Plan and run a marketing campaign

A campaign groups the people you want to reach - leads, contacts and customers - around one marketing effort: a product launch, an exhibition, a seasonal offer, a call-round to dormant customers. It records what the campaign costs and earns, and how each member responded.

Create a campaign

1. Open CRM › Marketing › Campaigns and select New campaign.

1. Type the Name; it is required.

2. Under Types, tick every channel the campaign uses: Email, SMS, Social, Event, Webinar, Direct mail, Telemarketing or Other. The first one you tick is the main type.

3. Set the Status (a new campaign starts in Planning), the Start date and the End date.

4. Enter the Budget and the Expected revenue. Later, fill the Actual cost and Actual revenue to compare the result with the plan.

5. Choose who is Assigned to the campaign, add a Description and Notes, and select Save.

Add members

1. In the campaign's Actions menu, select Members, or click the number in the Members column.

2. Choose the Member type, pick the record and select Add member.

A member can be a Lead, a Contact or a Customer.

Each member shows its Email, Phone, Address and Status. A red badge beside the e-mail (or, for telemarketing, beside the phone) means marketing to that member is not allowed, and says why: Do not contact, Opted out or No consent recorded. See marketing consent.

You can change a member's Status from the list - Pending, Sent, Delivered, Opened, Clicked, Responded, Converted, Bounced or Unsubscribed - or select Remove member. Marking a member Unsubscribed records an objection for that address, so no later campaign reaches it.

Run the campaign

Use the campaign's Actions menu:

• Activate starts it. A campaign whose end date has passed cannot be activated until you move the end date.

• Pause stops it for now. Queued e-mails of a paused campaign are not sent.

• Complete closes it when it is over.

A campaign that is still active or paused after its end date becomes Expired automatically the next morning.

Email and telemarketing

• An e-mail campaign offers Send email blast. See send a campaign e-mail.

• A telemarketing campaign offers Generate call tasks:

  1. Select Generate call tasks.

  2. Set the Due date (today or later). Leave Assign to on Each member's owner to give each call to the lead's owner or the customer's sales rep, otherwise to the campaign owner, or choose one user.

  3. Select Generate.

  A planned call is created for each member who has a phone number and has not refused calls. The summary shows how many were created and why others were skipped, for example No phone number or Already have an open call. Running it again adds only the missing calls. Reps complete each call with an outcome that updates the member; see tasks.

Both actions work only while the campaign is active and within its dates; otherwise the menu item is disabled and shows the reason.

Common questions

Can I delete a campaign? Yes, with Delete in the Actions menu. Deleting cannot be undone, so prefer Complete for a campaign that ran.

Where do I see results? In the members' statuses and in the Actual cost and Actual revenue you record on the campaign. Sent e-mails also appear under e-mails.