Automation
Creating Campaigns
One-off, scheduled and recurring sends to all subscribers or to a segment you built.
Unlike workflows that run automatically when customers do something in your store, campaigns are messages you decide to send. Think of workflows as your automated assistant and campaigns as your megaphone — use campaigns when you want to announce something, run a promotion, or send a newsletter.
Types of Campaigns
| Type | How It Works | Best Used For |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate | Sends as soon as you publish it, to your chosen audience | Flash sales, urgent announcements, limited-time offers |
| Scheduled | Pick a date and time — it sends automatically when that moment arrives | Newsletters, product launches, holiday promotions |
| Repeating | A scheduled campaign with Make recurring turned on — repeats every day, week, month or year | Weekly round-ups, monthly reminders |
Creating a Campaign — Step by Step
Step 1: Start a New Campaign
- Go to the Campaigns page from the sidebar
- Click Create campaign
Step 2: Name It
Fill in the campaign title and description. Both are required — you can’t publish or save until they’re filled in.
Step 3: Choose When to Send
| Option | What to Select |
|---|---|
| Send right now | Leave the Schedule checkbox off — the campaign sends as soon as you publish |
| Send later | Turn on the Schedule checkbox — pick a start date and time |
| Send on repeat | Turn on Schedule, then turn on Make recurring — set how often it repeats |
If you turned on Schedule, set:
- Start date — when the first send should happen
- Hour, Minute and AM/PM — the time of day
If you turned on Make recurring, you also set:
- Repeat every N — and the Unit: day, week, month or year
- Days of the week — for weekly repeats, pick which days
- Month / day of the month — for monthly and yearly repeats
- An end date (optional) — click Choose an end date, or leave it off to repeat indefinitely
The card shows a plain-English summary, such as “Occurs every week on Monday”, so you can check it at a glance.
Example: A weekly newsletter that goes out every Monday at 10:00 AM, starting next Monday and running until the end of the year.
xUpsell won’t let you publish a scheduled campaign whose send time is in the past — you’ll see “Cannot schedule campaign in the past”.
Step 4: Choose Your Audience
Decide who receives this campaign:
| Option | Who Receives It |
|---|---|
| All subscribers | Everyone in your subscriber list |
| Specific subscribers | Only the individual subscribers you pick (click Browse to choose them) |
| Subscribers for specific events | Subscribers who opted into selected event types (Drop price or Raise price) for the products/variants you choose |
| Specific segments | Subscribers who are in the Shopify segment(s) you select (click Browse to choose them) |
Important: If you’re sending SMS, only subscribers with a valid phone number will receive the text — for anyone else that step is marked as failed. The same goes for push: only subscribers who allowed notifications get it.
The other channels still go out. A campaign that sends a push notification and then an email delivers the email to someone who never allowed notifications — they just don’t get the push. Each channel is judged on its own, and a channel that can’t reach a particular person is recorded as skipped rather than cancelling the rest of their messages. A subscriber stays in the audience as long as they can receive at least one of the channels your campaign uses.
A real problem is handled differently: if a send fails because something is genuinely wrong — a disconnected Twilio account, or your plan’s send limit reached — the campaign stops for that subscriber so the failure is visible rather than hidden.
Events targeting note: For Subscribers for specific events, choose at least one event type and at least one product/variant, otherwise there’s nobody to match.
Step 5: Publish, or Save as a Draft
When you’re happy with the details, use the buttons at the top of the page:
| Button | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Run now (shown when Schedule is off) | Publishes the campaign and sends it immediately |
| Publish (shown when Schedule is on) | Locks in the schedule — the campaign sends at the time you chose |
| Save as Draft | Saves everything without sending. You can come back and finish it later |
Step 6: Pick the Message
Whichever button you press, a Select a Template window opens. This is where the campaign’s message comes from:
- New workflow — start with an empty message flow
- Any of your templates — a ready-made message flow, shown in a preview
Click Continue. xUpsell creates the campaign together with its own message flow and takes you back to the Campaigns page.
Step 7: Write the Message
A campaign’s message is built in the same visual editor used for workflows — minus the trigger, because the campaign’s schedule is what starts it.
- On the Campaigns page, tick the checkbox next to your campaign
- Click Edit workflow
- Drag in an Email, a Card (SMS/MMS) or a Notification — or several, with Delay steps in between
- The editor saves as you go; close it when you’re done
Tip: For most campaigns a single email is all you need. Multi-step campaigns (email, then SMS a day later) work well for important promotions.
