How to create and send an email campaign

Email campaigns in Connect let you send branded, targeted messages to your guests — from monthly newsletters to one-off promotions. This guide walks you through creating an email campaign from scratch, setting up sender details, designing the content, choosing your audience, and sending it (now or scheduled).

If you want to test multiple subject lines or content versions against each other, see How to set up A/B testing in Connect campaigns — that's covered in a separate article.

Before you start

Your sending domain must be verified with SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and Bounce DNS records. If your domain isn't listed in the From email address dropdown, go to Settings > Domain Setup to add and verify it
Have your audience ready in Connect > Contacts, or Saved Segments or be ready to send to all contacts. See How to search contacts if you need a hand finding or filtering them
Decide on your subject line, sender name, and email content before you start

Watch the video walkthrough

Start a new email campaign

Go to Campaigns in Connect
Click the + button in the top right
Select Email as your campaign channel
Leave A/B Testing as No A/B testing unless you want to test variants. see How to set up A/B testing in Connect campaigns for the full walkthrough
Under Save it to your campaign folder, either select Create a new campaign folder and give it a name (e.g. "Monthly Newsletter") or Add to existing folder
Click Let's go

Set up sender details and subject line

Sender details

Enter your From name — use something guests will recognise, like your venue name
Select your verified domain from the From email address dropdown
(Optional) Enter a Send replies to email address if you want replies to land somewhere other than the from address
(Optional) Tick Capture replies to the platform inbox if you want replies to also appear in Connect's inbox

Subject line

Enter your Subject line in the field marked A
(Optional) Click + Test another subject line to add a second subject for A/B testing
(Optional) Click + Mailmerge to insert dynamic content, like a guest's first name

💡 Tip — Keep subject lines under 50 characters so they aren't cut off in a guest's inbox. Personalising with a first name via Mailmerge typically lifts open rates.

Tracking (optional)

If you have third-party link tracking set up on your website, select your provider from the Third party link tracking dropdown. Otherwise, leave it as Don't send tracking to third-party.

Design your email content

You can start from a blank canvas, reuse one of your previous emails, or pick a featured template. For a step-by-step on building a template from scratch, see How to create an email template.

Choose a starting point from the tabs at the top:
- Recent emails — your most recent campaigns
- Featured templates — me&u's curated templates
- My templates — templates you've saved
- Code your own — paste in your own HTML
Select Blank canvas to design from scratch, or click any template to use it as a starting point
Use the drag-and-drop builder to add image blocks, text blocks, and buttons
Click any block to edit its content, styling, or link

💡 Tip — Always send a test email to yourself before going further. It's the fastest way to catch broken links, weird spacing, and missing images before your guests do.

Click Next when you're happy with the design

Choose your audience

From the Select a segment dropdown, choose All contacts or one of your saved segments
Use Search your contacts to verify the recipient list looks right — see How to search contacts for filtering tips
Untick anyone you don't want to receive the campaign
Click Next

ℹ️ Note — Need to build a new segment? See How to create a guest segment in Connect.

Schedule and send

Choose Now to send immediately, or In the future to schedule a date and time
Click Next
On the Confirm your new email campaign screen, review the send time, from address, subject, and recipient count
Click View recipients to double-check the list
Click Send to launch your campaign

Troubleshooting

Your domain isn't listed in the From email address dropdown

Cause: Your sending domain hasn't been verified with SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and Bounce DNS records
Fix: Go to Settings > Domain Setup, add your domain, and complete the DNS verification steps

You see "Warning — your message contains default text or placeholder images"

Cause: A text block still has placeholder copy, or an image block still shows "No Image"
Fix: Click Cancel, return to the email builder, and replace any default text or upload images to all empty blocks before continuing

Your test email isn't arriving

Cause: The from address isn't fully authenticated, or the test email has been filtered to spam
Fix: Check your spam folder first. If it's not there, verify your domain authentication in Settings > Domain Setup

Mailmerge field shows blank or displays the raw tag (e.g. {contact.firstname}) instead of the guest's name

Cause: The contact doesn't have that field populated in their guest profile, or the field was inserted incorrectly
Fix: Add a fallback value when you insert the Mailmerge field — for example, "Hi {contact.firstname|there}" — so guests without a first name on file still get a friendly greeting

The "Send" button is greyed out on the confirmation screen

Cause: A required field is missing — usually the from email, subject line, or recipient list
Fix: Click Back and check each step. Required fields will be highlighted

Your campaign is now live. Check back in an hour to see open rates and clicks in your campaign report.

Any questions? Reach out to us via email at support@meandu.com.

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