---
title: "Respond to Incoming Emails"
slug: "respond-to-incoming-emails"
status: "update"
updated: 2026-07-22T08:07:28Z
published: 2026-07-22T08:07:28Z
canonical: "docs.mapp.com/respond-to-incoming-emails"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mapp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Respond to Incoming Emails

## Goal

To send an automatic email response to contacts who reply to one of your messages.

## Background Information

After sendout to a group of recipients, some recipients hit the reply button of their email client to respond directly to the message.

You can create an event-based automation to send an automated email reply to these contacts.

This automated response consists of a prepared message. You create the prepared message yourself. For example, you can inform customers that you do not read or respond to incoming mails to this address. You can invite them to contact you via a web form or a different email address.

## Prerequisites

> [!WARNING]
> You must use two separate groups for this scenario. Otherwise, this setup can produce endless loops of replies. If a recipient has an out of office autoresponse message turned on, this autoresponse will trigger Mapp Engage to send an automatic response. This in turn results in another out of office message from the recipient's email client... and so on. Using two separate groups prevents this from happening.

1. Create a new group. This is the reply handling group. This group has no members. It is just a placeholder group.
2. Configure the group settings of the sendout group. In the group settings, select **Initiate event-based automation** from the drop-down list in the **Replies** field. This is necessary for every group in which this automation should apply.
3. Create a prepared message. For instructions, see [Save Draft as Prepared Message](/v1/docs/save-draft-as-prepared-message).

## Procedure

1. In **Automations > Automations > Event-Based**, click **Create**.
2. Enter a **Name** for the automation. A **Description** is optional.
3. **Define Event**

| Field | Entry |
| --- | --- |
| Event | [Message Reply Received (C)](/v1/docs/message-reply-received-c) |
| Group Name | Select the group. It is necessary to configure Reply Handling for every group to which this automation should apply. |
| Subject / Body | Optional. Limit the automation to replies containing specific text, for example replies with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. |
4. **Define Job**

| Field | Entry |
| --- | --- |
| Job | [Send Prepared Message to Contact (C)](/v1/docs/send-prepared-message-to-contact-c) |
| Message | Select the prepared message from the prerequisites. |
| Contact | Select the **Use Event Parameter** check box so the reply is sent to the contact who triggered the event. |
5. Optional: define a **Delay** if the reply should not be sent immediately.
6. Save and activate the automation. ⇒ The automation appears in the Event-Based overview. Status is **Running** if the start date is immediate, or **Scheduled** if the start date is in the future.