# Create a Campaign It's time to put your writing skills to use by creating an email marketing campaign directed at your contacts. This guide will take you through your first email marketing campaign so you'll feel like a marketing pro. You can send up to 500 emails a month for free. Once you use those, you can choose to update your account if you want to send more. Many groups use these email campaigns on a regular schedule. We've given you enough to get a real feel for whether this feature works for you. :::success **Where do I find it?** You can find the [Email Marketing Campaigns](https://manage.rescuegroups.org/emailmarketing_campaigns) page by going to **Services > Email Marketing: Campaigns**. ![](https://outline-production-attachments.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/uploads/48da3d2a-9a3a-434b-824b-a6018154f31c/75c2ff3b-872d-4e20-a156-289b67865657/emc.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4EOUDTOVUICLPZ4P%2F20261023%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20261023T193000Z&X-Amz-Expires=86400&X-Amz-Signature=3f00928e77fece4e4c083410e1204f1f30cebad744c587a33a8a66e388e2921c&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject " =178x99") ::: :::tip Emails sent from the **Email Marketing Service** will include your organization's address from your account. This is a requirement of the [CAN-SPAM Act](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business). The organization's street address will always be included. ::: There are ten steps for creating an email campaign, as follows. Once you create your first campaign email, you'll wonder how you lived without this tool! In addition to these steps, it's very helpful to familiarize yourself with the Email Marketing Settings page, where you can view your bounced emails, keep track of how many emails you've sent and how many you have remaining in your quota, and some other information. 1. Review and change your settings - see [Email Marketing Campaign Settings](/doc/fcbed40e-23bb-4fd1-9774-af0b7fb5a871) 2. [Add a campaign](https://rescuegroups.getoutline.com/doc/create-a-campaign-cpMr29UblI#h-add-a-campaign) 3. [Enter the campaign information](https://rescuegroups.getoutline.com/doc/create-your-first-campaign-cpMr29UblI#h-entering-the-basic-campaign-information) 4. [Select a template](https://rescuegroups.getoutline.com/doc/create-your-first-campaign-cpMr29UblI#h-select-your-template) Continue the process of creating your first campaign by reading the additional articles below 5. [Edit your campaign email](/doc/56527604-b80a-4af4-988f-c6eaf1824113) 6. [Preview a campaign](/doc/6f9aa18d-df6e-44ae-b71d-ebd0eb588044) to makes sure it looks exactly right. 7. Send [Test Campaign Emails](/doc/d912b757-b6ea-4092-b4c5-cea16821f298) 8. [Add Subscribers](/doc/1ca823ad-f812-4d32-94d0-757131345698) to let us know where to send your campaign 9. [Schedule a Campaign](/doc/487c75a7-aa95-4145-a48d-f6c1c9255d74) Create a *run schedule* for the campaign 10. [Activate a Campaign](/doc/da5a2efe-248f-4167-a30a-1164297dd1d2) - the campaign will not run until you activate it! # Add a campaign To start your email campaign, click **Add a Campaign** from the **Email Marketing Campaigns** menu. ![](https://outline-production-attachments.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/uploads/48da3d2a-9a3a-434b-824b-a6018154f31c/2f38d522-8740-4bf6-86bc-cc83ebc84f66/emc-add-campaign.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4EOUDTOVUICLPZ4P%2F20261023%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20261023T193000Z&X-Amz-Expires=86400&X-Amz-Signature=ff8aa25d2137f0fab3cbc0c6bd77af3992947bd7946a8fb9ed3e4bcc81e0afd7&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject " =739x157") Once you've mastered your first email campaign creation and you realize how easy it is, you can create a campaign when you have the time to design it, and send it out when you're ready. A campaign may be sent just once, or it could be scheduled to send on a regular basis automatically. You might send a one-time campaign to announce an event or the results of a board meeting. You might schedule a campaign to automatically send an email to your new adopters. # Enter the basic campaign information The basic campaign information defines the new campaign for you: you'll give your campaign a descriptive name, and fill out some other information about the campaign. The **Add a Campaign** page includes the following fields: * **Name:** The name of the campaign. Example: Holidays 2028 Newsletter * **Description**: A description of the email campaign that will help your volunteers identify it. Example: Newsletter for late November with Thanksgiving pictures * **Category**: The Email Marketing Campaign Category. The Category determines who is going to