Creating and Sending a Campaign

A campaign is a newsletter you send to your active subscribers: all of them, or the people in chosen groups and segments.

Before you start: set up a sender

A sender is the "from" name and address of your emails, and the mail service that delivers them. Inside a project, go to Senders and select New sender:

• Sender name: for you only; recipients don't see it.
• From address and From name: what recipients see in their inbox.
• Replies (optional): a different address for replies, such as a help desk.
• Mail service: how Postak hands your emails over. Your administrator or mail provider has the details for the one you use (see the table below).
• Sending limits (optional): stay within your mail service's quota, which your provider shows in your account (for example Amazon SES lists a maximum send rate per second).

Mail service	What to fill in
SMTP server	Server, connection security, port, and username and password. "Allow a self-signed certificate" is only for your organisation's own mail servers.
Amazon SES (SMTP)	AWS region and the SES SMTP credentials (SMTP username and password).
Amazon SES (API)	AWS region, an IAM Access key ID and Secret access key that may call ses:SendEmail (not the SES SMTP password), and optionally a Configuration set.
SendGrid	An API key and the Region of your account (Global or EU).
Mailgun	The Sending domain (for example mg.example.org), an API key, and the Region (US or EU).
Postmark	The Server token and the Message stream. Use a broadcast stream for newsletters (the default is broadcast).

With SendGrid, Mailgun, and Postmark, Postak turns off the service's own open and click tracking and uses its own, so the report counts every open and click once. With Amazon SES (API): if your configuration set tracks opens or clicks, turn that off in SES. Postak tracks them itself.

Bounces and complaints are reported for both Amazon SES services once your administrator has set up SES notifications. For SendGrid, Mailgun, and Postmark they aren't reported yet.

The From address must be one your mail service allows you to send from (a verified address or domain).

Select Save, then Send test on the Senders page: Postak sends a test email to you. If it fails, the message shows the mail service's reason (for example a wrong password or an API key that isn't valid).

Passwords, API keys, and secret keys can't be viewed after saving. When editing a sender, leave them blank to keep the current ones.

You may also want a template first, so your campaigns share a consistent look.

Create a campaign

Inside a project, go to Campaigns and select New campaign. The editor has the campaign settings on the left and a live preview on the right.

Field	What it does
Sender	Who the email comes from. The first sender is picked for you.
Send to contacts in any of these	The groups and segments to send to; leave everything unticked to send to all active contacts. Below it, Postak shows how many active contacts that reaches right now. See Choosing recipients.
Subject	The email subject line (required).
Preview text	The short line many inboxes show next to the subject. Up to 150 characters; a counter shows how many you've used. Inboxes usually show about the first 50, so put the important part first.
Editor	How you write the content: Markdown, HTML, Plain text, or MJML (see Writing in MJML).
Content	Your newsletter. See Personalising your email.
Template	The look of the email. New campaigns start with the project's default template; choose (no template) to send the content on its own. MJML campaigns don't use a template.
A/B test	Optional. Try up to four versions on part of the audience first. See A/B tests.
Track opens and clicks	On by default. See Tracking.
Public web view link	Off by default. See Web view.
Campaign data (JSON)	Values you can reuse in the content, such as {"issue": 12}. It must be a JSON object; while it isn't, a warning shows and you can't save.

Select Save draft to keep your work. You can come back to it from the campaign list with Edit.

Choosing recipients

Under Send to contacts in any of these, tick any mix of Groups (each shows its number of members) and Segments:

• A person who is in any ticked group or segment gets the campaign.
• With nothing ticked, the campaign goes to every active contact.
• Only active contacts receive campaigns, whatever groups they're in.
• Everyone gets the email once, even if they're in several of the groups and segments you ticked.

To keep some people from getting it, open Leave some people out (optional) and tick groups or segments under Leave out contacts in any of these. Anyone in one of those is left out, even if they're also in a group or segment you're sending to. For example, send to Providers and Board, but leave out Unengaged.

