Compose

After entering your campaign options and adding a target audience for your mailing, use the compose step to:

Verify campaign options such as the subject line, from name, and from address.
Create content for your campaign.
Preview your content.
Verify your mailing list details.
Test your campaign.

You can also perform other campaign related tasks using the info cards.

When all required items are complete, press the next button to progress to the launch step.

Note: the launch button will be greyed out until you complete all the required tasks in the launch checklist.

The launch checklist

The compose step includes a checklist card that illustrates what is needed to enable the next button. As you progress, the icons will change and display any associated messages.

Screen capture of the launch checklist

A dash icon indicates that Adestra has detected one or more errors and the campaign cannot launch, e.g. no list has been selected.
An exclamation icon indicates a warning or area for improvement, e.g. the subject line is short. For increased chance of deliverability, we recommend addressing such warnings. The campaign can still be launched with warning icons present.
A question icon indicates an optional element, e.g. the inclusion of a text version of your HTML content. The campaign can still be launched with question icons present.
A tick icon indicates that Adestra has not been able to detect any errors.

Note: a tick does not guarantee that problems will not be flagged during testing.

Verifying campaign options

The compose step will auto populate the subject line, from name, and from address based on what you enter in the options step.

Note: if you leave a campaign before it is fully configured, you will default to the compose step when you return. This can result in incomplete options and target settings.

To edit your campaign options, press the options icon in the steps progress bar or press the campaign options button to return to the options step.

To edit an individual item, e.g. change the subject line in a split variant:

Press the pencil icon next to the item.
Overwrite the text with your new subject line, from name, or from address.

Creating HTML and text content

HTML allows you to add styled text and images to your campaign. Plain text content is used as an alternative when HTML cannot be rendered.

Tip: sending recipients a plain text version along with HTML versions can increase deliverability for email clients that don't support HTML.

The compose step defaults to the HTML preview upon loading. For the text version, press the text button to switch from the HTML preview to the text preview.

Screen capture of HTML preview pane showing the Create HTML button seen when first loading into the compose step.

When you first create your campaign, you will see a create HTML content button or create text content button in the content preview pane. Press this button to go the editing page.
If you are returning to a campaign, you will need to press the HTML or text version button and then press the edit button to access the editing page.

From the editing page, you can:

Enter your content manually.
Use a template to structure your content (on the HTML editing page).
Generate a text version from your HTML version (on the text editing page).

Load a file from the file manager.
Import content hosted online.
Delete content.
Save your edits to the file manager (on the text editing page).

Note: Developers can use the Campaign API call campaign.setMessage to set message content by coding.

Entering content manually

For HTML content:

Press the source button to open the source editor.
Enter your HTML content.
Press the save button.

For text content:

Press the edit button to switch from preview mode to edit mode.
Enter your text content.

Tip: use the personalisation, unsubscribe link, and web version link buttons to insert specialised content.
Press the save button.

Using a content template

On the HTML editing page:

Press the select template button.
In the select template dialog box, select a template and press the okay button.
Edit the content from this template using the HTML editor.

Tip: you can also select a template that has been created for our email editor, where you will then be able to edit and create content with that editor.

Generating text from HTML

On the text editing page:

Press the generate from HTML button.
Confirm you are happy to overwrite any existing text content.

Adestra recommends checking the readability of the text conversion before launching.
Use the edit button for further editing as if creating content manually.

Note: text content will not automatically update if later changes are made to the HTML.

Loading a file

To use an HTML or text file uploaded to the file manager:

Press the load file button.
Select a file from the list of uploaded files.

Tip: use the files for dropdown menu to filter for files associated with the user, project, or workspace.
Press the okay button.

This file may be editable in the one of the editors depending on the code used.

Tip: if you load the wrong file, you can load another file using the same process to replace the existing file. The original file will remain in the file selector unless you delete it.

Importing from an online source

To import HTML or text you have hosted online:

Press the load URL button.
Enter the URL for your source.
Press the load button.

Deleting content

Press the delete message button.
Confirm you want to delete the message.

Note: deleting content will only delete that version, i.e. deleting HTML content does not delete any text content or vice versa. This includes text that was generated from HTML.

Saving your edits to the file manager (text content only)

To save your edited content in the file manager:

Press the save as file button.
Enter a file name.
Press the okay button.

Previewing campaign content

From the compose step, expand the additional options menu and select preview to view your content in a new tab.

Screen capture of the additional options menu, expanded to display the options within the menu.

From the edit page, use the preview button (HTML edit page) or open preview button (text edit page) to view your content in a new tab.

By default, previews will use dummy values instead of real contact data. To change this, e.g. to see how personalisation displays:

Press the select contact button.
Select a contact to view the content as that recipient.
Repeat for different contacts to view different personalisation or conditional content.

Verifying your mailing list

The compose step will display a summary of your selected audience based on what you enter in the target step.

Note: if you leave a campaign before it is fully configured, you will default to the compose step when you return. This can result in incomplete options and target settings.

If you have not selected a mailing list in the target step, you will have the option to define your audience in the mailing list card.

Use the select list button to select an existing mailing list.

Tip: you can filter the available lists by core table, list type, and owner.
Use the create new list link to import a list.
Use the create dedicated dynamic list for use only with the associated campaign.

Note: if a list import fails, you will receive a notification in the mailing list. If available, the error appears in the import log. You will not be able to send your campaign until the error is fixed.

Alternatively, select the target step from the progress bar to define a target audience.

Note: if a dedicated dynamic list is associated, filters are applied to the list directly rather than with a dedicated filter.

Once you have added a list, the mailing list section will update to display the list's name, contact count and the change list button.

Note: If the campaign has been previously launched, you can only switch to lists in the same core table.

Data retention period

If your list filter checks for event data that exceeds the data retention on your account, you will see a notification in the campaign overview and the data section stating:

The filter <your_filter_name> used in this campaign includes event or launch matching dates that go beyond the data retention period for your account.

You can dismiss the notification by pressing the I understand button. You don't need to do anything else, but please be aware that events older than the retention period will not be available for the filter to match against.

Testing your campaign

Before you proceed to the launch step, use the test options dropdown menu to check your campaign's content, functions, and deliverability.

Spam Check - scores your content against an industry standard spam filter. A score of less than 3 is recommended. If problems that could affect deliverability are detected in the content, explanations are provided to help you refine your content.
Link Check - reviews the links in both your text and HTML content. If any links are faulty they will be flagged with a warning and you will be able to go back to edit your campaign content before launching.
Send test - sends a test email to your account user email address. A notification will appear at the top of the overview screen to confirm the test was sent.

Note: the send test button cannot use a different address to your account email. You can change your account email but this will change your user details across the whole account.

We recommend that you send a test email before launching the campaign, making sure it works as expected.
More test options - allows you to specify further sending details such as:
- Sending to different addresses (as an alternative to the send test function).
- Adding a prefix for test emails to better identify them in your inbox.
- Personalisation, e.g. receiving the test email as it would appear for a contact from your list.
Content and spam check - lets you test your campaign in several different email clients to see how your email will appear to different recipients.

Other campaign related tasks

The compose step includes additional tasks in a card to the side of the compose pane. These include:

Edit campaign settings - allows you to edit the campaign settings that were entered while creating the campaign.

Note: take care when editing campaign settings as some options might affect your project structure.
Copy campaign - duplicates your campaign in the same project. The new campaign will replicate all aspects of the campaign you are copying except the selected mailing list. If you are copying a split test campaign, you can choose which single variant to copy.
Delete campaign - deletes an unlaunched campaign. If the campaign has pending schedules but has not begun launching, the launch must first be cancelled and then the campaign can be deleted.