Email

How the Email channel automates sales email outreach and replies.

The Email channel automates sales interactions over email, both sending automated outreach sequences and replying intelligently to incoming responses. It works alongside your Agent's other channels to move leads through your pipeline.

Email channel configuration with cadences, reply handling, and provider settings.

Spara does not send cold outbound emails. The Email channel is triggered by lead actions (like submitting a webform or engaging in chat) and responds to incoming emails from leads already in your pipeline.

Email Cadences

Email cadences are automated sequences of emails sent to leads based on trigger conditions. Each cadence consists of one or more steps with configurable delays between them.

How cadences work

1. A trigger condition is met (e.g., "Lead submitted webform but hasn't scheduled a call")
2. Spara sends the first email in the cadence
3. After a configurable delay (minutes, hours, days, or weeks), the next step sends
4. The sequence continues until all steps are sent or the lead takes a desired action

Configuring a cadence

Each cadence step includes:

• Subject line: Supports variables like {{ first_name }} for personalization
• Email body: Rich text with variable insertion, AI instructions, and calendar links via the ⚡ Insert Menu. See the How to Use Spara's Text Editor for details.
• Delay: How long to wait before sending this step (configurable in minutes, hours, days, or weeks)
• Preview: Preview the email with sample lead data to see how personalization renders

Reply handling

The Email channel handles incoming email responses from leads. When a lead replies to a cadence email or writes in directly, it:

• Reads and understands the lead's message
• Responds following your AI Instructions and knowledge base
• Can escalate to a sales rep when the lead is qualified

Replies use the same AI Instructions and testing tools as every other channel.

Reply safeguards

Several automatic protections prevent the Email channel from sending replies that could create problems:

Machine mail filtering. The channel skips automated mail — out-of-office auto-replies, bounces, no-reply sender addresses, and mailing list messages — and never replies to them. This prevents accidental reply loops with mail automation.

Loop circuit breaker. If a thread accumulates more than 50 total replies, or 3 or more replies within a 5-minute window, the channel stops replying on that thread. This prevents runaway reply chains in cases where machine mail slips through or a misconfiguration causes rapid back-and-forth.

Per-recipient daily frequency cap. Spara enforces an absolute daily ceiling on the number of emails sent to any single lead. This cap applies across all email activity — cadences, workflow Send Email steps, and Reply Agent responses — so no single lead receives an excessive volume of email in a day.

Testing replies

To test how the channel responds, open it and click New test. Select a workflow and a Send Email step. Spara renders that email as the first message in the test thread, giving your simulated reply the same context a real lead would have. Type a reply and click Send Reply to see how it responds.

If no workflows exist yet, the test panel shows a link to create one. The test session persists in the URL (?testId=...) so you can refresh and return to the same thread. Click New test at any time to start fresh.

Configuration

The Configuration tab controls your email setup:

Email Provider

Connect your email provider to send emails from your domain:

• Gmail: Connect via Google OAuth
• Outlook: Connect via Microsoft OAuth

Daily Send Limits

Control how many emails Spara sends per day: 5, 10, 25, 100, or No Limit. Start with a lower limit and increase as you verify email quality.

Email Modes

• Cadence emails: Toggle automated cadence sequences on or off
• Reply emails: Toggle automated replies to incoming emails on or off

Both can be disabled independently. For example, you might want to automate cadence sends but handle replies manually.

Unsubscribes and deliverability

Every Spara email includes a one-click unsubscribe link in the footer, in compliance with CAN-SPAM and the major mailbox providers' bulk-sender requirements (Gmail, Yahoo). When a lead clicks unsubscribe, Spara:

• Records the opt-out on the lead (unsubscribed_at) so it shows on the lead's record and in exports.
• Immediately stops all future emails to that lead, across cadences, workflow Send Email steps, and Reply Agent responses.
• Stops Spara from generating any further outbound email content for them, even if a workflow would have triggered one.

Capturing unsubscribes this way actually protects your deliverability rather than harming it. Mailbox providers track recipient complaints and unsubscribe rates; honoring opt-outs immediately keeps your sender reputation healthy. The opposite, continuing to send to a recipient who tried to unsubscribe, is what triggers spam complaints and degrades inbox placement.

Spara's email evaluator also ensures every email body contains exactly one unsubscribe link. Duplicate links can confuse leads and trigger spam filters.

FAQ

What types of emails does Spara send?

Spara sends two types: cadence emails (automated sequences triggered by lead actions) and reply emails (responses to incoming messages). Spara does not send cold outbound emails to leads who haven't interacted with your brand.

Which Google account do I use to connect Gmail?

Connect with any Google account that has Send As permission for the mailbox you want Spara to send from. You do not need to authenticate as the shared mailbox itself. For example, if Spara should send from [email protected], you can authenticate with your personal work account (e.g., [email protected]) as long as you have been granted Send As access to that address in Google Workspace. After connecting, Spara will send from whichever address is configured as your primary or delegated sending address. Contact your Google Workspace admin if you're unsure whether your account has the right permissions.

Can I personalize emails with lead data?

Yes. Use the ⚡ Insert Menu in any email text field to insert variables like {{ first_name }}, {{ company_name }}, or any field from the Data Model. You can also insert AI instructions that tell the channel to dynamically personalize sections of the email.

How do cadences interact with workflows?

Workflows Send Email steps and email cadences are separate features. Cadences are configured on the Email channel and have their own trigger conditions. Workflow Send Email steps are individual emails within a workflow sequence. Both can reference the same lead data and both respect the lead's email preferences.