You can tick up to 20 groups and 20 segments in each list. A group or segment can't be both sent to and left out; the other list shows it as "Already included" or "Already excluded".

The line Reaches N active contacts right now updates as you tick and untick. The final list of recipients is worked out when the campaign starts sending, so people added to a group before then are included.

Writing with Markdown

Markdown gives you headings (# Title), links ([text](https://example.org)), lists, and emphasis without writing HTML. In a styled template, a paragraph that holds only a bold link becomes a button:

[**Read the full update**](https://example.org/update)

Plain-text emails

With Plain text as the editor and either no template or a plain-text template, Postak sends a text-only email with no HTML. Text-only emails have no open tracking, because there is nowhere to put the tracking image.

Writing in MJML

MJML is a markup language for responsive emails: you describe sections, columns, text, images, and buttons with tags like <mj-section> and <mj-button>, and Postak turns it into HTML that works in most email apps.

Choose MJML as the editor. If the content box is empty, Postak fills in a starter email with a heading, a paragraph, a button, and an unsubscribe link, so you can see how it's put together.

• An MJML campaign is a complete email: write a whole <mjml> document. It doesn't use a template, so the template picker is switched off. If a template was chosen, the editor removes it and tells you. To reuse a layout in MJML, create an MJML template and write the campaigns themselves in Markdown, HTML, or plain text.
• Placeholders work as usual, for example {{ contact.first_name | default: "there" }} inside <mj-text>. Postak fills them in after compiling, and subscriber values are always shown as plain text.
• Problems show as warnings below the preview, with the line number, for example "MJML line 12: …". Unknown tags or attributes are warnings; MJML that can't be read at all shows a "can't be compiled yet" page in the preview instead of the email.
• <mj-include> isn't supported; included files are left out, with a warning.
• If your MJML has its own <mj-preview>, Postak uses it and leaves out the Preview text field (a warning tells you when both are set).
• Postak makes the plain-text version of the email for you, and adds an unsubscribe line if the email has no {{ unsubscribe_url }} link.
• The content can be up to 200,000 characters. Very large documents may take too long to compile.

You can save a draft with MJML that doesn't compile yet, but you can't send it: Send now and Send test say "The MJML could not be compiled" and what's wrong. If the server is briefly too busy to compile, the message ends with "Try again in a moment."

Personalising your email

Placeholders are replaced with each subscriber's details when the email is sent:

Placeholder	Becomes
{{ contact.first_name }}	The subscriber's first name
{{ contact.last_name }}	The subscriber's last name
{{ contact.email }}	The subscriber's email
{{ contact.data.<key> }}	A custom field on the contact, such as {{ contact.data.plan }}
{{ campaign.data.<key> }}	A value from the campaign data box, such as {{ campaign.data.issue }}
{{ campaign.subject }}	The campaign subject
{{ unsubscribe_url }}	The unsubscribe link
{{ web_view_url }}	The link to the online version (empty unless the web view is on)

Custom field names are case-sensitive: plan and Plan are different keys.

Fallback values

Add | default: "..." to use a fallback when a value is empty:

Hi {{ contact.first_name | default: "there" }},

Welcome to issue {{ campaign.data.issue }} of our newsletter.
[Read it online]({{ web_view_url }})

A subscriber with no first name sees "Hi there,".

Checking placeholders

If a placeholder isn't one Postak knows (for example a typo like {{ contact.frist_name }}), it shows as nothing and the preview lists a warning under the email. Fix any warnings before you send.

Subscriber values are always shown as plain text, so details typed into a sign-up form can't change the layout of your email.

Preview

The preview updates shortly after you stop typing. It shows the email as your first active contact would see it, in the chosen template. Use Preview as to pick a different contact and check how personalisation looks for them. The line above the preview says whose details are shown.

Send a test

Select Send test, enter up to five addresses (separated by commas or new lines), then Send test email. Postak saves any unsaved changes first, then lists whether each address was sent and whose details were used.

