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# Playbooks Overview

# Playbooks Overview

## Purpose

Playbooks are a strategic layer above campaigns. A playbook captures the offer, target segment, messaging angle, and hypothesis behind one or more campaigns. Performance from all linked campaigns rolls up to the playbook level so you can compare strategies, not just individual sends.

This article explains what playbooks are, how to create them, how to link campaigns, and how to read playbook performance data.

## Prerequisites

- You must be signed in and a member of the team where the playbook will live.
- At least one campaign should exist (or be planned) to get value from linking.

## Setup checklist

New accounts may see **Define your outbound play** as the first step in the in-app setup checklist (welcome modal and top setup bar). Completing a playbook there satisfies that step; you can also create playbooks anytime from **Playbooks** in the sidebar. Archiving a playbook does not undo this setup step. If you permanently delete every playbook for the team, the step can show as incomplete again until you create a new one.

## What Is a Playbook?

A playbook answers: "What are we testing, who are we targeting, and what do we expect to happen?"

Each playbook includes:

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| **Name** | A label for the strategy, e.g. "VP Eng — Free Migration Offer Q2" |
| **Offer type** | What you're offering: trial, demo, case study, insight, discount, or other |
| **Value proposition** | A short description of the offer |
| **Target segment** | Industries, roles, company sizes, and geographies you're targeting |
| **Messaging angle** | The tone and positioning of the outreach |
| **Hypothesis** | What you expect to happen and how you'll measure it |
| **Outcome notes** | Learnings captured after running the campaigns |

Playbooks are owned by a team and can link to any number of campaigns within that team.

## Create a Playbook

1. In the left sidebar, click **Playbooks**.
2. Click **New Playbook** (top right).
3. Enter a **Name** for the playbook.
4. Select an **Offer Type** from the dropdown.
5. Optionally enter a **Hypothesis** describing what you expect.
6. Click **Create Playbook**.

The playbook is created and you're taken to the playbook detail page where you can fill in the remaining strategic fields.

## Link Campaigns to a Playbook

There are three ways to link a campaign to a playbook:

**During campaign creation:**
1. In the campaign creation wizard, step 1 (Campaign Name) shows a **Playbook** dropdown if any playbooks exist for your team.
2. Select a playbook from the dropdown. This is optional — leave it as "None" to create the campaign without a playbook.

**From campaign settings (retroactive linking):**
1. Open the campaign and go to **Settings**.
2. In the **Campaign** tab, find the **Playbook** field.
3. Select a playbook from the dropdown, or change to a different one.
4. The setting saves automatically.

**From the playbook detail page:**
1. Open the playbook.
2. Go to the **Campaigns** tab.
3. Click **Link Campaigns**.
4. Search for and select the campaign(s) you want to link.

**Unlink a campaign from a playbook (detail page):**
1. Open the playbook **Campaigns** tab.
2. In the linked campaigns table, click **Unlink** on the row for that campaign.
3. Confirm when prompted. The campaign is not deleted; it is only removed from this playbook and no longer rolls up in the playbook’s metrics.

## Read Playbook Performance

### Playbook List

The playbooks list page shows aggregated metrics for each playbook:

| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| **Campaigns** | Number of campaigns linked to this playbook |
| **Sends** | Total emails and messages sent across all linked campaigns |
| **Replies** | Total replies received |
| **Reply Rate** | Replies divided by sends, as a percentage |

Use the status filter to narrow by playbook status. Use **Sort** to order the list by **created** date, **last modified**, **campaign count** (most or fewest linked campaigns), or overall playbook **reply rate** (highest or lowest).

### Playbook Detail

Open a playbook to see comprehensive performance data:

- **Total sends, replies, interested, and meetings booked** aggregated across all linked campaigns.
- **Reply rate trend** — how the reply rate has changed over recent sends.
- **Best campaign** — the linked campaign with the highest reply rate.
- A full list of linked campaigns with their individual performance.

## Edit a Playbook

1. Open the playbook from the **Playbooks** list.
2. Edit the **name** in the title at the top of the page (click the name, change the text, then click away or press Enter). Names save automatically.
3. On the **Overview** tab, edit value proposition, offer type, segment details, messaging angle, or hypothesis. Changes save automatically.
4. Use the **Outcome Notes** tab to record learnings after running campaigns.

**Duplicate** — On the playbook detail page or the Playbooks list **Actions** menu, choose **Duplicate** to create a new **draft** playbook with the same strategy fields (offer, segment, messaging, hypothesis). Linked campaigns and outcome notes are **not** copied; the new playbook’s name defaults to **Copy of …** (you can rename it in the title).

## Archive or Delete a Playbook

**Archive (soft delete)** — Set **Status** to **Archived** using the status control on the playbook detail page or the status menu on a row in the Playbooks list. Archived playbooks stay in the database; linked campaigns remain linked unless you unlink them. Use the list **Status** filter to show **Archived** playbooks.

**Delete permanently** — Only available when the playbook is already **Archived**. On the playbook detail page, open the **⋯** menu and choose **Delete permanently**. On the Playbooks list, use the rightmost **Actions** column: **Archive** for active/draft playbooks, or **Delete permanently** when the playbook is archived. Confirm when prompted. Permanent delete removes the playbook record; linked campaigns are **not** deleted, but they are **unlinked** from this playbook (they no longer roll up here).

## Expected Result

You can create playbooks that capture the strategy behind your outreach, link campaigns to track performance at the strategy level, and use aggregated metrics to compare which offers and angles work best.

## Troubleshooting

- **Issue:** No playbook dropdown appears during campaign creation.
  **Fix:** The dropdown only appears if at least one active playbook exists for the team. Create a playbook first.

- **Issue:** Playbook metrics show zero even though linked campaigns have sent emails.
  **Fix:** Verify the campaigns are correctly linked — open the playbook and check the Campaigns tab. If campaigns are listed but metrics are zero, the campaigns may not have generated send events yet.

- **Issue:** Cannot find an archived playbook.
  **Fix:** On the Playbooks list page, click the **Archived** status filter tab to view archived playbooks.

## Related Articles

- [Campaigns Overview](https://help.supersend.io/en/article/campaigns-overview-106g6l9/)
- [Create a Campaign](https://help.supersend.io/en/article/create-a-campaign-18zo2cn/)