Creating Campaigns

This document contains:

Creating a Simple Campaign

Testing the new campaign

Activating the new campaign

Deactivating the new campaign

See also:

Campaign Canvas Elements

Managing and Deleting Campaigns

Marketing Campaigns are comprised of Campaign elements (such as Segments, Emails, Landing Pages, etc.).  These elements are added to the Campaign Canvas via a simple drag-and-drop or double-click operation, greatly decreasing the time required to assemble and configure a marketing campaign.

Watch this short video on how to create a simple campaign in Eloqua 10:

For a list of all the Canvas elements and the procedures for selecting and configuring each, see the list at the end of this topic.

Creating a Simple Campaign

The following example gives you an idea of how to use the Campaign Canvas elements.

To create a multi-step marketing campaign:

1. Click Campaigns on the navigation toolbar at the top of the screen.
2. Click Create a Campaign in the Campaign Launchpad.
3. Select a category of campaign templates from the left-hand pane, then choose a template on the right. If you click on a Blank Campaign template, then you can build the campaign from scratch. To select the template and begin the Campaign creation process, left-click (this enables the Choose button) and click Choose, or double-click on the templat
4. The template opens in the Campaign Canvas. In the following example, you can see how to create a campaign that includes segment members (the list of recipients for the Email) and an Email to be sent.

1. Click > Settings. Enter the campaign Name and (optionally) fill in the Description. Under Campaign Reporting Runs From, click on the calendar button in each field to set the start date and end date for campaign reporting. These dates must be within the time span of when the campaign runs, but do not have to be the same as the start and end dates of the campaign. They are the dates between which data will be captured for reporting purposes; your campaign can continue past the end date.

1. On the Custom Fields tab, you can select any fields that are associated specifically with this campaign. Custom Fields are used for more specific reporting functionality.
2. Click Update
3. If you are adding elements to an existing campaign, or building a new campaign on a blank Canvas, you can drag-and-drop elements onto the Campaign Canvas or double-click them in the left-hand pane to add them to the Canvas. In this example, the first two elements (Segment Members and Email) were in the template and are already on the Campaign Canvas. We'll now add the third Landing Page:
4. Segment Members—The specifically targeted list of contacts to whom an email will be sent (a "filter" of contacts based on specific criteria).
5. Email—The email that is sent to contacts.

Landing Page—A page that recipients can access through a click-through link in the email.

From the left-hand pane, drag the Landing Page element onto the Canvas next to the Email that contains the click-through link to the page.

Now that you have all the elements on the Canvas, you can configure them. Double-click on the Segment Members element to choose the specific list from the Chooser.

Tip: If you know the name of the segment, you can start typing it into the field to narrow the search.

Or you can click on the folder button to choose or search (type the search term in the field at the top of the window) for a list in a folder. In the Content Segment Chooser window, you can choose one of the options in the left-hand pane to view the corresponding Segments in the right-hand pane. In this case, we'll select an existing list from Places > All.We'll choose a list with a single recipient for our email, then click Choose to select the List.

Or click New in the segment configuration window to create a new segment.

Enter the segment Name and click Create.

Now select how segment members will be added. You can add them only once, or you can add them continuously as they are added to the segment (for example, by a contact filter) until the campaign is disabled. Click outside the configuration panel to close it. Note that the dialog box closes and the element on the Canvas shows the selected Segment name and also changes color to indicate that a List has been selected.

1. Next, double-click the Email element to configure it. This must be an Email that includes a click-through link to the Landing Page you are going to include in the campaign. Select the specific Email you will send, or click New to create a new email.

