Choose who gets a campaign

The first step of a campaign is Who. You pick the audience, and a number under the box tells you how many people will actually get the email.

#Pick the audience

1. Open the campaign and stay on the Who step. It reads "Pick the lists and segments this email goes to. The count updates as you choose."

2. Click the Send to box. The menu shows Lists and Segments in two groups. The number in brackets beside each name is how many people it holds right now.

3. Click a name to add it. Click the box again to Add another. You can mix lists and segments.

4. Or pick Everyone you can email, which shows its own count. It replaces any lists and segments you chose. Picking a list or segment afterwards replaces it again.

5. Press the × on a chip to remove it.

Nothing is chosen by default. The builder never guesses an audience, and Continue stays off with the reason "Choose who gets this email."

Lists and segments are managed under Audience. A segment is a saved rule, such as people who bought in the last 30 days, and it updates itself.

#Read the count

The big number says how many people will get this. It is worked out after your audience is trimmed. A smaller line under it says what was taken off, for example "after removing unsubscribes, bounces and people with no proof of consent".

The count can also show:

• Working out who gets it… while it recounts after a change.
• N people locked by your plan. Your plan covers a set number of contacts, and people past that limit are skipped by campaigns. Receipts still go to them.
• Nobody here can be emailed yet. The list has people in it, but none has permission to be emailed.

Recipients are worked out again the moment the campaign sends. The count you see now is a close preview, not a promise.

#The two checkboxes and the exclusions

Under the count there is one tick box and an Advanced options link.

1. Skip anyone who got an email from you in the past N hours. This is Smart Sending. It is ticked by default, and it stops the same person getting two marketing emails close together. The hour count comes from Settings → General → Messaging → Smart Sending, in the Campaigns — every field. Setting it to 0 switches the rule off for every campaign.

   On screenSettings › General › Messaging › Smart Sending

2. Press Advanced options to open the rest.

3. Under Don't send to, choose a list to leave out. This box takes lists only. It cannot leave out a segment.

4. Tick Don't send to people who have gone quiet. That removes anyone who has ignored a year of email.

Receipts are never held back by Smart Sending.

#Who gets held back, and why

After a send, the campaign's report has a Held back tile and a list titled Held back before sending. Each person is listed with a reason in plain words:

Open a campaign and press See who → on the held back tile to read the whole list.

#If it didn't work

• The count says "Nobody yet." You have not picked anything. Click Send to.
• The count is lower than the list. The list size counts everybody. The campaign count removes people who cannot be emailed. The line under the number says which groups were taken off.
• A segment you expected is missing from the menu. Only lists and segments saved for this brand appear. Check Audience → Lists & segments.
• You can't change a campaign that already went out. Opening it shows its report instead. Use Duplicate to start a copy.
• A scheduled campaign won't let you send. Press Cancel schedule, change the audience, then schedule again.