety checks with Rules & Alerts so your team protects sender reputation and keeps lead flow steady without constant oversight.

How to pause campaigns on poor placement

You can auto-pause email campaigns in Instantly using Rules & Alerts tied to deliverability metrics.

Steps in the app:

1. Go to Rules & Alerts: Create a rule named Pause on poor placement.

2. Trigger: Choose Inbox Placement Rate and set a threshold, for example below 80 to 85 percent.

3. Actions: Select Pause campaign or Pause mailbox, then add notifications to email and Slack for visibility.

4. Scope: Apply to the specific campaign, mailbox, or the whole workspace.

5. Enable and verify: Run automated Inbox Placement tests so the rule acts on fresh data.

Tip: Add an AND condition for safety, for example Inbox Placement below 80% AND at least 300 sends, so you act on real signals, not small samples.

Understanding "poor placement"

Poor placement means send volume going where it cannot perform. Poor inbox placement is when messages land in spam or promotions instead of the primary inbox. Symptoms include low placement scores, rising bounces, and fewer replies. Gmail introduced a measurable spam threshold for bulk senders in 2024, and teams aim to stay well below 0.3 percent, ideally under 0.1 percent, to protect sender reputation. See Gmail's announcement on spam protection and authentication.

The impact of pausing campaigns: what happens when you hit stop

Pausing stops further reputation damage and buys time to fix issues. Once healthy, expect a re-warm and controlled ramp on resume. Keep hard bounces at or below 2 percent and complaints under 0.3 percent, with a best-practice target of 0.1 percent or lower.

Takeaway: A pause is a safety brake for domain health.

Alternatives to outright pausing: smarter optimization strategies

Email options

Reduce daily volume: Cut throughput by 50 percent across affected mailboxes. During recovery, do not exceed 30 cold emails per inbox per day. Read our open rate troubleshooting checklist.

Narrow segments: Focus on verified contacts and your core personas. Re-verify the most recent 30 days of leads.

Improve list hygiene: Keep hard bounces at or below 2 percent as a gate to scale.

Adjust send windows: Favor morning local time blocks that match buyer availability.

Test copy: Keep two or three subject and body variants to find signal without sprawl.

Re-warm: Use Instantly's pre-launch checklist to run warmup and readiness steps on impacted mailboxes before scaling.

Rotate mailboxes: Spread sends across multiple warmed accounts at low caps.

Here's a beginner guide on how setup warmup with Instantly from scratch:

Using Instantly's automated Rules & Alerts for efficient management

Rules & Alerts is your control plane for safe scale. It watches deliverability signals and acts before damage spreads.

Core ingredients

• Rules & Alerts: Build triggers on Inbox Placement, bounce and complaint rates, blacklist status, and mailbox health so risky campaigns pause fast.
• Automated rules for deliverability: Run recurring Inbox Placement tests that feed your rules with fresh data on inbox, spam, and promotions across major providers. See Inbox Placement.
• Unibox shared inbox: Centralize replies and use AI labels and workflows to triage Interested, Not Interested, or OOO so conversations keep moving. Learn Unibox best practices to avoid multi inbox chaos.

Recommended rule templates

Pause on poor placement:

• Trigger: Inbox Placement Rate below 80 to 85 percent AND campaign sends greater than 300.
• Actions: Pause campaign. Notify owner and a Slack channel named Deliverability. Use the Slack integration guide.

Pause on high bounces:

• Trigger: Hard bounce rate greater than 2 percent AND at least 200 emails sent in the last 7 days.
• Actions: Pause campaign and create a task to re-verify the list.

Pause on spam complaints:

• Trigger: Complaint rate at or above 0.3 percent in the last 7 days.
• Actions: Pause mailbox. Notify Deliverability Ops. Aim to sustain under 0.1 percent before resuming. See Iterable's guidance on Gmail Postmaster Tools benchmarks.

Pause on blacklist hit:

• Trigger: Domain or sending IP appears on a blacklist.
• Actions: Pause all campaigns on the impacted domain and alert the workspace.

How to set up a rule in Instantly

1. Open Rules & Alerts and click New rule.

2. Add triggers: Choose Inbox Placement, Bounces, Complaints, Blacklist status, or combinations. Follow the automated tests guide to ensure fresh placement data.

3. Set thresholds: Start conservative. Inbox placement 80 to 85 percent. Bounces at or below 2 percent. Complaints below 0.3 percent, ideally 0.1 percent or lower.

4. Add actions: Pause the campaign or mailbox and send alerts to Slack and email.

5. Scope and schedule: Apply to the right campaigns or workspace.

6. Save and enable: Validate with automated placement tests.

For a step-by-step walkthrough, watch Instantly's deliverability guide on YouTube. For a broader platform overview, see the Full Instantly.ai Tutorial 2025.

