Campaign states
A campaign can be Draft, Active, Paused, Completed, Archived, or "Attention Needed". Plain-English meaning for each, and what to do when you see them.
Every campaign has a status that tells you what it's doing — or why it's not doing anything. Status appears as a coloured badge on the Campaigns list and at the top of each campaign's detail page.
This page explains each status, what the system is actually doing in that state, and — critically — what to do when you see the ones that worry people.
The six statuses
| Status | What it means | Is it sending? |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | The campaign is not sending yet. It may be unfinished, or fully set up and waiting for you to launch it. | No |
| Active | Normal running state. | Yes, during the configured hours |
| Paused | You stopped it, bounce protection stopped it, or the agent paused it while starting an enabled replacement campaign. All data is preserved. | No |
| Completed | Every lead has reached the last step of the sequence. | No — the campaign is done |
| Archived | Hidden from the default Campaigns list. | No |
| Attention Needed | Something needs you to look at it. | Sometimes — depends on the reason |
The two that confuse people most are Completed and Attention Needed. Both look like errors to new users, and neither actually is.
Draft
You started the new campaign wizard and the campaign is not sending yet. It may be an unfinished wizard draft, or it may be a fully created campaign waiting for a final launch review.
What the system is doing: nothing. The campaign shell exists but isn't sending.
What to do: open the campaign. If the wizard resumes, finish the remaining steps and click Create Campaign. If the campaign detail page opens with a Launch campaign button, review Leads, Sequences, and Options, then launch only when you're ready for emails to start. Delete the draft only if you've changed your mind.
Active
Normal running state. The campaign is sending emails on its configured schedule, the AI is watching performance, and replies are flowing into the inbox.
One thing to know: "Active" doesn't mean "sending right now" — it means "allowed to send during its configured hours." If you set a campaign to send Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm, and look at it on a Sunday at midnight, it'll be Active but not sending. That's normal.
For a campaign to actually send right now, three things need to be true:
- Status is Active.
- Current time is within the campaign's sending window (see Options tab).
- The sending inboxes are also Active (not Paused, Error, or Warmup).
Paused
You paused the campaign, bounce protection paused it, or the agent paused it while starting an enabled replacement campaign. The agent does not pause a campaign by itself. Sending stops immediately. All data, settings, and progress are preserved.
What the system is doing:
- ✅ Remembering where each lead is in the sequence.
- ✅ Still receiving replies for already-sent emails (they still flow to the inbox).
- ❌ Not sending new emails.
- ❌ Not touching your billing.
To resume: click Resume campaign. The campaign picks up exactly where it left off.
Completed
Every lead in the campaign has been through the entire sequence. There's nothing more queued for the current set of leads.
This is the state that most confuses users, who often say "Why can't I send this email?" when looking at a Completed campaign. The answer is: the campaign finished its sequence for everyone in it. That's the right outcome, not an error.
What the system is doing:
- ✅ Preserving all the data — you can see analytics, review replies, export leads.
- ✅ Still receiving replies for already-sent emails.
- ❌ Not re-sending the same emails to the same leads (the platform tracks which step each lead received; it won't duplicate).
If you still want to reach the people in a Completed campaign:
- Click Resume campaign in the header. Resume is available on Completed campaigns. Add new eligible leads from the Leads tab via Import Leads (CSV) or Add Leads → Lead Database, and they'll go through the sequence from step 1. Existing leads won't get re-emailed.
- Duplicate the campaign. Use Duplicate Campaign from the three-dots menu on the Campaigns list to start fresh with new copy.
- Start a new campaign with a fresh eligible list. Duplicate, blocklist, and unsubscribe rules still apply, so the system may skip people already used in other non-archived campaigns.
Archived
Hidden from the default Campaigns list view so it doesn't clutter your screen. You can still find archived campaigns from the Status filter on the Campaigns list.
What the system is doing:
- ✅ Preserving everything exactly as it was.
- ❌ Not sending.
Useful for keeping old records around without distracting yourself. If you need to work from an archived campaign again and there is no restore action visible, duplicate it or contact support.
Attention Needed
This is the one that looks scariest and is actually the most routine. The name sounds like "something is broken" — but it really just means "I need you to look at this before I can keep going."
Common reasons a campaign moves to Attention Needed:
| Reason | What actually happened | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Bounce rate too high | Bounce protection paused the campaign to protect your sender reputation | Review the list quality, remove bad addresses, then resume |
| Provider safety state | The outreach provider reported a state that needs review before sending continues | Open the campaign and read the status reason before resuming |
| AI campaign management flagged the campaign | Performance or deliverability metrics need attention; this may appear as a recommendation rather than a status change | Open the campaign's AI Agent tab and read the Key Finding |
| Inbox or domain issue | An inbox or domain used by the campaign has a health/authentication problem | See health & troubleshooting |
What to do: open the campaign and read the status reason or the latest AI Agent entry. If the issue is bounce protection, clicking Resume campaign shows a confirmation dialog before sending can continue.
Attention Needed is not an error state. It's a safety pause — the system saw something that warranted a human eye before continuing, so it stopped itself.
How transitions happen
Most transitions are triggered by you — clicking Launch campaign, Pause, Resume, or Archive. A few happen automatically:
- Draft → Active when you click Launch campaign, or when auto-launch was enabled during setup and finalization completes.
- Active → Completed when the last lead finishes the last step.
- Active → Attention Needed when the system detects a problem (automatic safety pause).
- Active → Paused when AI campaign management pauses it as part of an enabled replacement-campaign action.
No automatic transition from Attention Needed → Active. You always confirm before the campaign resumes.
You'll know your campaigns are in good shape when…
- Most of them are Active (green) during working hours.
- Occasional Paused entries are ones you paused deliberately.
- Occasional Completed entries are campaigns that finished successfully — good, not bad.
- Attention Needed is rare and each instance is resolvable in a few minutes.
- You never have Error states lingering (those should all be at the inbox level, not campaign level — see the Email Accounts status states).
If something's not right
The campaign is stuck in Draft but I thought I launched
Open the campaign. If the wizard resumes, click through to the remaining step and create the campaign. If the campaign detail page opens with a Launch campaign button, setup already finished — the campaign is waiting for you to review and launch it.
The campaign is Paused but I never paused it
If AI campaign management started an enabled replacement campaign, the agent may have paused the old campaign as part of that paired action. Open the AI Agent tab and look for the replacement-campaign entry.
Otherwise, check bounce protection and ask team members who have access. The agent does not pause a campaign as a standalone action.
"Completed" but I still have leads to email
The campaign ran through its sequence with everyone. To keep reaching those same leads, duplicate the campaign — this creates a fresh copy ready to run. See duplicate a campaign.
"Attention Needed" with no banner explaining why
Refresh the page. If the banner still isn't showing, open the AI Agent tab — the most recent entry should explain the condition. If there's no AI Agent entry and no banner, something's out of sync — contact support with the campaign name.
I can resume a Paused campaign but nothing starts sending
Check:
- Current time is within the configured sending hours.
- The sending inboxes are Active and have green flame icons.
- There are leads still mid-sequence (if everyone's already completed the sequence, Resume reopens the campaign but nothing sends until you add new leads).
Related
- Options tab — where to change sending schedules, AI campaign management, and other per-campaign settings
- AI Agent tab — where the system explains why it paused or flagged a campaign
- Bounce protection — the most common cause of Attention Needed
- Billing — why pausing a campaign doesn't change your bill