Test emails:

• have [Test] at the start of the subject;
• are personalised with sample data (Jane Doe, jane.doe@example.com) unless you choose a contact under Personalise with, so no real subscriber's details are sent by accident;
• aren't tracked and don't count in the report.

The campaign needs a sender before you can send a test. For an A/B test, choose which Variant to send.

A/B tests

To find out which subject line or content works best, tick Test variants before sending to everyone under A/B test in the editor. You write up to three more variants (B, C, D) with their own subject and, if you like, their own preview text and content. When the campaign is sent:

1. A random test group (1 to 50 % of the recipients) gets the variants, shared evenly.
2. After the wait you choose (at least 15 minutes, at most 7 days), Postak picks the variant with the best open rate or click rate. Or you pick it yourself in the report.
3. Everyone else gets the winning variant.

Automatic picking needs Track opens and clicks. See A/B Testing for every setting, how the winner is chosen, and what to watch out for.

Tracking opens and clicks

With Track opens and clicks on, Postak adds a tiny invisible image to count opens, and routes links through Postak to count clicks before sending people on to the real address.

Turn it off when you prefer not to track a particular email. The email then has no tracking image and its links point straight to their destination. The report for that campaign shows no open or click numbers. Unsubscribes, bounces, and complaints are still recorded.

Web view

Turn on Public web view link to publish an online copy of the email once it's sent. Put {{ web_view_url }} in your content (for example "[Read it online]({{ web_view_url }})") so readers whose email app shows the message badly can open it in a browser.

• The web view is generic: it never shows a subscriber's name, email, or other details, and it has no tracking. Placeholders with personal details show as empty (or their fallback value).
• It's only available while the campaign is sending or sent. Drafts and scheduled campaigns aren't public.
• You can switch it on or off later from the campaign's report. Turning it off shows a "This email isn't available" page at the link; turning it back on reuses the same link.
• Anyone with the link can read the email, so don't use it for content meant only for subscribers.

Send now

Select Send now in the editor, or next to a draft or scheduled campaign in the list. Postak asks you to confirm, spelling out who the campaign goes to and how many recipients that is right now, for example "Send "June update" now to Providers + Board, excluding Unengaged — 120 recipients?". After you confirm, the campaign shows Sending with a progress bar (for example "120 of 500") and becomes Sent when every email has been handled. You can leave the page; sending carries on.

• Postak keeps to the sender's sending limits, so a large list can take a while.
• If the mail server has a temporary problem, Postak tries that email again a few minutes later (up to three times).
• People who unsubscribe while the campaign is sending don't get it.
• An A/B test stays Sending until the winner has gone to the rest of the audience.

Once sent, a campaign can't be edited or sent again. Only its web view setting can change.

Schedule for later

In the editor, under Send, choose a date and time in Schedule for, then select Schedule. Postak confirms the time, the recipients, and how many people that is right now. The campaign shows as Scheduled with its send time, and Postak starts sending it within about a minute of that time. The time must be in the future, and the campaign needs a sender.

You can keep editing a scheduled campaign; saving keeps the schedule. To cancel, select Unschedule in the campaign list: the campaign goes back to Draft and is not sent. You can still select Send now on a scheduled campaign to send it immediately instead.

Managing campaigns

The campaign list shows each campaign's subject, recipients, and status, with these actions. For a sent campaign, the recipients are the groups and segments it was sent to, as they were named at the time.

• Edit: open a draft or scheduled campaign in the editor.
• Duplicate: make a new draft with the same content, sender, template, recipients (groups and segments sent to and left out), data, tracking, web view setting, and A/B test settings (not the results), then open it. The copy's subject ends in "(copy)", and if the web view is on, the copy gets its own new link. Groups or segments deleted since are left out of the copy. Useful for sending something similar to a campaign that's already gone out.
• Delete: remove a draft. Scheduled campaigns must be unscheduled first; sent campaigns are kept for their reports.

While a draft or scheduled campaign sends to a group or segment, or leaves it out, that group or segment can't be deleted.

• Report: see how the campaign did.

See the results

Select Report next to any campaign to view its performance. See Reading Your Reports.