Creating a Campaign Schedule

Overview

Campaigns can be set to run Immediately or at a Scheduled datetime.

• All Campaigns will not begin sending any messages until the Start button is selected from the campaign details page.
• Immediate campaigns will begin sending messages to the campaign recipients as soon as the campaign is started.
• Scheduled campaigns will begin sending messages as soon as the campaign has been started and the first Send Schedule datetime ("Date") has been reached. 
  
  • • Scheduled campaigns will either run one time on the scheduled "Date" or continue sending messages when set to Scheduled Ongoing.
    • No matter what, campaign messages are ONLY SENT ONCE to recipients that are in the campaign filter at the time messages are sent.
    • A Scheduled Ongoing campaign will only send messages to NEW recipients that did not already receive the campaign message.

How to run a one-time scheduled campaign?

To run a scheduled campaign, from Send Schedule select Scheduled and enter the campaign start datetime, eg. Date.

Depending on whether or not the scheduled campaign is configured as "ongoing", the campaign will either run only once after the campaign has been started and the entered start datetime ("Date") has been reached, or it will contninue to run according to an ongoing schedule after the campaign is started and the start datetime ("Date") is reached.

• The campaign must be started before the Send Schedule start datetime (Date) is reached.
• If the campaign is not started before the Send Schedule Date, the Start button will be inaccessible and a message will display on the campaign details page that "Campaigns cannot be started after their send date. To start this campaign, first edit it and change the send date."
• If "Ongoing" is not checked, the campaign will run only once once the start datetime is reached.
  • • If the campaign filter recipients change between the time the campaign was started to the campaign Send Schedule datetime, the campaign will only send to the filter recipients found when the campaign sent datetime is reached.
    • If the filter results changed, it is by design that the campaign will NOT send to the original filter recipients associated to a scheduled campaign at the time the campaign was started from the campaign details page. 

How to run a scheduled campaign more than once?

To create an "ongoing" campaign, from the Campaign details page, select Edit and scroll to the Send Schedule section on the Campaign Settings tab. From here, select Scheduled, enter the very first send date, eg. campaign start datetime, and then select "Ongoing" to add a campaign schedule.

• Once the campaign has been started and the campaign send schedule date has been reached, the system will begin sending campaign messages according to the schedule.
• When each schedule date is reached, ONLY people in the campaign recipient filter that have not yet been campaigned to will be added to the campaign.
• No one will receive more than one message from the same campaign.

To create an Ongoing Campaign Schedule:

From Send Schedule, select Ongoing, and then set the frequency and the end date.

• Frequency can be set to Yearly, Monthly, Weekly, Daily, or Hourly.
• Starting on a certain date or on the First, Second, Third, Fourth, or Last day of the week, day, weekday, or weekend day of a certain month.
• End can be set to Never, by End Date, or by number, eg. After x executions.

To check when exactly campaign messages will send, view the campaign schedule displayed under the campaign schedule settings.

Q & A

If I do not select "Ongoing", the campaign does not send messages to anyone added to the campaign filter after the campaign is started?

• This is correct. In order to send the campaign message to additional people as they are added to the campaign filter, you must select "Ongoing" to add an ongoing campaign schedule before the campaign is started.

What is the difference between an Immediate campaign and a Scheduled campaign?

• Immediate Campaigns will send messages to the campaign filter recipients that are included in the campaign filter when the campaign is started. The reason for this is that immediate campaigns send messages immediately, aka as soon as the campaign is started.
• When you schedule a campaign, whether or not you select "Ongoing", the campaign message will still only send one message to each recipient, including to anyone that has been added to the campaign filter after the campaign was started. The reason for this is that the campaign filter recipients are checked at the time(s) the campaign messages are scheduled to send, and not when the campaign was started.