Problem

When contacts try to confirm receipt of an Email or SMS message, they receive the following message:

We appreciate your response, but you already responded to this message

Root Cause

This message occurs when the link has already been confirmed by the email or SMS notification service prior to the recipient confirming the message.

1. For email notifications, filtering services validate links and URLs in emails to keep malicious content out of inboxes. This validation process can result in the service "clicking" the confirmation link to ensure Everbridge is not sending anything harmful. An example of such filtering services is the Safe Links feature in Microsoft Office 365. When this feature is used, the message can be automatically confirmed as soon as the email is scanned, before the contact views or confirms it.

2. For SMS notifications, some smart phones and/or mobile operators have web link preview or link‑scanning features turned on by default. If this feature is enabled, and the Include Short URL in SMS Confirmation feature/flag is enabled in Everbridge, SMS messages may be previewed and confirmed automatically when the URL is scanned instead of when the contact intentionally taps the link. For more information on the Include Short URL in SMS Confirmation feature/flag, see knowledge article EBS: Enabling the Short URL in SMS Messages for Organizations in Everbridge Suite.

You can often distinguish automated confirmations from genuine user confirmations by timing: if a test notification is confirmed within a few seconds of delivery, that behavior is consistent with automatic link‑scanning rather than a manual response.

Solution

Disable the automatic confirmation behavior of email and/or SMS notifications.

1. For email notifications:

   • Add https://neconfirm.everbridge.net to the email filtering service's managed (or permit-listed) URLs so that link‑scanning tools will not auto‑follow the confirmation URL. For more information on email permit listing, see knowledge article EBS: Everbridge Permit Listing Best Practices.

   • Have your IT/email team review and, if needed, adjust Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft 365 Safe Links (or similar) policies so they do not automatically visit the Everbridge confirmation URL.

   • Consider enabling Everbridge's two-step confirmation for email notifications. This adds an extra confirmation step (for example, an explicit "I confirm" button after opening the link) that prevents automated scanners from completing the confirmation on the contact's behalf. For configuration details, see the knowledge article EBS: Two-Step Confirmation for SMS and Email Notifications.

2. For SMS notifications:

   • Disable any Show web previews or similar link preview features in the messaging app settings on affected devices. Disabling such features stops auto confirmation based on link previews. For Android devices, navigate to your Messages app and open settings, then click on More Settings and enable/disable Show web previews. Please note that this setting cannot be disabled on iOS devices.

   • At the organization level, you can mitigate auto‑confirmation from device previews or operator link‑scanning by changing Everbridge SMS configuration:

     • Turn off the Include Short URL in SMS Confirmation flag (Organization Settings > Notifications > SMS Options) so recipients confirm by sending a reply (for example, "YES") rather than tapping a URL.

     • Enable 2-step SMS confirmation (Organization Settings > Notifications > SMS Options > Enable 2-step SMS confirmation). This adds a second confirmation step after the URL is opened, so automated scanning of the link alone will not complete the confirmation.

After making changes, resend a small test notification to a limited audience and monitor the confirmation timing.

Note that not all devices experience the same behavior. It is for this reason that Everbridge recommends the use of multiple delivery methods so that the individual is targeted and not the device.