Campaigns

A campaign is a one-off marketing send that you compose inside BlueFox Email and deliver to a subscriber list at a time you choose. This page covers building one in any of the four editors, personalizing it, pulling in live content with data feeds, the states it moves through between draft and archived, and the statistics it reports once sent.

Before you dig in

• Once a campaign is scheduled you can no longer edit or delete it. The only actions left are re-schedule, cancel send, and send now, so finish the content before you put a time on it.
• The editor you pick decides which design features you get. Pre-designed and design system templates are available only in the Visual Editor, and an email built in Raw HTML or Plain Text cannot be saved back as a reusable template. Personalization, feeds, sending and analytics behave the same in all four.
• Pasting Visual Editor content into Raw HTML or Plain Text needs cleaning up first. Visual Editor merge tag and component markup will not resolve there and has to be stripped out. Plain Handlebars tags carry over either way.
• Exclude unengaged contacts is per send, but the definition behind it is project-wide. The checkbox decides whether this campaign uses it; who counts as unengaged is set once in project settings and changing it there affects every send that has the box ticked.

See also

Free link checker · Writing subject lines that get opened · Preheader text

Campaigns are sent to the active subscribers on a list. Since campaigns are tied to a subscriber list, they must contain an unsubscribe link and optionally a pause subscription link.

You can find the campaigns of a project under the Emails tab.

Creating a Campaign

In order to create a new campaign, press the Create button.

You'll be asked to choose one of four options:

• Visual Editor: the drag-and-drop Chamaileon editor, with full access to your design system's blocks, components, and templates.
• Raw HTML: write your own HTML directly.
• Plain Text: a plain-text-only email, no HTML.
• Copy & Paste: paste in a previously copied campaign. This works no matter which editor the original email was built with.

INFO

Design system templates and pre-designed templates are only available when starting with the Visual Editor. Emails built with Raw HTML or Plain Text also can't be saved back as a reusable design system template. Everything else, personalization, feeds, sending, and analytics, works the same regardless of which editor you pick.

TIP

If you use Copy & Paste to reuse content from a Chamaileon-built (Visual Editor) email inside a Raw HTML or Plain Text campaign, strip out any Chamaileon-specific merge tag or component markup first, it won't resolve there. Everything else should carry over as-is.

Visual Editor

If you didn't start from a copied design, you will have to select a template to start from:

Here select a template from your project or from the pre-designed templates:

Select a template and click "Next". Enter its name, subject line, preview text, select a subscriber list, and select a segment. You can also check Exclude unengaged contacts to skip contacts that match the unengaged segment defined in your project settings:

This form will appear as first step if you choose to start from scratch.

After confirming everything (you can edit these later as well). Click "Launch Editor".

Finally, make changes in the drag 'n' drop email editor:

When you're done, click "Save & Close". You can make changes later as well.

Raw HTML / Plain Text

These two editors always start from scratch, there's no template selection step.

Enter its name, subject line, preview text, select a subscriber list, and select a segment. You can also check Exclude unengaged contacts to skip contacts that match the unengaged segment defined in your project settings:

After that, click "Launch Editor".

Finally, make changes in the editor. Raw HTML and Plain Text share the same editor layout:

• Raw HTML:

  

• Plain Text:

  

The Raw HTML editor also has an Import button. Both editors give you Merge Tags, Preview (including Preview with data), Save, and Save & Close controls. Merge tags and feed variables are inserted via a side panel at your cursor position, rather than bound to a selected element like in the Visual Editor.

You can also add data feeds to Raw HTML and Plain Text campaigns the same way as any other campaign, from the Feeds section on the email card. The only difference is how you reference feed items inside the editor: through the merge tag side panel instead of a drag-and-drop Loop block.

When you're done, click "Save & Close". You can make changes later as well.

When you are done, you can schedule your campaign, or you can send it immediately:

Send test email

Its generally a good idea to send a test email before scheduling or sending the campaign. You can do that by clicking the "Send Test Email" button in your campaign email card. More on that in here Sending Test Emails.

You can also check and edit the subscriber list and segment by clicking on this link, it will redirect you to the subscriber list:

Personalization

Since a campaigns is sent to a subscriber list, subscriber data, unsubscribe link, and pause subscription link are also included. You can use the following merge tags:

{{subscriber.name}}
{{subscriber.email}}
{{unsubscribeLink}}
{{pauseSubscriptionLink}}
{{webVersionLink}}

{{webVersionLink}} is a public "View in browser" link to the campaign. It's the same link for every recipient. The web version is off by default; turn it on in the card's Edit Settings → Settings tab, where you can also copy the link to share it anywhere. See Web Version below. It only works while the web version is on and the campaign is sent or archived, and it always shows the latest version of the campaign, so edits you make after sending are visible to people who already received it. More details in Web Version Link.

