Create a Campaign

The new campaign wizard is the main flow for creating a campaign. It's 4 steps; most take a minute or two, but one of them (finding leads) can run for up to 15 minutes in the background — we'll flag that when we get there.

Your work saves as you go. You can leave mid-wizard and come back, and the Draft will be waiting for you on the Campaigns list.

Before you start

Make sure you have:

1. At least one sending inbox ready. A ready inbox has green flame icon and Active status on the Email Accounts page. If you don't have one yet, set one up first — the wizard won't let you launch without one.
2. An idea of who you're contacting. Either a list (a spreadsheet of names and emails) or a description of the type of person you want to reach (e.g. "CFOs at SaaS companies in the UK").
3. An angle. Why are you reaching out? A podcast invite? An audit offer? A direct pitch? You'll pick one of four email methods in Step 3.

If you're missing any of those, see Getting started first.

The 4 steps

The wizard shows a progress bar at the top, so you always know where you are.

1. Name — give the campaign a name
2. Leads — find or upload the people to email
3. Sequence — write or have the AI write your emails
4. Finalization — pick sending inboxes and create the campaign

Step 1 — Name the campaign

A single field: give it a name. Pick something you'll recognise in a list of 20 campaigns six months from now. A good format: Method | Who you're targeting | Where | Size, e.g. Podcast | UK SaaS CFOs | 50-200 employees.

Click Next. Behind the scenes, a Draft campaign is created (takes a second or two). You'll see a toast: "Campaign draft created."

Step 2 — Leads

This is where you decide who your campaign will email. Two paths:

Path A: Acquisity Lead Database (AI-found leads)

You describe your target audience; the platform's lead finder finds and verifies emails live for people matching that description. Uses creditscredits — normally one credit per verified lead delivered.

When this is the right choice: you know what kind of person you want to reach but don't have their names yet.

Path B: Upload Your Own (a spreadsheet you already have)

You upload a CSV. No credits used. See Import leads for full detail on the upload format.

When this is the right choice: you already have a list — from LinkedIn Sales Navigator, a client's CRM, a hand-built list, anywhere.

The auto-launch checkbox

The lead-source screen has a checkbox labeled Launch campaigns automatically once the setup is complete. It's on by default for AI-found leads. Leave it on only if you want the campaign to go live after lead scraping, sequence generation, and final setup finish. Turn it off if you want the campaign to land as a Draft so you can review the leads, sequence, inboxes, and settings before anything sends.

• Leave it off on your first few campaigns — you want to review before sending.
• Turn it on once you trust your setup and want to batch-launch similar campaigns.
• If you choose Upload Your Own, the checkbox is disabled and the campaign needs manual finalization.

What happens next

If you chose Path A (lead finder), you'll set your targeting filters on the next screen. See Scraping leads for the full filter breakdown — it's the deepest part of the product. When the preview looks right, Next opens the Add Leads To Campaign dialog. The default and minimum import amount is 500 leads. Standalone Acquisity workspaces remove already-owned campaign leads from the available count before import; Instantly-connected workspaces may only block duplicates during upload.

If you chose Path B (upload), you'll upload your CSV and map the columns.

After you confirm the lead search or finish the CSV upload, the platform starts doing the work. This can take 5-15 minutes. A progress screen shows what's happening. You can leave this page — the work continues. See the close-the-tab FAQ if you need to check.

Step 3 — Sequence

This is where you decide what to send.

Choose: AI-generated or custom sequence

AI Generated (recommended default): the AI writes the sequence based on your targeting and selected method. It can create multiple steps and several variants. You review and edit before anything sends.

Create your own: you build the sequence yourself in a blank editor.

Most users — especially first-timers — should pick AI Generated. You can always edit what the AI writes.

Pick an email method

Four options. Each changes the "angle" of the outreach:

Full explanation of each in Email methods.

If you uploaded a CSV, you'll be asked for targeting context

CSVs don't come with a "who is this campaign for?" note, so if you picked Path B in Step 2, the AI needs a quick description of your niche and target role before it can write your sequence. Fill in both.

