Overview
A marketing campaign is a one-to-many campaign sent to an audience containing one or more recipients. Marketing campaigns, also known as bulk campaigns, are capable of presenting a highly personalized message to each recipient.
Customers who have upgraded to Accelerator version 25.2.1+ have access to the reimagined Marketing campaign experience, which makes bulk messaging faster and more seamless than ever! For customers using earlier versions of Accelerator, please refer to the old Marketing campaign article.
Create Marketing campaign
A marketing campaign is a one-to-many campaign sent to an audience containing one or more recipients. Marketing campaigns, also known as bulk campaigns, are capable of presenting a highly personalized message to each recipient. To create a Marketing campaign:
- In the MessageGears navigation, select Campaigns > Marketing.
- Click Create Marketing campaign.
- Enter the campaign Name, and an optional Description.
- Select the Sending channel(s) your campaign should target
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Push
- Select the Mobile app
- Select the app's Platforms (iOS, Android, Web, Huawei, Amazon)
- Select the Delivery type
- Last active device
- Last active per platform
- All devices
- SMS
- In-app message (see In-app Message Campaigns for details)
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Multichannel
- Select two or more sending channels
- Select the appropriate Account and add an optional Category.
Campaign Overview
The Overview page of the campaign allows you to view and manage all aspects of your campaign. The cards on the Overview page - Who, What, When, and Advanced - guide you through building your campaign. You must complete the Who and What sections before you can test and launch your campaign.
Name and description can be edited from what was set during the original creation of the campaign. These items are internal and only visible to users, not recipients.
The Category field is meant to be used as a reporting tool, allowing you to categorize and identify groupings of campaigns together. The category is returned with internal reporting data, and can be pulled into campaign content using the personalizable field for Job Category: ${Gears.jobCategory}
Who
The Who card shows the campaign’s audience settings, including
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Target audience
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Total users
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Last counted timestamp + query time
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Data variables
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Blueprint Filters button
Use the Who section to define who will receive the campaign. Marketing campaigns targeting email, push, or SMS support two audience types:
- Audience or Blueprint
- User lists
Audience or Blueprint
When selecting an Audience type, choose Audience or Blueprint. Select an audience or blueprint from the dropdown.
Data variables
If the selected Audience has any Data Variables, they are displayed beneath the Audience.
After populating the Data Variables, it is important to review that the Templates are rendering correctly and Recipient Data is returned by the Audience successfully.
Blueprint Snapshots
If the selected Blueprint has Blueprint snapshot enabled, you have the option to enable the Blueprint for the campaign. Once enabled, you’ll have a full view into its status, age, and refresh schedule.
Blueprint Filters
By default, the Blueprint's entire starting population (audience) is targeted. Select Blueprint Filter on the Campaign Overview screen to open the Blueprint.
Select the Node of records to target. The records selected by that Node and all child Nodes will be targeted by the Campaign. Optionally, click the Refresh button to check how many users are in the targeted nodes. To be counted, the recipient audience recipient must have a valid EmailAddress, MobileUserId, PushAddress, or SmsAddress, depending on the campaign's Sending channels.
User list
When uploading a new Recipient File, all files must be UTF-8 encoded. There are a few different file type options and different requirements for each file type:
- XML file requirements:
- ends with .xml
- has a root element of "RecipientList"
- each "Recipient" element has an <EmailAddress>, <MobileUserId>, <PushAddress>, <SmsAddress> node, depending on the campaign's Sending channels
- CSV or TSV file requirements:
- ends with .csv or .tsv,
- file has properly named headers (including an EmailAddress, MobileUserId, PushAddress, or SmsAddress headers, depending on the campaign's Sending channels)
- all file rows contain the same number of elements
Audience Recording
Select an audience recording to record the exact state of your recipients when your Campaign is sent. For more information, see Audience Recording.
What
The What card shows all the information about the campaign's content. If your campaign targets multiple sending channels, select the channel's tab to see its content. To add or modify your campaign's content, select Add or Edit.
Template
In the Template field, start typing the name of your template and select the one you want to send. Only templates that have content for your campaign's sending channel(s) are available for selection. If your campaign supports multiple channels, select the channel's tab to see its template details.
Once you've selected your template, you can preview the un-rendered version of the content. Optionally, you can modify your campaign's Subject line and Pre-header. Any changes you make are saved to the campaign, not the template.
The email header details - Sending Profile, From name, From address, Reply-to-name, and Reply-to-address - are also displayed for you to review.
If you've connected your Jacquard account to Accelerator, you have the option to use Jacquard powered subject lines for your campaign. For more information, see Jacquard Integration.
Push
The campaign's mobile app, platforms, and template's engagement action are displayed for you to review, along with the push template's content.
SMS
The template's short code, country code(s), and keywords are displayed for you to review, along with the SMS template's content.
Supplemental Data
Use the dropdown to select a pre-existing Supplemental Data source. If your supplemental data contains Data variables, they are displayed beneath the Supplemental data.
After inputting the Data Variables and saving your changes, review that the Templates are rendering correctly and Supplemental Data is returned successfully.
Testing Marketing Campaigns
Once you've selected a Target audience and Template, select Preview & test on the What card to open the Personalization page in the campaign.
Personalization (Testing & Preview)
Use the Personalization page to generate a live version of the content in order to test personalization rendering times and results across HTML and text content versions.
Personalization testing a Campaign may take longer than testing in the Content section, as the process retrieves recipient data as provided by the Audience.
Recipient Data Testing
With the Recipient Data tool, you can preview the message for specific recipients by sending a test copy of their personalized message to your own email. This tool is a step beyond Personalization testing, as you can select a specific recipient and see how their email will look in the inbox.
When
The When card displays your campaign's schedule details, where you will access detailed sending options for the campaign, including recurring sends. Note that this section only becomes available once you've selecting your Template and Target audience.
Schedule types
There are three schedule types - Unscheduled, One Time, and Recurring.
Unscheduled
This is the default for new campaigns, and allows you to launch campaigns ad hoc. To launch a campaign without a defined schedule, click Launch on the Overview page.
One time
This option is for a single send in the future. One-time scheduling allows you to schedule the campaign launch at your preferred time, regardless of your personal schedule or local time zone.
Recurring
This schedule type enables recurring campaign launches, similar to One-time scheduling but set to repeat at designated intervals.
It also allows for windowing between a start and end time, as well as the ability to send at sub-day intervals.
The Next launch panel on the right shows the next 10 scheduled launches, allowing you to review and ensure the launches match your expectations after configuring your schedule settings.
Recurrence
Select the recurrence of your schedule - Minutes, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Quartz Cron Trigger - and the length of time between sends (for example, every 3 Hours).
Weekly recurrence sends on a recurring basis on the days of the week you specify. The campaign's Start date day is automatically applied and cannot be unselected.
Send at specific intervals
If you select Hourly, Weekly, or Monthly, you have the option to Send at specific intervals within a specified timeframe.
End
You can choose to have your campaign end on a specific date, after a set number of launches, or never end until you manually unschedule it.
Quartz Cron Trigger
This option maximizes your campaign timing options. It requires familiarity with cron expressions, as Advanced campaign scheduling is based upon Quartz CronTrigger.
We recommend using online resources to help define your campaign's Quartz Cron Trigger. One useful online resource is FreeFormatter.com which has a section for Quartz Cron expressions.
Simply select Quartz Cron Trigger as the Recurrence, and input the expression.
If the expression is valid, the Next launch values are displayed.
Recipient data extraction
Optionally, enable Recipient data extraction to schedule the recipient extraction between 1 and 12 hours before the launch of the campaign. This is an extremely useful tool when handling large amounts of data.
Any updates that occur to Audience data after extraction will not be included in the Job as the information has already been processed.
Blackout dates
One Time and Recurring schedules also have an option for Blackout Dates. Blackout Dates are dates that the Campaign schedule should not run automatically. On Blackout Dates, schedule automation is ignored for a Campaign.
Automated Preview
Automated Preview allows you to receive a preview of a Template as an email at a specified time before the schedule runs. Automated Preview Schedules must be created in advance.
Click Manage automated preview schedules to add new Preview Schedules or modify existing ones.
Schedule & Launch
While unscheduled campaigns are launched from the Overview page, One-time and Recurring campaigns are scheduled for launch when you save your schedule settings.
In either scenario, a dialog box appears with a summary of the campaign settings, allowing you to confirm the details before launching.
Notification Email Address
The notification email address allows you to provide an address to receive error notifications related to this campaign. Check the “Include Progress Updates” box if you want the notification email address to receive additional job progress updates as well as error notifications.
Advanced
The Advanced card contains additional settings you can use to optimize your campaign.
Campaign triggers & suppression list
Campaign triggers
Optionally, enable a Pre-Campaign Trigger and Post-Campaign Trigger . These fields are disabled by default, unless required by your Accelerator instance. For more information on each, see Campaign triggers.
Suppression list
Suppression Lists are a group of Email, Push, and SMS addresses that are compiled to be excluded from the Audience on the Campaign that you are running.
Important note about Suppression lists before starting:
Suppression lists are only for Marketing Campaigns.
The suppression file added on the Settings page is cleared automatically after each run-through of a Campaign. Persistently suppressed recipients should be managed by the Audience.
Upload your Suppression List by clicking Choose file or drag and drop the file onto the upload field. Suppression list files must adhere to the same requirements as User lists.
Seedlists
Seedlists are email addresses automatically added to a recipient list for the purpose of testing and monitoring the campaign’s content rendering and deliverability across different email providers and content filters. Select one or more Seedlists to send a copy of your campaign to each time it launches.
The Campaign identifier is optional, and included as a header on the mailing. The identifier may include FreeMarker interpreted fields such as ${seedlist.campaignName}.
URL Append
Using the URL Append field, it is possible to add parameters to all links in the campaign, such as Google Analytics UTM strings or other parameters for internal analytics.
Custom properties
The custom properties in your campaign are included on all message events. Add up to 10 custom properties (key / value pairs).
Quick Launch
Quick Launch allows you to easily create and schedule a Campaign from a Template in the Content section, simplifying the creation of one-time use Campaigns.
When working within a Template in the Content section of Accelerator, the Quick Launch option appears at the top right. When clicked, you will be prompted to select a List and an Account before sending.
Under Advanced Options, it’s also possible to customize the Category, Notification address, a URL Append, Supplemental Data, Pre- and Post-Campaign Triggers, and Suppression List for the Quick Launch campaign.
Quick Launch is best used once you have established all of the necessary sending profiles, database queries, supplemental data, and triggers, as well as thoroughly tested the template.
Analytics
On the Campaign Overview page, select View Analytics to open the campaign's Analytics page to see the list of sent jobs from that Campaign.
The Analytics page shows you the performance statistics for all individual jobs associated with the open campaign. You can click individual data points to view total counts associated with job results at a specific point in time. For more information, see Analyzing Campaign & Engagement.
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