An email campaign sends one email to a group of Contacts in Crelate and tracks opens, clicks, and unsubscribes for each person. You can start a campaign from the Contacts tab, Search, a Job Dashboard, or the Campaigns tab. Campaigns send only to Contacts that already exist in Crelate, using each Contact’s primary email address, so a list in a spreadsheet must be imported as Contacts before you can email it.
What do I need to know before creating a campaign?
Campaigns send only to a Contact’s Primary email address. If you use an email template, the template’s To field instructions are ignored.
How do I start an email campaign?
You can start a campaign from four places:
Contacts tab: select the Contacts you want, open the drop-down menu at the top of the screen, and select Start Campaign.
Search: run a keyword search or open a saved search, select some or all of the results, and start a campaign.
Job Dashboard: select Start Campaign to send to everyone in a stage, or highlight specific people, open the Select Items drop-down, and start a campaign from there.
Campaigns tab: select New in the top left.
After you start the campaign, enter a name, and then select Next.
How do I choose who receives the campaign?
If you started the campaign from Contacts, Search, or a Job Dashboard, the Contacts you selected are already added. To add more, or if you started from the Campaigns tab, select the green + under Send Mail To, and choose how to add recipients:
Add List: add every Contact on a list.
Add Find Query: add the Contacts that match a Find query.
Add Saved Search: add the Contacts from a saved search.
Add from Job Stage: add the Contacts in a specific stage of a Job.
Add Contact: add individual Contacts one at a time.
You can combine options, and the recipient count at the top updates as you add them. To leave specific Contacts or lists out, select the green + in the exclusions section on the right. Select Next when you are done.
💡 Pro Tip: Sending to the same group again? Save the group as a list or a saved search. Then you can add everyone at once with Add List or Add Saved Search the next time you start a campaign.
How do I send a campaign to a list of emails from a spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet cannot be uploaded directly into a campaign. Import the people as Contacts first, and then send the campaign to them.
Add a Tags column to your spreadsheet. Enter the same value in every row, such as the campaign name. This makes the group easy to find after the import.
Import the spreadsheet. Go to Menu > Import Data, and upload your .xls or .xlsx file.
Map your columns. Map the email column to Email, map the name columns, and map the Tags column to Tags. Select Configure next to Tags to create the tag if it does not exist yet.
Finish the import, and wait for it to complete.
Find the imported Contacts. In Search, search by the tag you added, and select all of the results.
Start the campaign from the selected results, and continue with the steps above.
💡 Pro Tip: If some people on your spreadsheet may already be in Crelate, use Import Data+ and match on email address, so existing Contacts are updated instead of duplicated.
💡 Pro Tip: Importing a list for an email campaign? Add a Tags column with the same value in every row, such as the campaign name. After the import, search by that tag to select everyone at once, and start your campaign from the results.
How do I send the campaign?
Enter a From address, Subject, and email Body. To use a template, select the magnifying glass in the template field.
Send yourself a test copy to check the formatting and links. This step is optional.
Select Send, and then select OK to confirm.
💡 Pro Tip: Send yourself a test copy before every campaign. It is the fastest way to catch a broken link or formatting issue before it reaches your Contacts.
How do I see the results of a campaign?
Campaign metrics are shown inside each campaign. To see them, open the Email Campaigns list, and select the campaign you want to review.
When you open a campaign, you see:
Progress: how many emails have sent out of the total, such as Completed: 48/48 sent.
Details: who created the campaign, the address it was sent from, when it started and completed, and a View Template link to see the email that went out.
Results chart: how many emails are in each status.
Filters: search for a recipient by name or email, or select a tile to see only the recipients in one status.
To see campaigns that are still sending or paused, open the Outbox Queue. Use the icons there to pause or cancel a campaign.
How do I see the results of a campaign?
Campaign metrics are shown inside each campaign. To see them, open the Email Campaigns list, and select the campaign you want to review.
When you open a campaign, you see:
Progress: how many emails have sent out of the total, such as Completed: 48/48 sent.
Details: who created the campaign, the address it was sent from, when it started and completed, and a View Template link to see the email that went out.
Results chart: how many emails are in each status.
Filters: search for a recipient by name or email, or select a tile to see only the recipients in one status.
To see campaigns that are still sending or paused, open the Outbox Queue. Use the icons there to pause or cancel a campaign.
What do the campaign metrics mean?
Metric | What it means |
Sent | The email was sent. |
Delivered | The recipient’s email server accepted the email. |
Opened | The recipient opened the email. |
Clicked | The recipient selected a link in the email. |
Unsubscribed | The recipient unsubscribed from future campaigns. |
Bounced | The email could not be delivered, for example because the address is invalid. |
Spam Complaints | The recipient marked the email as spam. |
💡 Pro Tip: Select the Bounced tile after a campaign completes to find invalid email addresses. Update or remove those addresses on the Contact Records, so future campaigns reach more of your Contacts.
Key takeaway
An email campaign sends one email to a group of Contacts and tracks opens, clicks, and unsubscribes. You can start a campaign from the Contacts tab, Search, a Job Dashboard, or the Campaigns tab, and choose recipients from a list, Find query, saved search, Job stage, or individual Contacts. Campaigns send only to Contacts in Crelate, using each Contact’s primary email address. To email a list from a spreadsheet, import it as Contacts with a shared tag, search by that tag, and start the campaign from the results. Review results in the Email Campaigns tab, and pause or cancel a sending campaign in the Outbox Queue.
What’s Next?
Learn how to set up and filter your email campaigns, or purchase higher limits.