Visual Editor

You can use any handlebars variables in your email while editing. Click on the edit icon on the card:

You can use these handlebars variables in your email, while editing:

And you can use merge tags in the email's subject line and preview text as well!

Raw HTML / Plain Text

Merge tags work the same way, but since this isn't the Chamaileon editor, there's no click-to-bind-a-field flow. Instead, open the Merge Tags panel from the editor toolbar, place your cursor where you want the value to appear, and select the tag to insert it there. This works the same way in the subject line and preview text fields.

WARNING

If you're reusing content from a Chamaileon-built (Visual Editor) campaign inside a Raw HTML or Plain Text campaign, remove any Chamaileon-specific merge tag or component markup first, it won't resolve in the Raw HTML or Plain Text editor. Plain Handlebars merge tags (e.g. {{subscriber.name}}) carry over fine either way.

For more details, read our guide on personalization with merge tags and Handlebars.

Web Version

A campaign can have a public web version: the same email, opened as a page in the browser. It's what the webVersionLink merge tag points to, and you can also copy the link and share it anywhere, even if your email doesn't contain the merge tag.

Turning It On

The web version is off by default. A draft campaign card shows a Web version off chip under its name:

To turn it on, click Edit Settings on the card, open the Settings tab, and switch Web version on. Until the campaign is sent, a note under the switch reads "Available once the campaign is sent", because the public link doesn't exist yet:

When you switch Web version on, BlueFox Email asks you to confirm in a Web Version Link dialog. (The same dialog appears if you add the Web Version Link merge tag to an email while the web version is off.) It explains that the link only works once the campaign is sent or archived, that it always shows the latest version of the campaign (so changes you make after sending are visible to people who already received it), and that it's one public page for everyone, so contact merge tags show their fallback values. Click Enable Web Version to turn it on, or Cancel to leave it off. You can turn it off any time on the campaign card.

Once it's on, the chip on a draft card reads Web version on · link after sending:

Copying and Opening the Link

After the campaign is sent, the chip changes to Web version on. Use its link icon to open the web version, or its copy icon to copy the link:

The Settings tab now shows the public link under the switch, with a button to copy it. The tracking switches are locked once the campaign is sent:

The link only works while the web version is on and the campaign is sent or archived. For a draft or scheduled campaign, the page shows "This email is not available".

Adding the Link to Your Email

To let the people who get your email open the web version, add the Web Version Link merge tag to the email. In the Visual Editor, click into a text element and click the merge tag button (the curly brackets) at the end of the text toolbar:

The Merge Tags dialog opens. Find Web Version Link and click Select:

The merge tag is added to your text:

If the web version is still off when you add the tag, the same Web Version Link dialog appears over the editor. Click Enable Web Version to turn it on for this campaign, or Cancel to leave it off:

To make it a clickable "View in browser" link, use the tag as the URL of a link and set the link's Protocol to Other, because the tag already contains the full address. More on that in Email Personalization.

In the Raw HTML and Plain Text editors, first open the merge tag panel: click the Merge Tags button (the curly brackets) in the top bar of the editor.

The Email section of the side panel lists webVersionLink next to the unsubscribe and pause subscription links, with a reminder that it only works once the web version is turned on and the campaign is sent or archived.

• Plain Text: click where you want the link, then click webVersionLink in the panel. The tag is inserted at your cursor:

  

  

• Raw HTML: put your cursor inside the link's href and click webVersionLink in the panel:

  

  

What the Web Version Looks Like

Opening the link shows the email on its own page, the way it looks in the inbox. In this example the Web Version Link merge tag in the text has been replaced with the link to this page:

It's one public page for everyone, so it isn't personalized: contact merge tags show their default value, and the unsubscribe and pause subscription links on the page don't do anything.

The web version always shows the latest version of the campaign

If you edit the campaign after sending it, everyone who already received it sees your changes when they open the link. Turning the web version off makes the page unavailable again for everyone, including people who already have the link.

Campaign States

There are five states of a campaign: draft, scheduled, being sent (or the scheduled time is only a few minutes away), sent, and archived.

In each state, different actions are available, and some of them are disabled.

Draft campaigns can be edited, scheduled, and sent:

Scheduled campaigns have the following actions: re-schedule, cancel send, send now. Scheduled campaigns cannot be edited nor deleted!

Campaigns that are being sent currently (or the send time is a few minutes away) should not be modified, so all of their actions are disabled.

