# Creating a Campaign

Set up a new email campaign step by step.

Creating a campaign in SendBeam is a straightforward process. The builder walks you through four
steps — **Details**, **Audience**, **Email** and
**Review** — and the campaign is saved as a draft as you go, from the moment it has
a name.

## Starting a New Campaign

To create a campaign, navigate to the **Campaigns** section in the main navigation
and click the **New Campaign** button in the top-right corner of the page.

1. Go to **Campaigns** in the sidebar.
2. Click **New Campaign**.
3. The **Campaign Details** step opens. Fill in the fields as described below.
4. Click **Next** to move through Audience, Email and Review. You can go
  **Back** at any point to change something.

> If you already have a campaign with similar settings, use the [Duplicate](https://sendbeam.io/docs/campaigns/duplicating)
> feature instead. It copies the subject line, from address, and email body so you only need
> to tweak the differences.
> 

## Campaign Settings

The campaign form collects the following information:

- **Campaign name** — An internal label used to identify the campaign in your
  dashboard. Subscribers never see this name. Keep it descriptive, for example
  *May Newsletter 2026* or *Black Friday Promo — Segment: High Spenders*.
- **Subject line** — The email subject that appears in the recipient's inbox.
  This is one of the most important factors in open rates. You can use
  [merge tags](https://sendbeam.io/docs/campaigns/merge-tags) here, such as
  `{'Hey {{first_name}}, your exclusive offer is here'}`.
- **From name** — The display name shown as the sender, for example
  *Sarah from Acme* or just your brand name.
- **From email** — The sending address. This must be on a domain *this workspace* has verified under [Settings → Email & Domains](https://sendbeam.io/docs/getting-started/sending-domain), or the workspace's own shared platform address. Both fields are
  pre-filled from your workspace's sender details, and every send uses the sender details saved
  there, re-checked at send time. Replies go to the from address.

The email body may hold up to 500,000 characters of HTML and 200,000 characters of plain
text; larger content is refused when the campaign is saved.

> Your **from email** domain must be verified in SendBeam before you can send from it.
> If you see a domain error, visit **Settings → Email & Domains** and
> complete the DNS verification steps.
> 

## Subject-Line Suggestions

Under the subject field, **Suggest subject lines** writes five alternatives from your current
subject and the email you have drafted so far — one direct, one curiosity-led, one benefit-led, one that
names the reader's situation and one short one. Click **Use** to take one (or **Use as B** when a subject-line A/B test is on). Suggestions are written by an AI model from the email's own
text; nothing about your contacts is sent, and nothing is stored. There is a daily allowance per workspace.

## A/B Tests

Tick **Run an A/B test** under the subject to try up to five versions of one thing on the
same audience: the **subject line**, the **from name**, the
**email content** itself, or the **send time**. Version A is always the campaign as written; add B (and C, D, E)
beside it — for a content test, on the Email step with **Add a version**, where each version
starts as a copy of the one on screen and is edited in the builder like any other email; for a send-time
test, each later version is the same email sent one hour to a day after A. Choose how much
of the audience to test on (10–50%), how long to wait before picking a winner (30 minutes to 24 hours)
and whether opens, clicks or — where your store sends SendBeam its orders —
[revenue per recipient](https://sendbeam.io/docs/ecommerce/revenue) decides. On send, the test sample is split evenly between the versions and
goes out at once; everyone else waits. When the wait is up, the version with the better rate goes to
the remaining recipients — automatically, or earlier if you press **Pick the winner now**
(or choose a version yourself) on the campaign page. A tie goes to the earlier letter, so to A.

- Only the tested thing differs; everything else, including the audience, is the same for every version.
- Every version needs at least two test recipients, so a test needs an audience of at least twice the number of
  versions (four for two, ten for five). Smaller audiences are sent with version A and the campaign page says so.
- The campaign stays *Sending* until the winner has gone to everyone, and its statistics cover all recipients.
- Test sends and the contact preview always render version A.
- A send-time test waits until the last time has gone out, then compares opens and clicks over the same
  length of time after each version's release — so the earliest time does not win just for having been out
  longest. The remaining recipients go out at the winning time of day the next time it comes round, so the
  campaign can stay *Sending* into the next day. Pick a version yourself to release them sooner.
- From the API, pass `ab_test` with `test_on` and `variants` when creating or updating a
  draft (a two-version subject test can still be set with `subject_b` alone), and use
  `POST /api/v1/campaigns/{id}/ab-test` to end a test early.

