A campaign is an email you write once and send to your confirmed newsletter subscribers. This article takes you through writing one in each of your store's languages, testing it on yourself, saving it as a draft and sending it.
The campaigns page
- In the sidebar, under Marketing, open Newsletter, then Campaigns.
The page has three parts:
- The composer, on the left. From top to bottom: Start from (ready-made templates and a one-line brief for AI), Your message (the subject, preview line and message in your store's main language), a card for each of your other languages, Who gets it (the audience), the Reaches count and the buttons that test, save, schedule and send.
- Preview what subscribers will see, on the right. It draws your email inside your store's letterhead: your logo (or, if you have no logo, your store's initial in your storefront's accent colour) beside your store's name, then the subject, the preview line and the message. At the bottom is the footer every campaign carries: a line saying the reader subscribed, an Unsubscribe link, your store's contact email and its address. The chip beside the title (EN) shows the language being previewed, which is always your store's main language, and the footer is in that language too.
- Past campaigns, below the composer: your drafts, scheduled campaigns and everything already sent. See See how your campaigns did and reuse them.
The contact email and address in the footer come from your store's details, and replies from subscribers go to that contact email. If your store has no contact email yet, the footer shows our support address instead, and replies come to us. To change them, see Update your store's details.
Subject, preview line and message
Under Your message, each field carries a language chip (EN, AR or FR) showing which language you are writing in. These first fields are always in your store's main language.
| Field | What it is | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | The subject line, which is what lands in their inbox. Plain text only. | Yes, to test, schedule or send. |
| Preview line | The short line many mail apps show next to the subject. Plain text only. | No. Without it, mail apps show the first words of your message instead. |
| Message | The body of the email. | Yes, to test, schedule or send. |
To write the campaign:
- Type the subject.
- Type a preview line, if you want one.
- Write the message in the editor.
Instead of a blank page, you can start from a template or let AI write a first draft. See Start a campaign from a template or with AI.
The toolbar above the message offers Bold, Italic, Heading, Bulleted list, Numbered list, Add link and Remove link. To add a link:
- Select the words that should become the link.
- Select Add link.
- Type the address in the box that appears (it shows
https://example.comuntil you type). Start it withhttps://, or withmailto:for an email address; anything else shows Enter an address starting with https:// or mailto:. - Select Add link beside the box.
Anything you paste arrives as plain text, without the colours and fonts it had elsewhere; format it again with the toolbar. You do not need to write an unsubscribe line: we add an unsubscribe link to every message, as the note under the editor says. The preview on the right updates as you type.
Write your other languages
If your store sells in more than one language, each of the others has a card under the message, closed by default. The card shows the language's name, how many of its three fields are written (0/3 written) and a badge: Not written while all three are empty, Complete when all three are filled. With one or two fields written, the card shows only the count.
- Select the card, for example Arabic, to open it.
- Write the Subject, Preview line and Message in that language. Each field is marked with its chip (AR) and reads in that language's direction.
- Select the card's title again to close it.
Each subscriber receives the version in their own language: the language your storefront was in when they subscribed. Someone whose language you did not write gets the campaign in another language you did write, normally your store's main language. That fallback works field by field, so a language with only a subject gets that subject above your main-language message.
Tip
Write all three fields for a language, or leave all three empty. Then nobody receives a subject in one language and a message in another.
Writing other languages is optional. Only your main language's subject and message are needed to send.
Send yourself a test
Before the campaign goes to everyone, see it in a real inbox:
- Select Send test to me.
The console saves the campaign first, then sends one copy to the email address you sign in with. The button reads Sending…, then the console says Test sent to and your address. The campaign now appears in Past campaigns as a Draft, marked Editing because it is the one in the composer.
The test arrives in one of the languages you wrote. Its unsubscribe link does nothing, because it was sent to you rather than to a subscriber. Send test to me stays greyed out until the subject and message in your main language are written.
If the console says Could not send the test., the campaign was saved but the copy did not go out; try again. Could not save the draft. means nothing was saved or sent.
Save a draft and come back to it
- Select Save draft.
The console says Draft saved. and the campaign appears at the top of Past campaigns as a Draft, marked Editing. Save draft works at any point, even with nothing written and even with no subscribers. A draft keeps every language you wrote and the audience you chose.
To carry on with a draft later:
- In Past campaigns, find the draft.
- Select its pencil icon, Edit draft.
The draft opens in the composer with its words and its audience, the console says Draft opened above. and the card is marked Editing. Scroll up to the composer to continue.
