How to Send Your First Email Campaign in SMLLR: Step-by-Step Setup
A literal, click-by-click walkthrough of sending your first SMLLR email campaign — verify your domain, build a template, pick an audience, send or schedule, and read the report.
The 30-Second Answer
Sending your first campaign in SMLLR's Email Marketing (Pro plan and above) is four sequential steps across four tabs: verify a sending domain in Setup, build or pick a template in Templates, choose an audience in Send Campaign, and read results in Analytics. Nothing in Templates or Send Campaign is usable until domain verification passes, so that's always the true first step — budget for DNS propagation time (up to 24 hours) before your actual send date if you're doing this for the first time close to a deadline.
Before You Start: Two Things Have to Already Be True
You need an active Pro plan or above, and you need at least one lead in Lead Hub with an active email-marketing consent grant — a campaign audience of zero consented leads means there's nothing to send to yet. If you haven't captured any leads, turn on the Lead Capture Gate on a live QR code first, or check whether any existing CSV-imported contacts have consent attested on them, before coming back to build a campaign.
Step 1: Verify Your Sending Domain
Open Email Marketing from your dashboard and land on the Setup tab.
- Enter a sending domain — a dedicated subdomain like mail.yourbrand.com is recommended over your main website domain, to keep marketing-sending reputation isolated.
- Set your From name and From email address — these are cosmetic and can be changed later without breaking verification.
- Save, and SMLLR generates a DKIM (TXT) record and a CNAME record, with your DNS provider auto-detected and tailored guidance shown for where to add them.
- Add both records at your DNS provider. A DMARC record is also offered as a recommended (not required) third addition, starting at a safe monitor-only policy.
- Click Verify. DNS changes can take up to 24 hours to propagate, though it's often much faster — if verification fails immediately after adding records, wait and retry rather than assuming something's wrong.
Step 2: Build or Pick a Template
Once verification passes, the Templates tab unlocks. Start from one of four starter templates — Announcement, Promo/Discount, Newsletter Digest, or Welcome/Thank You — or build from a blank page using the rich text editor and its CTA button blocks. If you use {{name}} or {{email}} anywhere in the template, you must set a fallback value for each before you can save — this is what stops a lead with no name on file from receiving "Hi ," instead of a graceful fallback like "Hi there,". You can save up to three templates at a time; the tab shows your current count.
Step 3: Choose Your Audience
In Send Campaign, pick the template you just built, and the audience panel loads showing "X of Y leads consented" — the count of Lead Hub contacts with an active email-marketing grant out of your total lead count. Use Select all consented for a full-list send, or filter by source first if you only want to reach leads from a specific QR code, landing page, CSV import batch, or Play & Win session. You can also search and manually deselect individual recipients from whichever set you've filtered to.
Step 4: Preview, Then Send or Schedule
Before committing, a preview shows the email exactly as a specific recipient will see it — including what their {{name}} fallback resolves to. Choose to send immediately or schedule for a specific future time, then complete the explicit confirmation step: a checkbox stating how many real recipients are about to receive the campaign. This confirmation exists specifically to stop an accidental send — there's no way to fire a campaign without consciously checking it first.
Step 5: Read the Report
Once sent (or once a scheduled send fires), check the Analytics tab or Campaign History for results. The funnel — Sent, Delivered, Opened, Clicked — is cumulative, each step a subset of the one before, with Bounced and Failed shown separately rather than folded into the funnel. Delivered/bounced numbers come from polling your email provider's delivery logs and can take a little time to fully settle; open and click tracking is self-hosted and updates as recipients interact. One reading caveat: Apple's Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens for a large share of Apple Mail users, so treat a modest open number on an Apple-heavy list as potentially normal, not necessarily a problem.
If Something's Blocking You
The most common first-campaign snags, and what they actually mean:
- Templates/Send Campaign tabs are greyed out or inaccessible — your domain isn't verified yet. Double-check both DNS records were added correctly and that enough propagation time has passed.
- "0 of Y leads consented" — no lead in your Lead Hub has granted email-marketing consent yet. This is a data problem, not a bug: enable the Lead Capture Gate somewhere live, or check your CSV import's consent attestation.
- Can't save a template — a merge variable ({{name}} or {{email}}) is used without a fallback value defined. Add one and save again.
- Can't add a fourth template — you're at the three-template cap. Delete an existing one to make room.
Related Reading
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the very first thing I need to do before sending a campaign?
Verify a sending domain in the Setup tab. Templates, Send Campaign, and Analytics all stay locked until domain verification passes.
How long does domain verification actually take?
DNS propagation can take up to 24 hours, though it's often faster. Start this step well before your intended send date if it's your first campaign.
Do I need a template before I can send?
Yes. Build or select a saved template first in the Templates tab — the Send Campaign tab requires one to be chosen before it loads an audience.
What if I have zero consented leads?
You'll see "0 of Y leads consented" in Send Campaign and won't be able to select any recipients. Enable the Lead Capture Gate on a live QR code, or check whether any CSV-imported contacts have consent attested, before trying again.
Can I send to just part of my list instead of everyone?
Yes. Filter by source in the Send Campaign tab to scope the audience to leads from a specific QR code, landing page, CSV import, or Play & Win session, then select individually or select all within that filtered set.
What happens if I schedule a send and then want to cancel it?
A scheduled campaign appears in Campaign History before it fires; check there for cancellation options ahead of the scheduled time.
Is there a way to test what my email looks like before sending it to real recipients?
Yes, the preview in Send Campaign renders the email exactly as a specific recipient will see it, including their resolved {{name}} fallback, before you confirm a real send.
Why can't I save a fourth template?
SMLLR caps saved templates at three per organization. Delete an existing one you no longer need to free up a slot.