## Draft from a brief

Where the assistants are switched on for your workspace, the Details step offers **Draft from a brief**: describe the campaign and it fills in the name, the subject line and the email as ordinary
blocks for you to edit, and nothing is sent until you send it. Each plan includes a daily allowance of drafts.

## Language versions

Tick **Send in more than one language** under the subject to carry translations
with the campaign. Say which language the email is written in, then add a language: each one
gets its own subject line here and its own body on the Email step, where a language switcher
above the editor moves between versions (a new language starts as a copy of the original, so a
translator edits in place). On send, a contact whose [language](https://sendbeam.io/docs/contacts/adding#required-optional-fields)
matches a version receives it; everyone else — including contacts with no language — receives the
campaign's own version. The web version and test sends follow the same rule.

- Up to five languages besides the original. Every version needs a subject and a body.
- A campaign carries either language versions or an A/B test, not both.
- From the API, pass `language` (the original's code) and `languages`, an object keyed by
  two-letter code with `subject`, `html_content` and optional `text_content` and
  `blocks`. Send a test in one language with `POST /api/v1/campaigns/{id}/test` and
  `language`.
- Once the campaign has gone out, a **Languages** panel on its page shows sent, opened and clicked
  for each version that went out, and `GET /api/v1/campaigns/{id}` carries the same under
  `stats.by_language`. The web version shows a reader the language they were actually sent.

## Choosing Recipients

The **Choose Audience** step controls which contacts receive the campaign. Pick the
option that best matches your goal:

- **All Contacts** — Sends to every subscribed contact in the workspace.
  Unsubscribed, bounced and complained contacts are always excluded automatically.
- **Specific list** — Restricts the send to members of one of your
  [lists](https://sendbeam.io/docs/lists). A dropdown lets you choose which list to use. Only subscribed
  members of that list receive the email.
- **Segment** — Sends to contacts matching a saved
  [segment](https://sendbeam.io/docs/segments). The segment is re-evaluated at send time, so the exact
  recipient count may differ from what you see during setup.

The builder's Review step shows the recipient count; the campaign's own page shows **N recipients right now** under Audience: the subscribed contacts the
campaign would reach if sent at that moment, worked out by the same rules the send uses
(subscribed only, confirmed members only on a double opt-in list, confirmed contacts only on
the Free plan). The Send Now confirmation repeats that number. Through the API,
`GET /api/v1/campaigns/{id}/audience` returns the same count together with
whether a send would be accepted. The list's contact count on the Lists page and the segment's
preview count are broader — they include unconfirmed and unsubscribed contacts — so they can be
higher than what is actually mailed.

> **Free plan: confirmed contacts only.** On the Free plan every list is
> double opt-in and a campaign — to All Contacts, a list or a segment — reaches only contacts who
> have confirmed a subscription. Contacts imported from CSV or created through the API who never
> confirmed are not mailed. See [Double opt-in](https://sendbeam.io/docs/lists/double-optin).
> 

## Saving as a Draft

All campaigns start in **Draft** status, and the builder saves as you go. Nothing
is created for an untouched builder; as soon as you type a name (or a subject), a draft exists,
and every change after that is saved a moment after you stop typing. The bar under the step
numbers says where things stand — *Unsaved changes*, *Saving…*, *Draft saved* —
and links to the draft's own page. The address bar changes to the draft's edit link, so a reload
reopens the same draft rather than starting another. The email design is saved with the draft
too: a campaign built in the visual builder reopens in the visual builder.

If the same draft is open in two tabs, or is changed through the API while you are editing,
the tab that falls behind stops saving and asks you to reload rather than overwriting the other
copy's work. Nothing typed in the stale tab is saved over it.

A draft costs nothing: it does not count towards any plan limit, and the scheduler never sends
one. Drafts are not deleted automatically — delete one from its page when you no longer want it.

To resume a draft campaign:

1. Go to **Campaigns** in the sidebar.
2. Find the draft campaign in the list — it will show a **Draft** status badge.
3. Click the campaign name to open it, then click **Edit**.
4. The builder reopens with your details, audience and email. Continue where you left off.

> Draft campaigns do not expire. You can leave a draft for days or weeks and return to it
> whenever you're ready to send — and you can send a test copy of it at any point (to yourself or
> up to 5 addresses on Free, 20 on paid plans) from the Email
> or Review step, without sending anything for real. See [Before You Send](https://sendbeam.io/docs/campaigns/sending#before-you-send).
>

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Source: https://sendbeam.io/docs/campaigns/creating