> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.autocampaign.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Campaigns

> Create, schedule, send, and analyze text and email broadcast campaigns.

## Overview

A [campaign](/getting-started/glossary#campaign) sends one message to many
[contacts](/getting-started/glossary#contact). Autocampaign AI supports **SMS**
(text) campaigns, including MMS (a text with a picture or file attached), and
**email** campaigns. Send them right away, schedule them for later, or set them to
repeat. Find them under **Marketing → Campaigns → Text & Email Campaigns** in the
sidebar (`/campaigns`). For a timed series of messages per contact, use
[Sequences](/campaigns/sequences); to compare two versions of one campaign, add an
[experiment](/campaigns/experiments).

<Tip>
  **In short:** 1) Pick a channel and a sender number. 2) Write your message and
  choose segments. 3) Send now or schedule, then watch results.
</Tip>

<Info>
  **Time to complete:** \~10 minutes  ·  **Difficulty:** Beginner
</Info>

<Note>
  Before sending texts, connect a [provider](/channels/sms) (the phone company
  that carries your messages). For US numbers, also complete
  [10DLC registration](/compliance/a2p-10dlc), the carrier approval required for
  business texting. Campaigns send over SMS and email only;
  [WhatsApp](/channels/whatsapp) messages go out through sequences and workflows.
</Note>

## Browse the campaigns list

Filter by status using the tabs (each shows a live count): **All**, **Scheduled**,
**Running**, **Paused**, **Completed**, **Failed**, **Cancelled**, and by channel
with the **All channels** filter. Columns include Name, Status, Channel, Segment,
Delivery progress, Date, and Cost.

Row actions depend on status:

* **Pause** — while a campaign is Running.
* **Resume** — while a campaign is Paused.
* **Cancel** — before a campaign finishes (messages still waiting to send are cancelled; already-sent stay sent).
* **Delete** — once a campaign is Completed, Failed, or Cancelled (the campaign is hidden rather than permanently erased).

<Note>
  Campaign statuses are **Scheduled, Active (shown as "Running"), Paused,
  Completed, Failed, Cancelled**. There's no draft state — creating a campaign
  sends or schedules it.
</Note>

## Create a campaign

Click **New Campaign** (`/campaigns/new`), pick **Text message** or **Email** on
the channel screen, and click **Continue**. **Change channel** takes you back;
switching to a different channel clears the fields that only apply to the other
channel.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Sender" icon="hashtag">
    **SMS:** select one or more phone numbers — Autocampaign AI takes turns
    sending from each one. **Email:** select one or more verified
    [senders](/getting-started/glossary#sender) (email addresses you've proven you
    own). Name the campaign in the summary panel (defaults to "Untitled
    Campaign").
  </Step>

  <Step title="Message" icon="pen">
    **SMS:** write your message. Insert **Variables**
    ([merge tags](/getting-started/glossary#merge-tag) — placeholders like
    `{{first_name}}` that fill in each contact's details). Reuse a saved
    **Template**, or attach a picture or file to send as MMS (the counter switches
    to "1 MMS"). Turn on **Track this link** for any web address it detects. The
    panel shows the character count and how many SMS segments (160-character
    parts) the message uses.

    **Email:** set a **Subject** (or use **Write subject with AI**), optional
    **Preview text**, and choose **Plain email** (simple formatted text, with
    **AI draft**) or **Designed email**. For a designed email, pick **Choose a
    starting point** (**Start blank** or **My templates**) and click **Edit
    design** to open the drag-and-drop builder at `/campaigns/new/design`. Your
    wizard progress is kept. Use **Send test email** to preview in a real inbox.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Experiment" icon="flask">
    Optional. Switch on **Test two versions of this campaign** to try two
    versions of a subject line or message (an A/B test) on part of your audience.
    See [Campaign experiments](/campaigns/experiments) — or click **Next** to skip.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Audience" icon="filter">
    Under **Select Segments**, pick one or more
    [segments](/getting-started/glossary#segment) (saved groups of contacts, up
    to 20). Contacts in several selected segments are messaged once. The panel
    shows **Contacts in segments**, who will be skipped (no phone or email, opted
    out, unsubscribed from email), and the final **Recipients** count. See
    [Segments](/contacts/segments).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Schedule" icon="clock">
    Choose **Send Now**, **Schedule for Later** (date, time, and **Timezone**),
    or **Recurring** (SMS only). Then set **Quiet hours** for this campaign —
    see below.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Click **Send Campaign** in the summary panel when the status badge reads
**Ready**.

<Note>
  You can't exclude a segment from a campaign. Instead, use the rules of a
  dynamic (rule-based) segment to shape who's included.
</Note>

### Recurring campaigns

For **Recurring** (SMS only), pick a **Timezone**, then build the rule:
**Repeats** Daily, Weekly, or Monthly, **Every** N, **On days** or **Day of
month**, and **Send at**. Set a **Start date** (the first run uses the time
above) and either an **End date** or **Max runs (optional)** — one of the two
is required. The **Next occurrences** preview confirms the schedule. Every run
is worked out in the campaign's timezone, including when daylight saving time
changes.