Do this before an immediate campaign goes out. Run now publishes and sends straight away. A brand-new campaign already contains a starter message, so pressing it before you’ve written yours doesn’t send nothing — it sends the placeholder to your customers. If you’re not sure yet, use Save as Draft, write the message, then publish.
Campaign Status Lifecycle
After you create a campaign, it moves through these statuses:
| Status | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Saved but not published. You can still edit everything. |
| Scheduled | Published with a future send time. Waiting for that moment. |
| Running | Currently sending messages to your subscribers. |
| Completed | The send is finished. |
| Canceled | You cancelled it before it sent. |
| Archived | A completed campaign you’ve moved out of the way. Its data is kept. |
The Typical Flow
- Immediate campaigns: Draft → Running → Completed
- Scheduled campaigns: Draft → Scheduled → Running → Completed
- Repeating campaigns: the same, and then the next occurrence is queued automatically until the end date
The Campaigns page has a tab for each stage — All, Sent, In editing, Scheduled, Running, Canceled and Archived — so you can jump straight to what you’re looking for.
Setting up a repeat: turn on Make recurring in the campaign editor and the repeat is saved with the campaign. It’s registered whenever the campaign is published — from the editor, or later from the Campaigns list. Each send schedules the next one until your end date, and unpublishing the campaign stops the series.
Editing, Cancelling and Deleting a Campaign
What you can do depends on the campaign’s status. On the Campaigns page, tick a campaign to see the actions available for it.
| Campaign Status | Available Actions | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Run now / Publish, Edit workflow, Delete | Delete removes the campaign and its message flow. Nothing is sent. |
| Scheduled | Edit workflow, Cancel | Cancel removes the queued send — nothing is delivered, and the campaign is marked Canceled. |
| Running | None | A send in progress can’t be changed or stopped. |
| Completed | Archive | A completed campaign can’t be deleted — archive it instead. |
You can also open a draft or scheduled campaign (click its title) to change the title, description, schedule or audience. Changing the send time of a scheduled campaign reschedules it: xUpsell cancels the old send and queues the new one, so nobody gets the campaign twice.
Can I undo a cancel or delete? No. You’ll need to create a new campaign. If you only want to move a send, edit the schedule instead of cancelling.
When the Campaign Actually Sends
A scheduled campaign sends at the date and time you picked, and every recipient receives it at that same moment — their local clock will show a different time depending on where they are.
Example:
- You schedule 10:00 AM
- A subscriber in New York gets it at 10:00 AM Eastern
- A subscriber in Los Angeles gets it at 7:00 AM Pacific (same moment, different clock)
Tip: There’s no per-recipient timezone option, so pick a time that suits your main market. Mid-morning is a safe default.
Designing Effective Campaign Messages
Email Campaigns
| Best Practice | Why |
|---|---|
| Write a clear subject line | This is what determines if people open your email — and xUpsell requires one. Keep it under 50 characters. |
| Get to the point fast | The first sentence should tell them why they’re reading this. |
| Include one clear call-to-action | One button, one goal. “Shop Now,” “Get 20% Off,” “See What’s New.” |
| Use images | Product photos catch the eye. Upload them on the Files page. |
| Add an unsubscribe link | xUpsell does not add one for you. Turn on subscription tracking with your email provider, or include your own unsubscribe link — Settings → Mailbox management shows a deliverability checklist that flags this. |
| Don’t use personalization tags | Tags such as {{firstName}} are not filled in when the message is sent — they’d be delivered as raw text. The only tag that works is {{discount_code}}, and only when a Discount step ran earlier in the same flow. |
SMS Campaigns
| Best Practice | Why |
|---|---|
| Keep it under 160 characters | Longer messages get split into multiple texts (and cost more). |
| Identify your brand | Start with your store name: “Cool Sneakers Co: Big sale this weekend!” |
| Include a link | Make it easy for them to take action. |
| Include opt-out info | ”Reply STOP to unsubscribe” — required by law in most countries. |
| Send between 9 AM – 9 PM | Don’t text people late at night. |
Push Notification Campaigns
| Best Practice | Why |
|---|---|
| Keep it to 10 words or fewer | Push notifications have very limited space. |
| Use urgency | ”Flash sale ends tonight!” works better than “Check out our sale.” |
| Don’t over-send | 1–2 push notifications per week maximum. More causes people to block you. |
Campaigns vs. Workflows
| Campaigns | Workflows | |
|---|---|---|
| How they start | You decide to send them | Triggered automatically by customer behaviour |
| Timing | Send now, scheduled, or repeating | Runs whenever the trigger event happens |
| Best for | Announcements, promotions, newsletters | Automated sequences (cart recovery, welcome series) |
| Audience | You choose who receives it | Automatically targets the right customer |
| Interaction | You initiate | The customer initiates (by their action) |
Use both together: Use workflows for your always-on automations (abandoned cart, welcome series). Use campaigns for timely messages (flash sale, new product launch, holiday promo).