Team governance tips

• Use workspace-level rules so reps cannot bypass safety checks.
• Post all rule events to a shared Slack channel for visibility.
• Log pause reasons in Unibox and CRM notes for an audit trail. See Instantly's CRM features.
• Assign a single owner for deliverability decisions.

Advanced

Automate placement tests via API and route results to Slack and your data warehouse. Read the docs on our Inbox Placement Test API.

Best practices for maintaining campaign momentum and data integrity

Set clear gates:

• Use an inbox placement floor in the mid-80s percent or higher before scaling.
• Keep hard bounces at or below 2 percent. See Campaign Monitor's guidance on bounce rates.
• Keep spam complaints below 0.3 percent, with a working target under 0.1 percent.

Standardize the re-ramp: Warm for about two weeks. Resume at 10 to 20 emails per inbox per day. Do not exceed 30 per day during recovery.

Verify lists weekly: Remove risky domains and role accounts.

Measure outcomes that matter: Track replies, meetings set, and SQLs, not just opens.

Review rules monthly: Tighten or relax thresholds based on outcomes and seasonality.

Expert perspective
"Starting in 2024, we’ll require bulk senders to authenticate their emails, allow for easy unsubscription and stay under a reported spam threshold." - Google Blog

Pausing vs. alternatives

Automated campaign management checklist

Use this before you pause, while paused, and when resuming.

Diagnose

• Inbox placement below your floor, commonly 80 to 85 percent.
• Hard bounces above 2 percent or rising.
• Spam complaints trending up toward 0.3 percent. Aim for 0.1 percent or lower.
• Blacklist status positive for domain or IP.

Decide

• If blacklist or complaints near 0.3 percent, pause immediately.
• If placement dips with rising bounces, throttle by 50 percent and re-verify lists.
• If isolated to one mailbox, pause that mailbox and rotate another.

Act in Instantly

• Trigger Rules & Alerts to pause the campaign or mailbox.
• Notify a Slack channel named Deliverability and assign an owner.
• Launch automated Inbox Placement tests daily until results are green three days in a row.
• Start warmup on affected mailboxes.

Fix

• Re-verify the most recent leads.
• Update variants and send windows.
• Confirm SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
• Remove risky domains and role accounts.

Resume

• Re-ramp at 10 to 20 emails per inbox per day for 3 to 5 days.
• Do not exceed 30 per day during recovery.
• Require inbox placement back in the mid-80s percent or higher before scaling.

What Instantly customer say

"It is the Inbox placement feature which i like the most as it help us to get to know the spam score and the mails that are placed in the inbox so by this we can manage the mail ids accordingly." - Verified User in Information Technology and Services on G2

"Instantly.ai has assisted us in creating outbound email systems that reach your ideal buyer's inbox and foster meaningful connections. Also, their customer support is next level, 10/10." - Verified User in Investment Banking on G2

"In just the past 180 days, I've been able to book over 100 meetings, close deals worth more than €15,000, and even walk away from my regular 9 to 5 job, all with the help of Instantly." - Dustin Geissinger Gromicho on Trustpilot

Secure your pipeline with automated deliverability

Automation removes guesswork. When placement dips, Instantly pauses the right campaign or mailbox, alerts your team, and gives you the diagnostics to fix root causes fast. Standardize thresholds, re-warm with discipline, and keep your messages in the primary inbox so your team books more meetings with fewer surprises.

Start free and set up Rules & Alerts that pause risky campaigns before reputation suffers. Use Inbox Placement, Warmup, and Unibox to recover and scale safely.

Frequently asked questions

What thresholds should trigger an auto-pause?
Set inbox placement below your internal floor, often 80 to 85 percent. Pause for hard bounces above 2 percent or complaints near 0.3 percent. Target 0.1 percent or lower before resuming.

How long should I re-warm before resuming volume?
Plan for about two weeks of warmup, then resume at 10 to 20 emails per inbox per day. Cap recovery at 30 per day.

Does pausing hurt performance when I resume?
Email benefits from a pause when risk is high. Expect a controlled re-ramp.

Can I scope rules to one campaign or mailbox?
Yes. Rules & Alerts can target a campaign, a single mailbox, or the entire workspace, and can post alerts to Slack.

How do I know the issue is resolved?
Require three consecutive days with healthy inbox placement, bounces at or below 2 percent, and complaints under 0.1 percent before scaling.

Key terminology glossary

• Primary inbox: The default inbox people read, not promotions or spam.
• Sender reputation: Trust signals mailbox providers assign to your domain and IP.
• Inbox Placement Rate: Percent of emails that reach inbox vs. spam or missing.
• Warmup: Low-volume, engagement-simulated sends that build reputation. Learn how warmup works and why it is important.
• List hygiene: Ongoing verification and removal of risky contacts.
• Spam complaint rate: Percent of recipients who click Report spam. Keep below 0.3 percent and aim for 0.1 percent.
• Hard bounce rate: Permanent delivery failures from invalid addresses. Keep at or below 2 percent.
• Unibox: Instantly's shared inbox to centralize and triage replies.