Create and send a campaign

Before your first campaign, you need a verified sending domain, a sender, a business postal address in Settings, and at least one list or segment.

Build the campaign

Go to Campaigns → Create campaign. The form has five parts.

1 · Campaign

• Campaign name. Only you see this.
• Sender. The From name and address.
• Subject line and Preheader. The preheader is the preview text shown after the subject in most inboxes.

2 · Audience

• Under Send to, tick one or more lists or segments.
• Under Exclude (optional), tick any you want to leave out.

Unsubscribed, bounced, suppressed and invalid addresses are excluded automatically.

3 · Content

• To reuse a design, choose one from Start from a template….
• Pick an editor: Visual builder, HTML or Plain text only. With HTML, you can add a plain-text version. If you leave it empty, one is generated for you.
• Personalize with merge tags like {{first_name|there}}. See merge tags and fallbacks.

4 · Tracking

• Track opens and Track clicks are on by default.
• Optionally, choose a Tracking domain.

5 · Attachments

• Up to 5 files. Keep in mind that attachments increase message size and can affect deliverability.

Click Save draft at any time. When you're ready, click Review & send.

Review, test and send

The Review and send page shows a summary, a preview using sample data, the number of Recipients and the Credits required. If something is missing, a Fix these before sending box tells you what to do.

1. Send a test. Enter up to 5 addresses, separated by commas, and click Send test. Each test costs 1 credit, has "[Test]" in the subject and isn't tracked.
2. Under Send, choose Now or Schedule. For a scheduled send, pick a date and time in your own time zone.
3. Tick the box confirming you have permission to email these recipients and approve the credits.
4. Click Send campaign now or Schedule campaign.

Credits are reserved when sending starts. Anything not sent is returned. See how credits work.

Pause, resume or cancel

Open the campaign from Campaigns. The buttons you see depend on the campaign's status:

• Pause stops a campaign that's preparing or sending.
• Resume continues a paused campaign.
• Cancel stops it for good. Unsent emails aren't sent, and their credits are returned.
• Unschedule moves a scheduled campaign back to drafts. Edit changes it and keeps the schedule.
• Duplicate makes a copy you can reuse.

Automatic pause

If a campaign's bounce or complaint rate goes above the platform's limits, it's paused automatically and the reason is shown on the campaign page. Clean your list before you resume. See verify an email list.

Tip: Keep your subject clear and honest. See email subject lines that get opened.

Key takeaways

• Build the campaign, click Review & send, test, then send now or schedule.
• Tests cost 1 credit each and aren't tracked.
• You can pause, resume or cancel at any time, and unsent credits are returned.