Send Your First Blast
A step-by-step walkthrough for sending a one-off email or SMS to a specific group of contacts — the three parts you need and the order to do them in.
Sending an email or SMS blast in Gleantap takes three parts:
A segment — who you're sending to (e.g., summer-camp customers).
A template — what you're sending (or draft it in the campaign itself).
A campaign — the send itself, tying the segment and template together.
You can build them in any order, but the smoothest flow is: segment → template → campaign. This page walks through the full sequence with a running example: sending a promo to your summer-camp customers.
For deeper reference on each step, follow the links.
Step 1 — Build your audience segment
A segment is a saved list of contacts matching criteria you define. Building it first means you can reuse it for future blasts and preview the count before sending.
Example: everyone who bought the "Summer Camp 2026" product in the last 12 months.
Go to Audience → Segments.
Click the green + button in the top-right to create a new segment.
Name it (e.g.,
Summer Camp 2026 attendees).Set it to Dynamic so it stays fresh as new attendees are added.
Click Add Filter. Under Purchase Info, choose Has Purchased Item, then select the summer-camp product. Add another filter under Personal Info → Added On → In Last 365 Days.
Click Calculate to see the count. Click Save.
Deep dive: Creating Segments, Filter Options.
Tip: if you're not sure how a specific filter behaves (e.g., "less than" excludes null values), see Filter Options → How missing data is handled.
Step 2 — Prepare your template
You have three ways to build the content:
Save a reusable template first (recommended for anything you'll send again) — go to Campaigns → Templates → +, design your email/SMS, save it. Then pick it during campaign creation.
Draft inline during campaign creation — for one-offs.
Duplicate an existing template — go to Templates, click the three dots on any existing template → Duplicate.
For SMS blasts, "template" just means the message body; you can write it directly in the campaign step.
Example: design an email template 2026-08 Summer Camp Followup with a subject line, greeting merge tag ({first_name}), body copy, and a CTA button. Save it.
Deep dive: Creating Templates, Working with Templates.
Step 3 — Create and send the campaign
Now you tie the segment and the template together.
For an email blast
Go to Campaigns → Email Campaigns. Click the green + button. Choose regular (or A/B if you want to test variants).
Overview — name the campaign (internal only, e.g.,
2026-08 Summer Camp Blast). Save & continue.Content — set the subject line (use Personalize to add
{first_name}if you want), pre-header text, and pick your template (or draft plain text / design from scratch). Save & continue.To — pick your segment (
Summer Camp 2026 attendees). Click Calculate Target Audience — double-check the count before proceeding. Optionally add exclusion segments. Save & continue.Review & Send —
Pick the From email (and Reply-to if you want responses to go elsewhere).
Choose Send ASAP, