Who can use this: Business admin
Available on: Gong Engage
Required permissions: Create and manage flow rulesets
In new business prospecting, the moment a contact replies or books a meeting, automated outreach should pause, not continue while a conversation is already in progress. Configure a ruleset that pauses the flow on contact engagement so reps stay in control of follow-up.
Step 1: Open or create a ruleset
Start with a new ruleset dedicated to prospecting flows, or edit an existing one. Using a dedicated ruleset makes it easier to apply the same settings across all your prospecting flows and update them in one place.
To open or create a ruleset:
From the left sidebar, click Assets, and select Flow rulesets.
Click Create ruleset and enter a name (for example, "Prospecting"), or hover over an existing ruleset and select the more actions
icon > Edit.
Step 2: Pause the flow when a contact engages
Configure the ruleset to pause the flow whenever a contact replies to an email or books a meeting. This stops automated steps from firing while a rep follows up.
To configure reply handling:
Under Response handling, set the email reply action to pause the flow.
(Optional) Select create a response to-do so the rep gets a task to follow up when the flow pauses.
To configure meeting booked handling:
Set the meeting booked action to pause the flow.
(Optional) Select create a meeting booked to-do so the rep gets a follow-up task after the meeting is confirmed.
Learn more about configuring response handling.
Step 3: Include an opt-out footer
For cold outreach to prospects, include an opt-out footer in all flow emails. This is a compliance best practice for new business prospecting and may be required depending on your region.
To enable the opt-out footer:
In the Outbound emails section, choose Display an opt-out footer.
Note:
If your company has a global opt-out setting enabled, the opt-out footer may already be on and cannot be turned off at the ruleset level.
Step 4: Save and apply to your prospecting flows
The ruleset settings take effect only after you save and apply it to your flows. Apply it now to all flows used for new business prospecting.
To save and apply:
Click Save.
Hover over the ruleset and click the More actions icon
, then select Apply ruleset to flows.Select your prospecting flows and click Apply.
Important:
Applying a ruleset to active flows takes effect immediately, including for contacts already in those flows.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if a contact replies but the rep doesn't act on the to-do?
The flow stays paused. Contacts remain in a paused state until the rep acts on the to-do or manually resumes or removes them from the flow. To-dos have an expiry period configured by your admin. After that, the contact may be automatically removed. Learn more about how flow rulesets work.
Should I use one prospecting ruleset or different ones per flow?
One ruleset for all prospecting flows makes it easier to update behavior consistently. Use separate rulesets only when specific flows need different settings. For example, one flow may target a region with stricter compliance requirements.