In Connect, a campaign is the container that holds your marketing send, and a channel is the delivery method that carries your message out to contacts.
Every channel sends one way: by email, SMS, or push notification. This article explains what a channel is, the delivery methods available, the stages a channel moves through, and what is worth knowing before you build or schedule one. It's useful for anyone creating, scheduling, editing, or deleting campaigns in Connect.
Topics
- What is a channel
- Channel delivery methods
- Channel stages
- Things to know before you schedule
What is a channel
A campaign on its own is just a folder. The channel is the part that actually sends. Each channel has its own content, its own recipient list (the contacts you filter for), and its own schedule.
One campaign can hold more than one channel. For a weekend promotion, you might add an email channel and an SMS channel to the same campaign, so the same offer reaches contacts two different ways.
Channel delivery methods
There are two delivery methods:
- Email, sends an email to your matching contacts.
- SMS, sends a text message. Each message uses SMS credits.
You choose the delivery method when you add the channel, and it can't be changed afterwards. To send the same message a different way, add another channel.
Channel stages
A channel moves through these stages:
- Draft. You're still building it. Nothing has been sent.
- Scheduled. It's set to send at a future date and time and is waiting.
- Sent. Every contact on the list has been processed.
- Canceled. You've manually stopped it part-way through sending.
Things to know before you schedule
⚠️ Warning: You can't edit a channel directly while it's scheduled. To make any change, you first cancel the scheduled send. Cancelling returns the channel to draft, where you can update the content, recipients, or send time, then schedule it again.
ℹ️ Note: Cancelling a scheduled channel clears its recipient list and returns any credits that were set aside for the send. Nothing is sent to your contacts. When you reschedule, recipients and credits are recalculated at that point.
ℹ️ Note: You can only delete a channel that hasn't been sent. Once a channel has sent, it stays as a record of what went out and can't be removed.
FAQ
Can I change a channel from email to SMS?
No. The delivery method is fixed when you add the channel. To send by a different method, add a new channel to the campaign.
How do I edit a channel I've already scheduled?
Cancel the scheduled send first. The channel returns to draft, where you can make your changes and reschedule.
When should I use Cancel?
Use Cancel when you need to stop or change a channel that's currently scheduled to send.
Cancelling is the only way to bring a scheduled channel back to draft, so you'd use it whenever you want to edit the content, recipients, or send time of a scheduled channel, reschedule it for a different time, or delete it. Cancel doesn't send anything to your contacts, it clears the recipient list and returns any reserved credits.
Does cancelling a scheduled channel send anything to my contacts?
No. Cancelling stops the send completely, clears the recipient list, and returns any reserved credits.
Why can't I delete one of my channels?
You can only delete channels that haven't been sent. A channel that has already sent is kept as a record and can't be deleted.
Can one campaign have more than one channel?
Yes. A campaign can hold multiple channels, so you can reach contacts by email, SMS, and push notification from the same campaign.
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