Nudges & Reminders
A nudge is an automatic follow-up. You start it on an email, and MailPrism keeps the thread on your radar — sending a polite chase or a reminder on a schedule you set, then stopping itself the moment the conversation moves.
There are two kinds, and MailPrism picks the right one for you automatically.
The two flow types
| Flow | What it does | When you'd use it |
|---|---|---|
| Nudge Them | Sends a follow-up to the recipient who hasn't replied yet | You sent an email and want a response |
| Remind Me | Sends a reminder to you about a thread that needs attention | Someone emailed you and you don't want to forget to act |
When you click Nudge on an email, MailPrism checks the sender. If you sent the email, it starts a Nudge Them flow. If someone else sent it, it starts a Remind Me flow. You can always override this from the dropdown.
Starting a nudge on an email
Every email has a Nudge split-button:
- Click the main button to start a nudge with the auto-detected flow and your default settings.
- Click the chevron to open the menu and choose exactly what you want:
- Nudge Them — start a recipient follow-up right away.
- Remind Me — start a self-reminder right away.
- Configure Nudge… / Configure Reminder… — open a quick setup popup to tweak the timing and tone before starting.
- AI Instant Nudge — send one AI-written follow-up immediately, with no scheduled sequence (when available).
Once a nudge is running, the button changes to show its state, and the menu offers Pause, Resume, View Schedule, Edit Settings…, and Cancel.
Flow configuration
Whether you use the quick setup popup or a saved template, a flow has these settings.
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Delays | How long to wait before each follow-up (e.g. day 2, then 4, then 7) |
| Delay unit | The unit for those delays: minutes, hours, days, or weeks |
| Tone | The voice of AI-written messages: Professional, Friendly, Casual, Formal, or Urgent |
| Use AI | Whether follow-ups are AI-generated (personalized to the thread) or use a fixed template |
| Max follow-ups | The most messages this flow will ever send (1–5) — so you're never pushy |
| Template | A custom message to send instead of an AI-written one |
| Include thread | Whether to quote the original conversation in the follow-up |
The Use AI toggle only appears for Nudge Them flows, and AI features must be turned on for your account. With AI off, follow-ups use your template instead. Remind Me flows don't use AI by default — a simple reminder doesn't need it.
Reading the schedule
The quick setup popup builds the schedule from a first delay, a repeat interval, and a maximum count. For example, "first in 2 days, then every 2 days, max 3" produces three follow-ups. The popup shows a live Schedule preview so you can see exactly when each message would go out.
When a nudge stops (completion triggers)
A flow ends as soon as any of its completion triggers fires:
| Trigger | The flow completes when… |
|---|---|
| Recipient replies | The other person responds (on by default) |
| Max reached | The last allowed follow-up has been sent (on by default) |
| I archive | You archive the email |
| Tracking label removed | A specific tracking label is taken off the email |
After it ends, MailPrism records why it stopped — reply received, max reached, cancelled, or label removed — so you can tell at a glance whether your follow-up landed.
The most important trigger, Recipient replies, is on by default. The moment they write back, the chasing stops — no awkward "did you get my last email?" after they've already answered.
Active-nudge states
A running nudge moves through these states:
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Active | Running and waiting for the next scheduled send |
| Paused | Temporarily stopped by you — resume it any time |
| Completed | Finished (a reply came in, the max was hit, or a trigger fired) |
| Cancelled | Stopped early by you or the system |
You can see every active nudge — its progress bar, how long it's been waiting, and when the next message goes out — under Settings → Nudges.
The @Nudge label
While a nudge is active, MailPrism adds a Gmail label called @Nudge to the email.
It's automatically applied when the nudge starts and removed when the nudge completes
or is cancelled. The label shows up in Gmail (with an amber color) so you can always
spot which threads are currently being followed up — even from the Gmail app.
Saved flow templates
If you reuse the same timing again and again, save it as a flow template under Settings → Nudges → Flow Templates. A template stores a name, a flow type (Nudge Them or Remind Me), its full configuration, and its completion triggers.
- Mark one template per type as your default, so the plain Nudge button uses it.
- Edit or delete templates any time (you can't delete the default until you unset it).
Global settings
Under Settings → Nudges → Global Settings you control how nudges behave across the whole account:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable nudge flows | Master switch for automatic follow-ups |
| Pause on reply | Stop sending nudges as soon as the recipient replies |
| Smart timing | Let AI pick the best time of day to send each nudge |
The Smart timing option uses AI to choose send times, so it requires AI features to be turned on for your account.
Related
- Response tracking overview — how MailPrism decides a thread is Awaiting Reply in the first place.
- Scheduling & recurrence — delays and "cancel if replied," the same building blocks nudges use.