First Email Campaign
This guide walks you through creating and sending your first email campaign in Sender. An email campaign is a single email you send to a group of subscribers — like a newsletter, announcement, or promotion. By the end of this guide, you will have built an email, chosen your recipients, and either sent or scheduled your first campaign.
What You’ll Need
- A Sender account (sign up at sender.net if you have not created one yet)
- At least one subscriber added to your account (see the Help Center article on adding subscribers if you have not done this yet)
- Your email content ready — the subject line, body text, and any images you want to include
Steps to Create and Send Your First Email Campaign
Step 1 — Start a New Campaign
Log in to your Sender account. You will land on the Dashboard, your home screen. In the left sidebar, click Email campaigns. This opens a page listing all your campaigns.
Click the New campaign button in the top-right corner. Sender will take you to the Campaign settings page — the first step of the campaign creation workflow. You will see a progress bar at the top showing all four stages: Settings, Design, Recipients, and Review and send.
Step 2 — Configure Your Campaign Settings
On the Campaign settings page, fill in the following fields under Campaign details:
Email subject — Type the subject line your subscribers will see in their inbox. Keep it short and clear.
Email Preview text — Type a short summary that appears next to the subject line in most email clients. This is optional but recommended. You can see how your subject line and preview text will appear in the Inbox preview panel on the right.
Under Sender details, your From name and Sender’s email address are pre-filled from your account settings. Update them here if needed. When you are ready, click Save and continue at the top right.
Step 3 — Choose a Design Method and Template
On the Design your email page, choose how you want to build your email. There are three options at the top:
Drag and drop builder — A visual editor where you add content blocks without writing code. This is the best option for beginners.
Plain text email — A simple text-only email with no images or formatting.
Custom HTML email — For users who want to paste or write their own HTML code.
If you selected Drag and drop builder, you will see a template gallery below. Browse categories like All templates, Branded templates, Themed templates, or B2B templates to find a starting point, or select Blank template to start from scratch. Click a template to select it, then click Start creating in the top-right corner.
Step 4 — Build Your Email Content
You are now in the email editor. The main canvas in the center is where your email takes shape. Use the left sidebar to add content:
Click the Building blocks icon (the grid icon) in the sidebar to see the available content blocks: Headline, Paragraph, Image, Button, Separator, Logo, Video, Social, Product, Menu, and Custom HTML. Drag a block from the sidebar onto the canvas, or click the + icon on the canvas to add a block.
Click any block on the canvas to select it and edit its content or settings. To preview your email on desktop and mobile, click the eye icon in the top toolbar. When your design is ready, click Save & continue in the top-right corner.
Step 5 — Choose Your Recipients
On the Recipients page, you decide who receives your campaign. At the top, you will see Selected recipients with a count of zero.
To send to everyone in your account, check the box next to All active subscribers. To send to a specific group or segment, find it in the Send to these groups/segments list below and check the box next to it. You can also click Exclude groups/segments at the bottom to prevent certain contacts from receiving the campaign.
Once you have selected at least one audience, the Save and continue button in the top-right corner becomes active. Click it to proceed.
Step 6 — Review Your Campaign
On the Review and schedule page, Sender displays a summary of your campaign. The left side shows two cards:
Settings — Displays your email subject, preview text, sender name, and sender email address. Click Edit to go back and make changes.
Recipients — Shows the total number of subscribers who will receive the campaign. Click Edit to change your audience.
On the right side, you can see a visual preview of your email. Use the Preview, View plain text version, and Send test email tabs to check your email before sending. Sending a test email to yourself is a good way to catch any issues.
Step 7 — Send or Schedule Your Campaign
When you are satisfied with everything, you have two options at the top right and bottom of the page:
Send now — Delivers the campaign to your selected recipients immediately.
Schedule — Opens a calendar where you pick a future date and time for the campaign to be sent automatically.
If you are not ready yet, click I’ll finish later to save the campaign as a draft. You can return to it anytime from the Email campaigns page.
What You’ve Accomplished
You have created and sent (or scheduled) your first email campaign in Sender. Your email is on its way to your subscribers. You have also learned how to navigate the campaign creation workflow, design an email using the drag-and-drop editor, select your audience, and review your campaign before sending.
What to Do Next
Check your campaign results — After your campaign is sent, go to Email campaigns in the left sidebar and click on your campaign to view its performance report, including delivery, open, and click rates. See the Help Center article on campaign reports for details.
Add more subscribers — Go to Subscribers in the left sidebar to add contacts manually, import a CSV or XLS file, or connect a signup form. The more subscribers you have, the greater your campaign’s reach. See the Help Center article on importing subscribers.
Create a signup form — Click Forms in the left sidebar to build a form you can embed on your website to collect new subscribers automatically. See the Help Center article on creating signup forms.
Set up an automation — Click Automations in the left sidebar to create automated email sequences, such as a welcome email that sends when someone subscribes. See the Help Center article on getting started with automations.
Verify your sending domain — Go to Account settings → Domains to add and verify your domain. This improves email deliverability — the likelihood that your emails land in your subscribers’ inboxes rather than their spam folders. See the Help Center article on domain verification for step-by-step instructions.
Common Issues
The Save and continue button is grayed out → This happens when a required field is empty. Make sure you have filled in the Email subject on the Settings page, or selected at least one recipient on the Recipients page. Complete the required fields and the button will become active.
I do not see any subscribers on the Recipients page → You have not added any contacts to your Sender account yet. Go to Subscribers in the left sidebar and add at least one subscriber manually or import a list before creating your campaign.
My email looks different from the preview → Email clients (like Gmail, Outlook, or Apple Mail) render emails differently. Use the Send test email option on the Review and schedule page to send a test to your own inbox and check how it looks in your email client before sending to your full list.
I cannot find my saved draft → All saved drafts appear on the Email campaigns page with a DRAFT label. Click Email campaigns in the left sidebar and look for your campaign in the list. Use the search bar at the top to find it by name.
My campaign was sent but subscribers say they did not receive it → Emails may land in spam or junk folders, especially if your sending domain is not verified. Ask subscribers to check those folders. For long-term deliverability, verify your domain in Account settings → Domains. See the Help Center article on domain verification.
FAQs
Can I edit a campaign after sending it? No. Once a campaign is sent, it cannot be changed. You can duplicate the campaign from the Email campaigns page and make edits to the copy if you want to send a revised version.
Can I send a campaign to a specific group of subscribers? Yes. On the Recipients step, instead of selecting All active subscribers, check the box next to a specific group or segment in the list. You can select multiple groups or segments, and you can also exclude certain ones.
What is the difference between Send now and Schedule? Send now delivers your campaign immediately. Schedule lets you pick a future date and time so Sender sends the campaign automatically at that time. Scheduling is useful if you want to reach subscribers during a specific time window.
Can I send a test email before sending the campaign to everyone? Yes. On the Review and schedule page (the final step), click the Send test email tab above the email preview. You can enter your own email address to receive a test copy and check how the email looks in your inbox.
What happens if I click I’ll finish later? Your campaign is saved as a draft. You can find it on the Email campaigns page with a DRAFT label. Click the edit icon next to it to pick up where you left off. Nothing is sent until you click Send now or Schedule.
Is Sender free to use? Sender offers a free plan that includes a generous subscriber and email send limit. You can upgrade to a paid plan at any time from Account settings → Billing if you need higher limits or additional features.