Wait for the AI to generate the sequence

Another 5-15 minute async job. Same rules as Step 2 — you can leave the page and come back. The job keeps running — see the close-the-tab FAQ.

Review what the AI wrote before launch

For AI-generated campaigns, the wizard can take you from the Writing Your Email Sequence progress screen straight to finalization. That's normal. Finish Step 4 with auto-launch off, then open the created Draft and review the Sequences tab before pressing Launch campaign.

On the Sequences tab you'll see:

• Each step as its own card
• The subject line and email body for each step
• Any variants — alternate versions of the same step for A/B testingA/B testing
• The delay between steps (e.g. "Send Step 2 two days after Step 1")
• Personalization variables like {{firstName}} that get filled in per recipient

Things to check every time:

1. Read every email carefully. The AI is a draft, not a final. Anything that doesn't sound like you — change it.
2. The Step 1 opening line. This is the single most important sentence in the whole campaign. If it's generic, fix it.
3. Calls to action. Each step should have a clear, low-friction ask. "Open to a 15-minute chat?" is better than "Let me know your thoughts on synergising our mutual aims."
4. Any case study numbers in Direct method emails. If the AI pulled a number that isn't real, swap it for one that is.

You can insert more personalization variables using the Variables button. Don't overdo it — 2-4 per email is ideal. Any more and it reads as robotic.

Save edits before switching variants. Launch only after the active variants look right.

Step 4 — Finalization

Two substeps: pick your inboxes, then create the campaign.

Pick sending inboxes

A checklist of all your Active, green-flame inboxes appears. Warming-up inboxes (orange flame) are hidden — they're not ready yet.

All eligible inboxes are selected by default. That's usually what you want — spreading sending across multiple inboxes is the single biggest thing you can do for deliverabilitydeliverability. Fewer inboxes = more pressure on each one = more chance of deliverability issues.

If a brand-new inbox just turned green while you're on this page, it'll appear in the list within a few seconds (the list refreshes automatically).

Create the campaign

Click Create Campaign. The platform commits the campaign, syncs the sequence to the selected sending inboxes, and finishes setup.

This is another short async job (a few minutes). A Launching Your Campaign progress screen shows the launch tasks completing one by one.

You'll know campaign setup worked when…

• The progress screen completes all its steps and shows success.
• You auto-redirect to the campaign's detail page after ~2 seconds.
• If auto-launch was off, the campaign shows Draft and a Launch campaign button. It is not sending yet.
• If auto-launch was on, the campaign can show Active once final setup completes.
• First sends only start after the campaign is Active and inside its configured sending hours.

If something's not right

The wizard errored at some step

Stay calm — draft state is preserved. Close the wizard, go to the Campaigns list, find your Draft campaign, and re-open it. You'll resume near where you left off.

The lead finder says "error" or delivers far fewer leads than I asked for

Fewer leads than asked for usually means some matching people could not be delivered with a current verified email. They may have moved company, the email may be invalid, or the platform could not find a safe email to add. See Scraping leads and the credits page for the detail.

A hard error is usually transient — wait a few minutes and retry from the progress card on the Leads tab. If it keeps failing, check your credit balance and contact support if that looks fine.

Sequence generation takes forever

Normal range is 5-15 minutes. If it's been more than 30 minutes, see the close-the-tab FAQ, find the job, check for an error message. Retry if it failed. If it's somehow still pending after 30+ minutes, contact support.

Launch failed

Usually because no Active inboxes were selected. Go back to Step 4, tick at least one eligible inbox, and click Create Campaign again. If all your inboxes are Error, Paused, or in initial warmup, fix those first on the Email Accounts page.

I saved a draft but can't find it

The Campaigns list shows Drafts by default alongside Active campaigns. Look for the Draft badge. If you've filtered the list, clear the filter.

Related

• Scraping leads with the AI lead finder — the deep-dive for Step 2 Path A
• Import leads (CSV) — the deep-dive for Step 2 Path B
• Email methods — help picking in Step 3
• Personalization — how to use variables in your sequence
• Credits — how the lead finder billing works
• FAQ — what happens if I close the tab during a scrape — where to check on long-running background jobs
• After launch — the managing-campaigns view — the 5 tabs you'll use once the campaign is live