How Do I Create and Send a Campaign in SoCast Email?

How Do I Create and Send a Campaign?

Create a new campaign

  1. In your dashboard, go to Promotions → Email → Email Campaigns, then Add New Campaign.
  2. Enter the campaign title — this is also your subject line, exactly as subscribers will see it in their inbox. There's no separate title field.
  3. Optionally, add Preview Text (the short summary that shows next to the subject line in most inboxes).
  4. Build your content using the page builder — the same drag-and-drop editor you use for your website. Email-specific WPBakery elements include buttons, ad elements, and blog post lists, styled for your station's branding.

Best practices for staying out of spam folders

A few habits go a long way toward making sure your emails land in the inbox instead of spam:

  • Keep the subject line simple and honest. Avoid ALL CAPS, excessive punctuation ("WIN BIG!!!"), or words like "free," "guaranteed," or "act now" — spam filters (and subscribers) both react poorly to these.
  • Don't make the whole email one big image. A mix of real text and images looks better to spam filters, and it means your message still comes through even if a subscriber's inbox blocks images by default.
  • Only send what people signed up for. If a Subscription Group is for contest announcements, don't use it for unrelated station news — content that feels off-topic is what usually gets marked as spam instead of just ignored.
  • Keep a predictable rhythm. A sudden burst of extra sends (multiple campaigns in one day, or a big jump from your usual frequency) is one of the most common triggers for spam complaints. If you're planning something bigger than usual, check with your Account Manager first.
  • Watch your first few sends. After sending, check Campaign Reports for bounces and complaints — catching a problem after send #1 is much easier than after send #10.

Choose who receives it

  1. In the campaign editor, scroll down to the Recipients section.
  2. Choose one or more Subscription Groups, select entrants from a specific Promotion, or provide a list of email addresses directly (one per line) — depending on who you want to reach.
  3. The recipient count updates automatically as you adjust your selection, so you can see how many people will receive the campaign before you send.

The Add Subscribers modal showing subscription group checkboxes with recipient counts, and an Account selector

Send a test first

Before sending to your full list, always use Send Test to send the campaign to yourself (or a colleague) first. This lets you check:

  • The layout renders correctly.
  • Any placeholders/macros (like your station name) fill in correctly.
  • The unsubscribe link works.

Send or schedule

  • Send now sends immediately to the recipients you've selected. As a safeguard against accidental sends, you'll be asked to click Send a second time to confirm before it actually goes out.
  • Schedule lets you pick a future date and time — useful for coordinating a launch with a specific show, promotion, or event.

Once a campaign starts sending, its content is locked — you won't be able to edit the subject or body while it's in progress. If something needs to change, cancel first (below), make your edit, and re-send.

While it's sending

  • The campaign screen shows live progress — how many have been sent so far out of the total.
  • You can cancel a send in progress from the campaign screen. Recipients who've already received the email won't be affected; anyone not yet reached will not receive it.
  • If a send is cancelled or interrupted, you can resume it later — it picks up where it left off instead of starting over (and won't re-send to people who already got it).
  • If some emails fail temporarily (a "soft" failure, like a full inbox), you can retry just those failed sends without re-sending to everyone else.

After it's sent

Once sending completes, see How Do I View Campaign Reports? for opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes.