Key takeaways
- Sort inbound mail by type first: prospects, customers, pitches and misdirected requests need different responses.
- Judge a prospect's email on fit and intent, as you would any lead.
- Triage in Pebbles Ai is a question you ask in chat about one message, and the assistant's view is advice you can overrule.
- A careful reply answers the question first, then offers one next step.
Is this sales email worth replying to
A sales email is worth replying to when the sender could plausibly buy, has asked a real question and would notice if you stayed silent. Inbound mail mixes genuine enquiries with vendor pitches, partnership offers, job applications and automated notices, and only the first group needs a seller's careful reply today.
- A prospect asking about price, fit or a demo: reply the same working day.
- An existing customer raising a buying question: reply, and copy in their account owner.
- A vendor or partnership pitch: a short, polite answer or none, by a house rule you apply consistently.
- A job application or support request sent to sales: forward it to the right team.
How do you qualify an inbound email
Qualify an inbound email on fit and intent, using what the message and a quick look at the company tell you. Fit asks whether the company and the person resemble your ideal customer; intent asks whether they want something specific, such as a quote, a trial or a call, and whether they mentioned a timeframe.
Strong on both goes to the top of the pile. Strong fit with vague intent gets a helpful reply that asks one clarifying question. When the company is unfamiliar, ask the assistant to research it from its public pages, with numbered citations you can check, before you decide.
How does AI email triage work in Pebbles Ai
In Pebbles Ai, triage is a question you put to an assistant in chat, not a filter that sorts your inbox on its own. Ask whether a particular incoming message is worth answering and why; the assistant reads the thread in your connected Gmail or Outlook inbox and gives its view, which you can accept or overrule.
Its view is advice: you decide what gets a reply. For the messages you decide to answer, open the thread in Smartbox and use Write with AI: Fast for a short acknowledgement, Balanced, the default, for most replies, and Comprehensive for one that needs more care.
How do you write a careful reply to an inbound enquiry
A careful reply answers the question asked before anything else, then proposes one next step. Lead with the answer, even if it is 'it depends', followed by what it depends on, and close with something concrete, such as two times for a call.
Write with AI uses the thread, the recipients and your brand voice, and the result stays a draft until you review the recipients, attachments and content. If you ask an assistant to send on your behalf, the send follows your execution mode.
How to triage inbound sales emails, step by step
Work through new inbound mail at set points in the day rather than as each message lands.
- Open the inbound thread in Smartbox, with your Gmail or Outlook inbox connected.
- Ask the assistant in chat whether the message is worth answering, and why.
- For an unfamiliar company, ask for a short research note from its public pages before deciding.
- For messages worth answering, use Write with AI to draft a reply from the thread, the recipients and your brand voice.
- Review the recipients, attachments and content, then send the reply or keep it as a draft for later.
Where Pebbles Ai fits
- CapabilityOutreach contentThe assistants write outreach in chat: a new message, a reply, a follow-up, or a check on whether an incoming message is worth answering.
- CapabilitySmartboxSmartbox holds Gmail and Outlook mail, with Write with AI in Fast, Balanced and Comprehensive modes drafting from the thread, the recipients and your brand voice.
- CapabilityResearch & analysisBefore answering an unfamiliar sender, ask for research on their company from its public pages, with numbered citations and a source list.
Common questions
Can the assistant answer inbound emails automatically?
A reply starts when you ask for one. Drafts are saved in your connected mailbox, and an assistant sending for you follows the execution mode.
Should every inbound sales email get a reply?
Every genuine enquiry should. Unsolicited pitches can follow a simple house rule, such as a short decline or no reply, applied the same way every time.
Which email providers does this work with?
Gmail and Outlook, with more than one inbox per provider if you need them.
About this page. Written by the Pebbles Ai team for people who run sales, marketing and growth. Last updated .