### Quiet hours

Quiet hours are a time window (for example, overnight) when messages are held
back. Anything due inside the window sends as soon as it closes. Nothing is
dropped, and the campaign still launches on time. They apply to **Send Now**,
scheduled, and recurring campaigns alike. Pick one of:

* **Use organization default** (the default) — follows the window under
  **Settings → Organization → Quiet hours**. If none is set, messages send at
  any hour and the wizard offers a **Set them up** link.
* **Set a window for this campaign** — choose **Quiet from**, **Quiet until**,
  and a **Timezone**; this overrides the organization default.
* **Ignore quiet hours** — sends at any hour even when the organization window
  is on.

<Note>
  The window uses one timezone for everyone, not each contact's local time: the
  window's own timezone if set, otherwise the campaign's schedule timezone,
  otherwise the organization's. While a campaign is inside its window, its page
  shows a **Quiet hours · resumes 9:00 AM** chip.
</Note>

### Personalize with merge tags

Merge tags are placeholders that fill in each contact's details. Write them as
`{{tag}}`, using any of these:

`first_name`, `last_name`, `full_name`, `phone`, `email`, `street_address`,
`address_line_2`, `city`, `state`, `postal_code`, `country`, `full_address`,
plus `organization_name`, `organization_phone`, `organization_email`, and
`organization_website`.

You can add a fallback: `{{first_name|"there"}}` sends "there" when the field is empty.

<Warning>
  [Custom fields](/contacts/custom-fields) are **not** available as merge tags —
  only the standard fields above.
</Warning>

## Read your campaign results

Open a campaign (`/campaigns/:id`) to see its **Overview**, **Executions**, and
**Links** tabs, with **Refresh**, **Pause**, **Resume**, **End Recurrence**,
**Cancel**, and **Delete** in the header.

**Overview:** **Queued**, **Sent** (% of recipients), **Delivered** (% of sent),
**Failed** (with how many were unsubscribed), **Cancelled**, **Total cost** (SMS
only — email has no per-message cost), and click totals. Email campaigns add
opens, open rate, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes with a delivery funnel. The
**Campaign Details** card lists the audience, schedule type, timezone, and
**Quiet hours** (marked "(organization)", "(this campaign)", or "Ignored for
this campaign"). For recurring campaigns it adds last run, next run, the
recurrence rule, and upcoming occurrences shown in the campaign's timezone.
Experiments show an **Experiment results** panel here.

**Executions:** pick a run (for recurring campaigns) to see its numbers; email
runs add **Opens** and **Unique opens**. The **Messages for this run** table
lists each recipient's From/To, status, engagement, and sent time. Search by
name or number, filter by status, or open a recipient's **Recipient activity**
timeline. Use **Bulk actions** to **Add to segment** or **Remove from
segment**, or **Export CSV** (a spreadsheet file).

**Links:** clicks and click-through rate (the share of recipients who clicked)
for each link, plus the top link, contact, device, country, and browser.

Per-recipient message statuses: **Queued, Sending, Sent, Delivered,
Undelivered, Failed, Cancelled, Rejected**.

<Note>
  Reply tracking lives in the [Inbox](/inbox/overview), not on the campaign
  dashboard — the campaign view focuses on delivery, engagement, and cost.
</Note>

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Can I send to more than one segment?">
    Yes — select up to 20 segments. Anyone in several of them receives the
    message once.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I duplicate or re-run a campaign?">
    Duplicate isn't available as a one-click action today. Recurring campaigns
    (SMS) cover repeated sending on a schedule.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why can't I choose Recurring for an email campaign?">
    Recurring sending is SMS-only for now; email campaigns can be sent now or
    scheduled once.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How is cost estimated?">
    SMS cost is estimated per segment (a 160-character message is one segment);
    MMS is priced per message. The summary panel shows the estimate before you
    send.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why don't I see a reply rate?">
    Replies are handled in the unified [Inbox](/inbox/overview). The campaign
    dashboard reports delivery, cost, and (for email) engagement.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Why do I see 'Select at least one phone number' or no numbers available?">
    You need an **Active**, SMS-capable number. Add or activate one in
    [Settings → Channels](/channels/sms).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why does the Audience step say 'This campaign cannot be sent'?">
    No contact in the selected segments has a phone number (SMS) or email
    address (email). Pick a different segment or add reachable contacts.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why are my messages waiting and not sending?">
    Check the **Quiet hours** chip on the campaign page — messages resume when
    the window closes. To bypass it next time, choose **Ignore quiet hours** in
    the wizard.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why aren't my texts delivered to US numbers?">
    Confirm your [10DLC campaign](/compliance/a2p-10dlc) (your carrier
    registration) is approved and the sending number is attached to the
    registered messaging service.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Sequences" icon="list-ol" href="/campaigns/sequences">
    Multi-step follow-ups that stop when contacts reply.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Experiments" icon="flask" href="/campaigns/experiments">
    A/B test a subject line or message.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Reusable templates" icon="file-lines" href="/campaigns/templates">
    Save messages you send often.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Target a segment" icon="filter" href="/contacts/segments">
    Build the right audience.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>