receive the email. Example: Newsletters * **Subject:** The subject to use as the email subject when sending the campaign. Example: Happy Holidays from the Iguana Sanctuary! * **Sender Email Address**: The sender/from email address to use for the campaign email. The email will appear to come from this address, and all replies will go to this address. Any active email can be used for this notification and each campaign can use a unique email address. Example: info@wildcat.org, donate@birdsalive.org, volunteer@DogsNPuppies.org. :::warning We strongly recommend that you use [your own domain](/doc/your-rescue-needs-a-domain-name-4J4Ox22EQ9) for this type of communication to ensure email deliverability. If you use a third party domain like aol.com, yahoo.com or yahoo.ca, our system will automatically replace your sender email address with info@rescuegroups.org in your campaigns. This helps increase the email being successfully delivered to your subscribers as those domains do not let us send mail on their behalf.  ::: To add your campaign: ![](https://outline-production-attachments.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/uploads/48da3d2a-9a3a-434b-824b-a6018154f31c/e64afbc5-e18d-4bb6-9927-618f21bc0e9e/image2018-3-29_15-54-45.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4EOUDTOVUICLPZ4P%2F20261023%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20261023T193000Z&X-Amz-Expires=86400&X-Amz-Signature=42e6a4a833785d953bd4e789611b5375262f9194d06330557b6ba94bcd7266cb&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject " =475x208") 1. **Name** your campaign. 2. Enter a short **Description** (Optional). 3. Select a campaign **Category** (One of these: events, fundraiser, newsletter). 4. Enter a **Subject** your readers will see in their inbox. (You can revise this later before you send your email.) 5. Enter the **Sender Email Address**. (The email you send will come from this address, and all replies will go to this address.) You can set any active email address to be used as the sender email, and each campaign can use a unique email address.  6. Click **Save.** Once you have saved the campaign, a new menu displays. ![](https://outline-production-attachments.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/uploads/48da3d2a-9a3a-434b-824b-a6018154f31c/ce596729-72c6-4a95-987d-2c07342d0e8c/image2018-3-29_16-37-47.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4EOUDTOVUICLPZ4P%2F20261023%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20261023T193000Z&X-Amz-Expires=86400&X-Amz-Signature=34268a4c2a2cfea378ecdf2386e959b13d17843face02807b48c4a98fe85461b&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject " =910x197") # Select your template :::tip **IMPORTANT** Once you select a template for a campaign email message, changes to that template will not change the email message that was based on that template. ::: A template is a basic structure, with a particular style built in. You can select from two pre-made templates, or select the blank template and design your own.  The template includes the layout, design, and colors that will be used for the email. After you select a template you can change those design elements and add text and graphics. :::info **NOTE:** The **Email Marketing Templates** page lists the built-in templates and the custom templates you create and save. ::: 1. Click **Select Template**. ![](https://outline-production-attachments.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/uploads/48da3d2a-9a3a-434b-824b-a6018154f31c/b14967ff-a18f-4295-9901-f4dd281665a4/emc-select-template.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4EOUDTOVUICLPZ4P%2F20261023%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20261023T193000Z&X-Amz-Expires=86400&X-Amz-Signature=857d47da850d0e1a319fbca65d90a24c497fc133714fa376f89f0a2801ac99ad&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject " =793x194") 2. Click **Choose** under the template you want to use. (For this example, we've created a custom template and we are selecting the custom template.)  :::info There is no Save button, you just choose the template to attach to the campaign. ![](https://outline-production-attachments.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/uploads/48da3d2a-9a3a-434b-824b-a6018154f31c/3d901059-9a2e-44ab-b3f4-6e5eef26c25e/emc-choose-template.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4EOUDTOVUICLPZ4P%2F20261023%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20261023T193000Z&X-Amz-Expires=86400&X-Amz-Signature=2d9ecc2fcdc0ae7db240f956c6cf98f49a3634949338f29c7fcbe41498ab8516&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject " =1085x350") ::: :::success To see a preview of a template, click the name of the template, such as *Fundraiser Template* in the example above. :::