Letting Your AI Assistant Create Campaigns
xUpsell has no AI assistant of its own. Instead you connect the AI you already use — Claude, ChatGPT or any other MCP-compatible client — and it can build campaigns for you.
- Go to Settings → Connect AI and copy Your connection URL
- Add it to your AI client’s Connectors / MCP servers settings and approve the connection in your Shopify admin
- Describe what you want — for example:
“Create a campaign announcing our spring sale, scheduled for next Friday at 2 PM”
- Your AI creates the campaign, its schedule and its message content — as a draft
- Open it in xUpsell, review it, adjust the audience or the copy
- Publish it yourself when you’re ready
Worth knowing before you ask:
- Drafts don’t send. Nothing reaches a subscriber until the campaign is published, and publishing is a separate, deliberate step. AI clients like Claude stop and ask you to confirm first, and xUpsell independently refuses to publish a campaign with a missing or past send time.
- Publishing an “immediate” campaign sends it straight away to every subscriber — and once a send is queued nothing can recall it. Be sure before you approve.
- Campaigns your AI creates go to all subscribers. Segment, single-subscriber and event targeting are yours to set in the campaign editor.
- Don’t ask for personalization tags such as
{{user.name}}— they aren’t filled in and would be delivered as written. - A campaign that has already been published can’t be published again. Duplicate it (or ask for a new one) instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I edit a campaign after publishing?
While it’s still Scheduled, yes — open it and change the title, description, audience, message or send time. Moving the send time reschedules it cleanly, with no risk of a double send. Once a campaign is Running, Completed or Canceled it can no longer be edited; duplicate it and publish the copy instead.
Can I send a campaign to specific subscribers only?
Yes. Under Target audience choose Specific subscribers and pick the people you want, or Specific segments to target a Shopify segment.
Do campaign sends count toward my plan limit?
Yes. Each email or SMS delivered to one subscriber counts as one send, and email and SMS share the same allowance. A campaign to 200 subscribers is 200 sends. Push notifications never count — they’re unlimited on every plan. Sends that fail don’t count.
What happens if I run out of sends mid-campaign?
Email and SMS stop going out and those steps are marked as failed with “Send limit reached … Please upgrade your plan.” Push notifications keep working. To carry on, go to Settings → Plans & billing — an upgrade takes effect as soon as you approve the charge. There are no per-send charges on any plan, so sending pauses rather than costing you extra, and you can never run up a surprise bill. See the Plans & Billing guide for what each plan includes.
Can I preview my campaign before sending?
Yes. Open the campaign and the Workflow Preview card shows the whole message flow. To change anything, tick the campaign on the Campaigns page and click Edit workflow — the editor also has a Preview button.
What’s the difference between scheduled and repeating?
A scheduled campaign sends once at a specific date and time. A repeating campaign (Make recurring) sends again and again on a set schedule — daily, weekly, monthly or yearly — until the end date you set, or forever if you don’t set one.
Can my AI assistant create campaigns?
Yes — see Letting Your AI Assistant Create Campaigns above. It sets up the schedule and writes the message, always as a draft, and you decide whether it goes out.
My campaign was scheduled but didn’t send. Why?
Check these in order:
- Is the campaign published? Its status should be Scheduled, not Draft
- Does its message flow actually contain an Email, Card or Notification step? (Tick the campaign → Edit workflow)
- Have you selected a plan? Sending is blocked until you pick one — free counts
- Have you reached your send limit? Look for a red banner on your Home page, or open Settings → Plans & billing
- Do you have subscribers who match the audience you chose?