Create Email Campaigns

 

The Email Campaigns page displays recently drafted and sent campaigns to give you quick insight into the current state of your email marketing.

 

First Things First: What's a Campaign?

A campaign involves sending a single email to recipients, either by sending immediately or by scheduling it to send later. These campaigns can be sorted into two categories: Regular campaigns and A/B test campaigns.

Either can be sent as HTML to produce more engaging visual emails or plain text to focus more on the content and less on the appearance.

 

Regular Campaign

In a regular campaign, you send one email to all recipients.

 

A/B Test Campaign

In an A/B test, you set up two slightly different versions of one campaign and send them to a small percentage of your total recipients.

For example, Version 1 may include a call to action that reads 'Sign up now!' while Version 2 reads 'Click here to learn more!'

Half of your test group receives Version 1, while the other half receives Version 2. Using A/B testing can show you which version is more effective. The 'winner' is determined by the most opens or clicks. This is then sent to the remaining subscribers.

 

Creating a Regular Campaign

Step 1: Campaign

1. Click Create a campaign from the top-right corner of the page.

2. On the next page, you have the option to select a Regular campaign or an A/B test. Regular will be selected by default.

3. Name the campaign. This determines the name shown in your reports and your email archive.

4. Enter a subject line that will display in your recipients' inboxes.

5. Enter a sender. 

6. Click Next to choose a starting point for your email design.

 

Step 2: Content

1. Select a starting point from the available templates. There are a few different ways you can create your email campaign:

Choose a design	Select one of our ready-to-go email builder designs and customize it to suit your brand. When you're done, you can save the email as a template to use again next time.
Use a custom HTML template	You can import a custom coded template to use. Keep in mind, this has to be done before you create a campaign. When it's uploaded you'll be able to select it from My templates in the left sidebar. Learn more about our email template options
Import HTML	If you already have a complete HTML email, designed externally and ready to send, you can import it from your computer or the web by selecting Import HTML in the left sidebar.
Plain text	Text-only emails are another option. Select Plain text in the left sidebar to create one. Please note that only basic reporting is available for plain text emails.
Re-use a template	If you have any previously saved starting points, they'll display in the My templates section.

 

When you click a template, you'll be asked if you'd like to keep the existing text and images, or start again using this design.

• Select Keep the existing content to send an exact replica of the template as your campaign.
• Select Start again using this design to create a new campaign with new content.

2. If you selected Start again using this design, you'll see the Email Builder on the following screen. Click here to really dig in to the email builder. 

3. When you're through editing, preview your campaign by clicking the green Preview button in the top right corner of the page. This will allow you to take a quick look at the desktop and mobile views of the campaign. 

4. When your campaign content is ready, click Define recipients.

 

Step 3:  Recipients

Sending Campaign to Existing Email List

If you've already set up one or more subscriber lists, they will be available under Current lists.

If a list has segments, you can send specifically to them by clicking the arrow next to the list name, then selecting the appropriate segments.

 

Create New List

If there are no lists, you'll be prompted to add new subscribers by typing them in or importing a file.

If you'd like to create a new list on the spot, you can also create a new subscriber list by clicking Import new.

Adding subscribers like this will automatically create a new list for you, and will be saved in Lists & subscribers as List Imported for campaign. You can change the list name and type later.

Once you've selected or created your list, click Next when you're done.

At this point, if you have imported a number of subscribers, you may see a system message prompting you to start the approval process. This is an important part of maintaining our deliverability ratings. If you don't see the message it means you don't need approval to send to the number of subscribers you've selected.

 

Review the Campaign Snapshot

The Campaign Snapshot page is your chance to double-check everything you've set up so far. Need to make a quick change? Just click the Edit buttons to the right of each section.

Even if you plan to send an HTML-based campaign, don't forget to check the plain text version of your email. What looks great as HTML might need adjusting for text only.

When you're done, click Send a test. To skip the test, you can click Schedule delivery.

 

Test Your Campaign

A crucial part of any email campaign is testing. We offer a variety of tests so you can send the campaign to yourself or colleagues for proofreading, and make sure everything looks as expected.

Click Next to deliver your campaign or return to snapshot if you need to make any more edits.

 

Step 4: Deliver

When would you like to send this campaign?

Select Send it now to deliver the campaign immediately.

Select Schedule for later to deliver at a later scheduled time. Select a date, time, and time zone for delivery.

 

Confirmation email

If you'd like to send a confirmation email when the campaign is delivered, enter an email address to receive it.

Once you've selected a method for sending the campaign, click Schedule this campaign.

The following page will display the campaign delivery details. You can modify your campaign any time before the scheduled delivery date by clicking ← Make changes.

 

Check Your Progress with Campaign Reports

Once the campaign has been sent, you'll have the option to view the Campaign Reports page, where you'll have the following options to view the effectiveness of your campaign.

• Snapshot: Summary of campaign results to date.
• Recipient Activity: Who opened and clicked, etc.
• Link Activity & Overlay: Which links were popular, who clicked.
• Social Sharing & Forwards: Who shared with friends.
• Worldview: Real-time map of campaign activity.
• Opens & Clicks Over Time: When did subscribers open and click.
• Email Client Usage: Which email clients are being used.
• Bounce Summary: Who didn't receive this and why.