How to set up a campaign

A campaign sends one of your email templates to a list of people, once or on a schedule (like the first Monday of every month), with follow-ups for people who don't reply. Campaigns are on the Pro and Agency plans. Owners and admins set them up.

1. Create it

Open Business › Campaigns and click New campaign. Each card on the campaign page has its own Save button. Give it a Name first.

2. Who gets it

• A contact list: choose one of your contact lists.
• A smart list: everyone matching filters, kept up to date. Choose business types, States, Client history (Anyone, Past clients or Never booked), optionally Only people on these lists, and Main contacts only.

Under Skip, choose whether to send to one person per company, skip clients with an upcoming booked gig, and skip anyone a campaign emailed, or who replied, in the last so many days. Click Save and update the count, then open will get it to see each person, and why anyone is skipped.

3. The email

1. Choose a Template and click Save. A preview shows it written out for the first person.
2. Put {avails} in the template to list your open dates, or {unavails} to list the dates you're booked with the city and state. In the Your dates card, choose the Act, How far ahead and Days to offer. Dates start a week out and are worked out fresh each time. Days in a row show as a range, like "Fri 23 – Mon 26".
3. Click + Add a follow-up (up to five), pick a template and the days to wait. Follow-ups go only to people who haven't replied, bounced or unsubscribed.

4. When and how it sends

• In When it goes, choose How often: only when you click Send now, once on a date, weekly, or monthly, and the time.
• In Sending, choose From GigTools (replies go to the Campaign email in Settings › Organization, or your organization email) or From Gmail (Gmail must be connected for the Sender; about 500 a day at most). Set Most per day.
• Let me review each send before it goes out is on to start, and so is Only send on weekdays, 8am to 6pm my time.

Emails go out a batch every 15 minutes, and every one ends with an unsubscribe link.

5. Test and start

• Click Send me a test: the first email arrives in your inbox marked [TEST].
• Click Turn on schedule to start a scheduled campaign. Pause stops it, including waiting emails and follow-ups.
• Or click Write the emails now (Send now when review is off) to send right away.

Anything missing, like a template or a list, is listed at the top of the page.

See How to review a campaign and see results and How unsubscribes, bounces and replies work.