Opening a draft replaces whatever is in the composer, without asking, and anything you had not saved is lost. If you are in the middle of another campaign, select Save draft before you open a draft.
Only drafts have the pencil. A campaign that has been sent cannot be changed, and a scheduled one must be unscheduled first (see Choose who receives a campaign, and when). If the console says Could not save the draft., try again.
Send now
- Check the number beside Reaches. It is how many confirmed subscribers will receive the campaign.
- Select Send now.
- Read the question, which names the number of subscribers, for example Send this to 23 subscribers? This cannot be undone.
- Select Send now in the dialog to send, or Cancel to go back.
The console saves the campaign, starts sending and says Sending has started. The composer empties, ready for your next campaign.
Warning
A campaign cannot be called back once you confirm. Send yourself a test first, and check the number beside Reaches: by default it is every confirmed subscriber.
Send now stays greyed out while the subject or message in your main language is empty, or while the campaign reaches nobody. To send to fewer people, or later, see Choose who receives a campaign, and when. If the console says Could not start sending., nothing was sent; check the Reaches number and try again.
Sending needs the Send campaigns permission. Writing, testing and saving drafts need Manage subscribers and campaign drafts. The Store owner and Store manager roles have both. See Staff roles: what each one can see and do.
Watch it go out
The campaign appears at the top of Past campaigns with an amber Sending badge, a progress bar and a count such as 9 / 23 sent. While a campaign is sending, the list refreshes itself every few seconds, so you can watch the bar fill.
You do not have to stay on the page. Sending carries on if you leave or sign out, and when it finishes the bell at the top of the console tells you how it went: Campaign sent to the number of subscribers it reached, or Could not send your campaign to the number it could not reach. The badge then reads Sent, or Failed if nothing went out.
Anyone who unsubscribes while the campaign is going out does not receive it. To read the results later, see See how your campaigns did and reuse them.
Leaving with changes not saved
If you have changed the composer since you last saved, tested or sent, and you open another page of the console, the console stops you:
- Cancel keeps you on the Campaigns page. Select Save draft to keep your work.
- Leave page opens the other page and throws away what you have not saved.
Closing or reloading the browser tab shows your browser's own warning instead.
This question appears only when you leave the page. Opening a draft or duplicating a campaign replaces the composer without asking, so save first.
No subscribers yet
When nobody has confirmed a subscription, Reaches shows 0 and the composer says Nobody has confirmed a subscription yet, so there is nobody to send to. Send test to me and Save draft still work, so you can prepare a campaign, but Send now stays greyed out. Past campaigns says No campaigns yet until you save or send one.
Subscribers count only once they confirm. See Manage your newsletter subscribers for how people join, and check that the sign-up form shows on your storefront.
Campaigns need the Growth plan
Newsletter campaigns are on Growth and up. On Free and Starter, Campaigns carries a padlock in the sidebar, but it still opens. The page has no composer: in its place you see Campaigns are on a higher plan, the line “Move up a plan to send campaigns.” and See plans.
Select See plans: a message names the plan that includes campaigns and its monthly price, “This is on Growth — $35/month.”, and its own See plans link opens Subscription, where you can move up. See Upgrade or change your plan.
If your store has campaigns from a time it was on Growth or higher, they stay listed under Past campaigns, below the lock. A store that never had any sees the lock alone. Under the lock:
| Campaign | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Draft | Delete draft only. You cannot open it to edit, or copy it, until you move up. |
| Scheduled | Unschedule, which turns it back into a draft, or Delete draft. |
| Sent, Failed and the others | Read its results. There is nothing to change. |
A campaign you scheduled before the plan changed reads Scheduled for and its date, not Goes out, because it will not go out on this plan. A note above the list says so: “A campaign scheduled before your plan changed does not go out on this plan. At its time it moves back to your drafts. You can unschedule or delete it now.”
If you leave it scheduled, nothing is sent at its time. It moves back to your drafts, and the bell tells you: “A campaign was not sent: your plan does not include newsletters and campaigns. Move up to send it.” Move up to Growth or higher and it is there to schedule or send again. A campaign that was already going out when the plan changed stops where it is, and the bell says how many subscribers it reached and how many it did not. See Keep up with notifications.
Your subscribers keep joining on every plan, and you can still see and export them. See Manage your newsletter subscribers and Plans and what each includes.
Next, start your next campaign from a template or with AI, or send it only to some subscribers, or later.