Pause auto-replies — per lead or per business

Sometimes you want the AI to step aside — for one conversation you’re handling personally, or for a whole business while you’re on vacation. Both are one click.

Pause a single lead

Every lead has an “Auto-reply” switch — on the lead card in the Leads list, and at the top of the opened lead. Turn it off and the AI stops responding to that customer, and any scheduled follow-ups for that lead stop too; other leads are unaffected. Flip it back on anytime.

Pause a whole business

On the Sources page, click “Deactivate” on the business card. The status dot turns gray (“Status: Disabled”), and the AI stops responding to all leads for that business. Click “Activate” to resume.

Automatic pauses (built in)

Beyond manual pauses, the AI steps back on its own in a few situations:

• After you reply manually. Once you send a manual response — on the platform’s own site or from LeadWinner — the bot pauses for that lead. You control the duration in All Settings → Advanced → Messaging Rules → “Pause bot after manual response”, from no pause at all up to indefinitely; new accounts start with a long pause, so set it to what you want once. (Replying by text through the SMS relay doesn’t trigger this pause.) The AI also never talks over you: if your message is the latest in the conversation, it waits for the customer’s next message.
• During Non-Reply Hours. If you’ve set quiet hours, nothing goes out during them. See How the AI responder works.
• When the response limit is reached. By default the AI sends one message per lead and then hands the conversation to you. See How the AI responder works.
• When a customer opts out of texts. If a customer replies STOP to a text, automated texting to that customer stops. See Text messaging with customers.

Which pause should I use?

• Handling one hot lead yourself → flip that lead’s Auto-reply off (or just reply manually and let the built-in pause cover you).
• Fully booked this month → Deactivate the business.
• Never message customers at night → set Non-Reply Hours once and forget it.

Questions about pausing? Contact support — tell us what you’re trying to step away from, and we’ll point you to the right switch.