Sent campaigns can be archived, and stats should show up:

Archived campaigns can be restored. It means that they become draft again.s

Open and Click Tracking

Campaigns record opens and clicks by default. The campaign card shows an Opens tracked and a Clicks tracked chip under the campaign name, so you can see at a glance what's being recorded:

To change it, click either chip, or click Edit Settings and open the Settings tab. There you can turn each one on or off for this campaign:

• Track opens: adds an invisible pixel to the email. When it's off, opens aren't recorded for this email.
• Track clicks: routes the links through the click tracker. When it's off, the links are sent as they are and clicks aren't recorded.

Campaign Email Statistics

Campaign emails are designed to reach a targeted group of recipients, often based on specific user segments or marketing campaigns. These emails are sent to the subscribers on a list, and unlike triggered emails, they are typically part of larger, planned marketing efforts rather than automated, one-to-one communications.

Why Campaign Email Statistics Matter

Understanding how your campaign emails perform is essential for refining your marketing strategies and improving your engagement with subscribers. Tracking performance helps you:

• Monitor Campaign Effectiveness: Measure the success of your campaign emails by tracking key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates.
• Optimize Engagement: Analyze the success of your subject lines, content, and timing to improve how subscribers interact with your emails.
• Refine Segmentation: Use insights into open rates, clicks, and other actions to adjust your subscriber segments for more targeted future campaigns.
• Detect Issues: High bounce rates, low open rates, or high unsubscribe rates can indicate potential issues, allowing you to fix problems early.
• Enhance Subscriber Retention: Track metrics like unsubscribes, resubscriptions, and paused subscriptions to better manage your subscriber base and improve long-term engagement.

What Campaign Email Statistics Include

The campaign email statistics section includes the following key metrics:

• Sent Emails: Total number of campaign emails sent to recipients.
• Opens: Number of times recipients opened your campaign emails.
• Unique Opens: Number of individual recipients who opened your campaign emails (counts only one open per recipient).
• Clicks: Total number of clicks on links within your campaign emails.
• Unique Clicks: Number of individual recipients who clicked on links within your campaign emails (counts only one click per recipient).
• Bounces: Number of campaign emails that failed to be delivered.
• Complaints: Number of complaints (e.g., emails marked as spam).
• Unsubscribes: Number of recipients who unsubscribed after receiving the campaign email.
• Resubscriptions: Number of recipients who resubscribed after previously unsubscribing.
• Paused Subscriptions: Number of recipients who have paused their subscriptions to your campaign emails.

Opens and clicks are recorded only while open and click tracking is on for the campaign.

These metrics provide a comprehensive view of your campaign's performance and help identify areas for optimization, allowing you to adjust strategies and improve future campaigns.

How to Access Campaign Email Stats

You can access the Campaign Email Statistics by clicking the arrow icon:

For more information on how to use the Campaign Email Statistics, refer to the Analytics Documentation.

Data Feeds

Data feeds allow you to automatically pull in live content from external sources directly into your campaign. This is especially useful for newsletters or digests where the content changes regularly — your campaign will always go out with the latest data without any manual updates.

Feeds work the same way regardless of which editor you built the email with, Visual Editor, Raw HTML, or Plain Text.

TIP

For a full guide on using feeds inside the template (loops, merge tags, dynamic images, required behavior), see the Data Feeds documentation.

Supported feed types:

• RSS / Atom XML
• JSON

Adding a Feed

To add a feed, locate the Feeds section on your campaign card, just below the Details section. Click the + Add Feed button.

This will expand a form where you can configure your feed:

Fill in the following fields:

• Feed URL: The URL of the feed you want to pull content from.
• Feed Type: Select the type of feed — RSS / Atom XML or JSON.
• Variable Name: The name you'll use to reference this feed's data inside your email template using Handlebars syntax.
• Max Items: The maximum number of items to pull in from the feed (defaults to 5).

You can also check the Required checkbox if the feed must be available for the campaign to send.

Once you've filled in the details, click Preview to verify the feed is working correctly, then click Save to store your configuration.

Other Details

You can customize every key email-sending options, such as preview text, subject, reply-to addresses, etc for your campaign directly within the campaign card, just click the edit icon on the card for the field you want to edit:

Advanced Settings

The Advanced Settings in campaign email cards allows you to customize key email-sending options, providing flexibility in managing sender identities and reply-to addresses.

Sender Identity Selection

The sender identity field lets you choose the identity used to send the email. By default, the system automatically selects the default identity, but you can select another identity from the list of available options.

Reply-To Email Address

The reply-to email address field allows you to specify where replies to your email should be sent.