Step 3: Create and schedule a campaign - Amazon Pinpoint
Step 3.1: Create the campaign and choose a segmentStep 3.2: Create the campaign messageStep 3.3: Schedule the campaign

Step 3: Create and schedule a campaign

A campaign is a messaging initiative that engages a specific audience segment. A campaign sends tailored messages on the days and times that you specify. You can use the console to create a campaign that sends messages through the email, push notification, or SMS channels.

In this section, you create an email campaign. You create a new campaign, choose your target segment, and create a responsive email message for the campaign. When you finish setting up the message, you choose the day and time when you want the message to be sent.

Step 3.1: Create the campaign and choose a segment

When you create a segment, you first give the segment a name. Next, you choose the segment that the campaign applies to. In this tutorial, you choose the segment that you created in Step 2.3.

To create the campaign and choose segment

  1. In the Amazon Pinpoint console, in the navigation pane, choose Campaigns.

  2. Choose Create a campaign.

  3. Under Campaign details, for Campaign name, enter a name for the campaign.

  4. For Campaign type, choose Standard campaign.

  5. For Choose a channel for this campaign, choose Email.

  6. Choose Next.

  7. On the Choose a segment page, choose Use an existing segment. Then, for Segment, choose the targeted segment that you created in Step 2.3. Choose Next.

Step 3.2: Create the campaign message

After you specify a campaign name and choose a segment, you can create your message. This tutorial includes a link to an HTML file that you can use to create your message.

This sample file uses responsive HTML to create a message that renders properly on both computers and mobile devices. It uses inline CSS to provide compatibility with a wide variety of email clients. It also includes tags that are used to personalize the message with the recipient's name and other personal information.

To create the message

  1. On the Create your message page, under Message content, choose Create a new message.

  2. For Subject, enter a subject line for the email.

  3. In a web browser, download the sample file from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/awsdocs/amazon-pinpoint-user-guide/main/examples/Pinpoint_Sample_Email.html. Save the file to your computer.

    Tip

    You can quickly save this file to your computer by right-clicking the link, and then choosing Save Link As; Otherwise, you can click the link to open the html text in a browser tab. Leave the tab open until you've completed Step 4.

  4. Open the file that you just downloaded in a text editor, such as Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (macOS). If you opened the file in a browser tab then select that tab. Press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Cmd+A (macOS) to select all of the text. Then, press Ctrl+C (Windows) or Cmd+C (macOS) to copy it.

  5. Under Message, erase the sample HTML code that's shown in the editor. Paste the HTML code that you copied in the last step

  6. (Optional) Modify the content of the message to include a message that you want to send.

    You can personalize the message for each recipient by including the name of an attribute inside two sets of curly braces. For example, the sample message includes the following text: {{User.UserAttributes.FirstName}}. This code represents the User.UserAttributes.FirstName attribute, which contains the recipient's first name. When you send the campaign, Amazon Pinpoint removes this attribute name and replaces it with the appropriate value for each recipient.

    You can experiment with other attribute names. Refer to the column headers in the spreadsheet that you imported in Step 2.2 for complete list of attribute names that you can specify in your message.

    Tip

    You can use Design view to edit the content of the message without having to edit the HTML code. To use this view, choose Design from the view selector above the message editor, as shown in the following image.

    Switching to design view for your message.

  7. In Email settings for Sender email address choose the verified email address that you created while creating the project.

  8. In Send a test email choose A segment and then choose the segment you created from the drop down list.

  9. Choose Next.

Step 3.3: Schedule the campaign

The last step in creating the campaign is to choose when to send it. In Amazon Pinpoint, you can set up your campaigns so that they're sent immediately after you launch them. You can also schedule them to be sent in the future—anywhere from 15 minutes from the current time, to six months into the future. Finally, you can schedule your messages to be sent on a recurring basis (that is, hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly). Recurring campaigns are a great way to send account or status updates where the appearance of the campaign message stays the same over time, but is populated with information that changes dynamically.

In this section, you schedule your campaign to be sent immediately after you launch it.

To schedule the campaign

  1. On the Choose when to send the campaign page, choose At a specific time. Then, under Choose when the campaign should be sent, choose Immediately. Finally, choose Next.

  2. On the Review and launch page, review all of the details of the campaign. When you're ready to send it, choose Launch campaign.

Congratulations—you've created your first campaign with Amazon Pinpoint! Because you're the only member of the segment that you created in Step 2.3, you should receive the message in your inbox within a few seconds.

Next: View campaign analytics