# Campaigns

> Campaigns send one email to the subscribers of your audiences. Learn the requirements, statuses, credit cost and what the Campaigns list and API can do.

A campaign sends one email, such as a newsletter or a product announcement, to everyone subscribed to the audiences you choose. You build it in a five-step wizard in the dashboard, test it, then send it right away or schedule it, and follow the results in its report.

## Before you send

| Requirement | Why |
| --- | --- |
| **Production access** | New workspaces start in sandbox mode, where campaigns can't be sent. Request access under **Workspace → Settings → Requests**. See [Production access](/docs/workspaces/production-access/). |
| **A verified sending domain** | The **From email** must use a domain you've verified in this workspace. See [Add a domain](/docs/domains/add-a-domain/). |
| **An audience with subscribers** | Campaigns send to [audiences](/docs/audiences/). Add people by hand, [import them](/docs/contacts/import-export/) or collect them with a [subscribe URL](/docs/audiences/subscribe-url/). |
| **An unsubscribe link** | Put `{{unsubscribe_url}}` in your content. See [Unsubscribes](/docs/audiences/unsubscribes/). |
| **Enough credits** | Each campaign email costs 2 credits. |

For loads and clicks to show up in the report, the sending domain also needs a verified tracking subdomain. Campaign emails are tracked automatically when it's in place. See [Tracking](/docs/tracking/).

## How it works

1. **Create the campaign.** On **Email Marketing → Campaigns**, select **Add campaign** and give it a name. Recipients never see the name.
2. **Work through the wizard:** **Recipients**, **Sender and Subject**, **Content**, **Preview and test** and **Send**. See [Create a campaign](/docs/campaigns/create/).
3. **Send or schedule it.** Emailit works out the recipients when sending starts and creates one email per recipient. See [Test and schedule](/docs/campaigns/test-and-schedule/).
4. **Read the report.** Deliveries, loads, clicks and unsubscribes appear on the campaign page as they happen. See [Campaign reports](/docs/campaigns/reports/).

## Credits

A campaign creates one email per recipient, and each one costs 2 credits. A campaign to 10,000 subscribers uses 20,000 credits. Credits come from your plan's monthly included credits first, then from purchased credits. See [Credits](/docs/billing/credits/) and [pricing](/pricing/).

## Campaign statuses

| Status | API value | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Draft** | `draft` | Being edited. Only drafts can be sent, scheduled or deleted. |
| **Scheduled** | `scheduled` | Waiting for its send time. You can cancel the schedule up to 5 minutes before. |
| **In process** | `queued`, `sending` | Sending has started and Emailit is creating the recipient emails. |
| **Sent** | `sent` | Every recipient email has been created and handed to delivery. Deliveries, loads and clicks keep updating afterwards. |
| **Canceled** | `canceled` | The campaign was canceled with the API before it finished sending. |
| **Archived** | `archived` | A sent campaign you've moved out of the way. Its report stays available. |

Status changes produce `campaign.*` events, such as `campaign.scheduled`, `campaign.sending` and `campaign.sent`, that you can receive with [webhooks](/docs/webhooks/event-types/).

## The Campaigns list

**Email Marketing → Campaigns** lists your campaigns with tabs for **All**, **Draft**, **Scheduled**, **In process**, **Sent** and **Archived**. Canceled campaigns appear under **All**. Columns show the **Name**, **Status**, **Last updated**, **Created** and **Sent** times, and **Stats** with the sent, clicked and unsubscribed counts. Search matches the name and subject.

Selecting a draft opens the wizard. Selecting any other campaign opens its report.

The row menu offers these actions:

| Action | Available for | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Rename** | All campaigns | Changes the internal name. |
| **Duplicate** | All campaigns | Creates a new draft with the same sender, subject and content. The name defaults to the original name plus " (Copy)". Recipients aren't copied, so pick audiences again. |
| **Save as template** | Campaigns with content | Saves the content, subject and sender as a new [template](/docs/templates/). |
| **Cancel Schedule** | Scheduled | Moves the campaign back to **Draft**. Not possible in the last 5 minutes before the send time. |
| **Archive** | Sent | Moves the campaign to the **Archived** tab. |
| **Unarchive** | Archived | Moves the campaign back to **Draft**. |
| **Delete** | Drafts | Deletes the campaign. This can't be undone. |

## Use the API

The [Campaigns API](/docs/api-reference/campaigns/) covers the same lifecycle. It needs an API key with **Full Access**.

| Endpoint | Use it to |
| --- | --- |
| [Create a campaign](/docs/api-reference/campaigns/create/) | Create a draft with `name`, `subject`, `from_email`, `from_name`, `reply_to`, `html` and `text`. |
| [Update a campaign](/docs/api-reference/campaigns/update/) | Change the content or set `recipients`, a list of `{ "audience_id": "aud_…" }` objects. |
| [Send or schedule a campaign](/docs/api-reference/campaigns/send/) | Send now, or pass a future `scheduled_at` to schedule a draft. |
| [Cancel a campaign](/docs/api-reference/campaigns/cancel/) | Cancel a draft or a campaign that's still sending. |
| [List](/docs/api-reference/campaigns/list/), [retrieve](/docs/api-reference/campaigns/get/) and [delete](/docs/api-reference/campaigns/delete/) | Read and clean up campaigns. Filter the list by `status`. |

You can use a campaign's name instead of its `cmp_` ID in the URL. Sending from a workspace without production access returns `403`. Campaign statistics are available in the dashboard only.

## Next steps

  - [Create a campaign](/docs/campaigns/create/): Walk through the five-step wizard.
  - [Merge tags](/docs/campaigns/merge-tags/): Personalize subjects and content.
  - [Test and schedule](/docs/campaigns/test-and-schedule/): Send tests, then send now or later.
  - [Campaign reports](/docs/campaigns/reports/): Every metric, tab and export.

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Source: https://emailit.com/docs/campaigns/