Send your first campaign

A campaign is one email, sent once, to a list you choose. A flow sends itself over and over; a campaign is a thing you decide to send today.

Press Create campaign on Home, or Campaigns → Create campaign in the sidebar.

The builder takes over the whole screen and has four steps, shown along the top: Who · Message · Design · Review. One question per screen. There is no Save button — it saves as you type, and the clock at the top says Saving…, then Saved just now.

Step 1 — Who gets it

"Pick the lists and segments this email goes to. The count updates as you choose."

1. Open Send to and choose a list or a segment. Lists and segments are grouped separately in the menu.
2. Watch the number underneath. It updates as you pick.
3. Optional: leave "Skip anyone who got an email from you in the past 24 hours" ticked. It stops you accidentally mailing the same people twice in a day. The hours come from Settings → Sending rules.
4. Optional: open Advanced options to add a list under Don't send to, or tick "Don't send to people who have gone quiet" — "Nobody who has ignored a year of email."
5. Press Continue.

If you have not chosen anybody, the box says:

Nobody yet. Pick a list or a segment above and the number appears here.

That is not a bug and it is not a default. Nothing is selected until you select it — the builder will never guess an audience for you. Continue stays off, with the reason underneath it: "Choose who gets this email."

If you pick something and it comes back "Nobody here can be emailed yet", the list exists but nobody in it has permission yet.

Step 2 — Your message

"The subject line and the preview text — the two lines people read before they open it."

1. Type a Subject line. There is a character counter, and a phone showing how it will look in an inbox.
2. Press {} Add a name to drop the person's first name in. It puts "there" when we do not know it, so nobody gets "Hi ,".
3. Type Preview text — the grey line next to the subject. "Skip it and the inbox shows the first line of your email instead."
4. Check the sender line: Sending as Your Brand, hello@mail.yourstore.com. Press Change to edit the name, the address, or where replies go.
5. Press Continue.

Only addresses on a verified domain appear in the From list. If you have none, the screen says "You have no verified sending address yet" with a Connect a sending address button.

Step 3 — The email

"Pick a design, then make it yours. This campaign gets its own copy, so editing it changes nothing else."

That last part matters: a campaign owns its email. Editing this one will never change a design another campaign or flow is using.

1. Pick a design.
2. Press Edit design to open the full-screen builder and write it.
3. Press Continue.

Send yourself a test first

On the Design and Review steps there is a Preview & test button in the top bar. Do this every time.

1. Press Preview & test.
2. Open the Send a test tab: "One copy of this exact email, to someone on your team. It doesn't touch your contacts."
3. Tick the addresses to send to. Only people on your team can be tested to — up to six at once.
4. Press Send test.

You get: "Queued for you@yourstore.com. It goes out on the next delivery pass."

The footnote is the important bit: "This is the same email, checked the same way. If a test is refused, the campaign would be refused too." A test that fails is telling you the real send would fail.

Step 4 — Review and send

"A last look at what goes out, and when."

Under Check there are five rows. Green means fine, red means it will not send.

If anything is red, the line under the button reads "Fix the lines marked in red above and this button turns on."

Then choose When:

1. Send now — the button reads Send to 4,821 people.
2. Schedule for later — pick a date and time in your brand's time zone. The button reads Schedule for Tuesday 9 Sept, 09:00.
3. Send at 9:00 in each person's own time zone — everyone gets it at 9am where they are. Choose whether people whose 9am has already passed get it right away or wait until tomorrow.
4. Optional: tick Spread it out and set Send over 3 hours, "So your site and your reputation aren't hit all at once."

There is no second "are you sure" box. The number of people is printed on the button itself, which is a better warning than a dialog nobody reads.

After you press it:

• Sent: "On its way to 4,821 people. It goes out in batches, and you can pause it at any point."
• Scheduled: "Scheduled for 4,821 people. You can cancel it right up until it starts."

Once a campaign is scheduled it locks: "Cancel the schedule to change anything about it, then schedule it again." There is a Cancel schedule button, and cancelling says "The schedule is cancelled. Nothing has gone out, and you can edit it again."

What "sending" looks like

On the Campaigns list, the status chip tells you exactly where a campaign is:

• Draft
• Scheduled · 9 Sept, 09:00
• Sending · 1,240 of 4,821
• Sent · 9 Sept
• Paused · 9 Sept at 26%
• Cancelled · 9 Sept

While it is sending you can press Pause or Stop this send on the campaign's own page.

The table columns are Campaign, Status, To, Held back, Delivered, Clicked and Revenue. "Held back" is people we chose not to send to — unsubscribed, no proof of consent, or quiet for a year. Open the campaign to see exactly who and why. "Clicked" counts people, not clicks.

If it didn't work

• Continue is greyed out. The reason is printed right next to it: "Choose who gets this email.", "Write a subject line so people know what this is.", or "Pick a design, then make it yours."
• The count says "Nobody yet." You have not chosen a list. Nothing is selected by default, on purpose.
• "Nobody here can be emailed yet." The list has people in it but none of them have permission. See the article on importing contacts and consent.
• "Connect a sending address in Settings first." Your domain is not verified. Nothing goes out until it is.
• "This design has nothing in it yet." Open Edit design and write the email.
• The test was refused. Read the reason — it is the same reason the real send would be refused. "This brand has no verified sending domain yet, so nothing can be sent — not even a test" is the usual one.
• The test would not go to your friend's address. Tests only go to people on your team. Add them under Settings → Team first.
• "Already sent in the last minute." There is a one-minute gap between tests. Wait a moment.
• The send button will not press and no line is red. Look under it — "Your role can build a campaign but not send one." Ask an owner or admin.
• You want to change a scheduled campaign. Press Cancel schedule, edit it, and schedule it again.
• Fewer people got it than the number on the button. Recipients are worked out again at the moment of sending, and anyone who unsubscribed or bounced in between is held back. The Held back column shows how many and why.
• Revenue shows a dash. Nobody who clicked it has bought yet.

Still stuck? Email support@aminoengine.com — we answer within one business day.