   In the dialog box that appears, you have the ability to further customize the email using the following three tabs:

    

   • A Signature—Use either a dynamic signature rule (the signature changes depending on the agent sending it) or a signature for a specific user (an agent in the Eloqua® system).
   • In the Sending Options tab, the Break send into smaller batches option allows you to break the overall email send into smaller batches over a number of hours or days. Fill in the number of hours or days, then choose the correct time unit from the Chooser.
   • Allow emails to be re-sent to past recipients—Select this checkbox if you want this email re-sent to past recipients of the same email. Note: In most cases, you will not want to select this option as it increases the likelihood that the recipient will report your email as spam. This should only be selected if it's an email that contains crucial or emergency information, or if a critical correction has been made to the content of the original email.
   • Scheduling tab—Here you can specify that you only wish the emails to be sent during specific hours, e.g. a time when your email servers may not be as busy as during normal working hours. The time you specify is based on the Time Zone you select as the local time zone on the server, and additionally you can specify on which days these emails can be sent. No emails can be sent on days for which you have not enabled.
     

     When you are finished, click outside the Email element to close the configuration dialog box.

2. Finally, add a Landing Page element (by dragging-and-dropping or double-clicking) onto the Canvas and place it to the right of the Email. You can configure the Landing Page you wish to use using one of the following four methods:

   • Right-click on the Landing Page element and select Configure.
   • Double-click on the Landing Page element and search for the Page you wish to use by entering the name.
   • Click the drop-down arrow and scroll down the list until you find the correct Landing Page.

   • Click on the folder icon and browse to the desired page.

     If the Landing Page you wish to use has not yet been created, clicking directly launches the New Landing Page editor. Clicking New launches the New Landing Page creation wizard. Either option will allow you to add a New Landing Page to your Email Campaign.
     The Landing Page URL will automatically be updated with the Landing Page and Campaign IDs.

3. If you were creating a new campaign from scratch, you would connect the Segment and Email elements at this point (click and drag your cursor from the bottom connector on the Segment element to the top connector on the Email element to connect them). In this case, these were already connected when you imported the template, and the Landing Page element does not require a connection.

4. Click Save to save the campaign.

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To test the new campaign:

1. With the campaign open in editing mode, select > Test.

2. If there are any issues with testing, then the Errors indicator is displayed at the top of the page.

    

   Click on the Errors indicator to show you what the errors are. In order to resolve these issues and be able to successfully activate your campaign, you must go back to the Campaign Canvas and fix the issues that are indicated in the Campaign Validator. If, however, one of the errors is related to an item that is linked to from the current campaign, an Edit This Campaign button will be shown that will take you directly to the other location to resolve the problem.

   For example, in the case shown above, the Form entitled "Stafford - Test 1" is missing both the Email Address field mapping and a URL for the Redirect to Web Page step. Click Edit this Form to be brought to the corresponding area of the Eloqua application, in this case to update these two settings in the form. A new window opens with the Form Editor.

   Repeat the process for any additional errors, then click Save.

   To verify that you have successfully fixed the reported errors, click Save on the Campaign Canvas. The Draft button should no longer have an error indicator. You will not be able to activate the campaign until all errors are fixed.

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To activate the campaign:

1. With the campaign open in editing mode, click . The Activate Campaign dialog box opens:

2. In the Start Campaign section, choose one of the following options:
   • Now—The campaign is activated immediately.
   • Later—Set up a schedule for campaign execution. Click the calendar icon to choose a date for the campaign to begin.  Enter the hour and minutes, along with AM or PM, and set the appropriate time zone for your Campaign to begin.

3. Next, set the end date for your Campaign.  The Campaign will cease execution as of midnight on the date you select in this field, however, reporting will continue until one year following the end of your Campaign.  Click Activate, then click OK in the confirmation window. If you selected Later in step 2 above, the DRAFT button in the upper left-corner of the Campaign window will change to to indicate a future activation date.

4. Click Save to save your scheduled campaign. The campaign will be executed according to the scheduling you have set.

To unschedule the campaign:

1. To cancel the scheduled activation, click the   button in the upper-right corner of the page.

2. Click Unschedule when prompted. The campaign schedule is cancelled.

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