Create a Campaign

Purpose

Creating a campaign in SuperSend takes you through a 5-step wizard that sets the campaign name, sequence type, contacts, schedule, and senders. This article walks through every step, explains the key decisions (especially sequence type), and describes what happens after you hit "Create Campaign."

Before You Create a Campaign

You don't need everything set up before creating a campaign — you can add contacts and configure senders after the fact — but things go faster if you have:

• At least one sender profile with mailboxes attached (required before the campaign can send)
• A contact list ready, ideally as a CSV with at minimum an email column

If you don't have a sender profile yet, read Create and Use Sender Profiles first. You can create the campaign without one, but it won't be able to send.

Start the Campaign Wizard

From the left sidebar, click Campaigns → click New Campaign (top right). This opens the 5-step campaign creation wizard.

Step 1: Campaign Name

• Enter a Campaign Name. Use something that identifies the audience or purpose — e.g., "VP of Sales Q2 Outbound" or "Warm Leads Re-engage March."
• Optionally assign it to a Folder from the dropdown. Folders help organize campaigns at the team level. Leave as "None" if you don't use folders.
• Press Enter or click Next.

Step 2: Select Sequence Type

This is the most consequential decision in campaign setup because you cannot change sequence type after the campaign is created.

Two options:

Simple Sequence (recommended for most users)

• Linear steps executed in order, with time delays between them.
• You build steps in a list view — each step is a message (email, LinkedIn action, Twitter action) or a wait/delay.
• Easier to build, easier to understand at a glance.
• Best for: most standard outbound sequences.

Complex Sequence (for advanced use cases)

• A visual canvas with drag-and-drop nodes and branching logic.
• Supports conditional paths: "If contact opened email → send follow-up A; otherwise → send follow-up B."
• Supports all step types plus HTTP webhooks, notes, task steps, and multi-path branching.
• Best for: sophisticated workflows with conditional logic, A/B paths, or teams that need to visually map a decision tree.

Decision guidance: If you're asking yourself "should I use complex?" the answer is probably no. Simple sequences handle the vast majority of outbound use cases. Use complex sequences only when you specifically need conditional branching.

Click Select on your choice. SuperSend immediately creates the campaign as a draft in the background and advances to step 3.

Step 3: Add Contacts

Upload a CSV of contacts to add to this campaign. This step is optional — you can upload contacts after the campaign is created — but doing it now saves time.

Sub-step 1: Select File

• Drag and drop a CSV file, or click to browse.
• Your CSV must have at minimum an email column. Other useful columns: first_name, last_name, company_name, title, linkedin_url.
• Once a file is selected, you advance to field mapping.

Sub-step 2: Map Fields

• SuperSend shows the columns it detected in your CSV and asks you to map them to contact fields.
• Standard fields SuperSend accepts: email, first_name, last_name, title, company_name, company_url, linkedin_url, phone, twitter, city, state, country, and several custom one-liner fields for personalization.
• If a column name matches a standard field exactly, it's pre-mapped automatically.
• Custom variables you've defined for this campaign also appear as available fields.
• Click Next when mapping is complete.

Sub-step 3: Email Validation

• SuperSend shows the total contact count, your available validation credits, and the estimated cost to validate all emails.
• Email validation checks whether each address is deliverable before the campaign sends to it — this protects your sender reputation by preventing bounces.
• Check Validate all emails if you have sufficient credits and want the full list validated before sending.
• Click Upload. A progress tracker shows the import status. When complete: "X contacts added, Y updated, Z failed."

Click Next to skip this step and add contacts later.

Step 4: Schedule Your Campaign

Set when this campaign is allowed to send. All times are in the timezone you select.

SuperSend will only send emails during the windows defined here, respecting the campaign's timezone setting. Contacts scheduled outside these windows are queued until the next valid window.

Click Next to continue with defaults or after setting your schedule.

Step 5: Campaign Settings

The final step is a summary screen where you can:

Sender Profiles: Add the sender profile(s) this campaign should use. Click the dropdown, search for your profile, and select it. The profile card shows how many mailboxes, LinkedIn accounts, and Twitter accounts it contains.

Custom Tracking Domain: Optionally set a custom domain for tracking links (e.g., track.yourdomain.com). This requires a CNAME DNS record pointing to trail.supersend.io. SuperSend shows the DNS status check inline.

Show All Settings: Expands to the full settings panel, covering all tabs: Sending Rules, Opt Outs, Schedule, Integrations, Blacklist. You don't have to configure these now — you can access all of them later through the campaign's Settings page.

When ready, click Create Campaign. The campaign is created in active (non-draft) state and you're taken to the campaign dashboard.

After Creating: Build Your Sequence

You're now on the campaign dashboard. The campaign exists but doesn't have any sequence steps yet.

Click Sequence in the campaign navigation to start building your steps.

For a simple sequence:

• The sequence builder shows a list view. Click + Add Step to add your first email step.
• Add a wait delay before your second step (typically 3–5 days).
• Continue building steps in order.

For a complex sequence:

• The visual canvas loads. Drag node types from the right sidebar onto the canvas and connect them.

See Edit Sequence Steps and Simple vs Complex Sequences for the full sequence-building guides.

Creating a Campaign from a Template

If you start from a template (e.g., from the Templates library), the sequence type step is skipped because it's pre-determined by the template. A tip banner confirms which template you're using. Otherwise, the wizard flows the same way.

Expected Result

You have a campaign with a name, sequence type, at least one sender profile assigned, and either contacts uploaded or ready to be added. The campaign is in active state and you can immediately start building the sequence.

Troubleshooting

• Issue: Campaign created but won't send.

Fix: Check three things: (1) sender profile assigned — Settings → Senders tab; (2) contacts are uploaded; (3) sequence has steps.

• Issue: You selected the wrong sequence type.

Fix: Sequence type cannot be changed. Create a new campaign and select the correct type. You can clone the contacts across.

• Issue: Contacts failed to import.

Fix: Download the failure report linked in the import status message. Common causes: missing email column, malformed email addresses, or duplicate contacts.

Related Articles

• Create and Use Sender Profiles
• Upload Contacts via CSV
• Edit Sequence Steps
• Configure Campaign Schedule and Sending Hours

Updated on: 17/03/2026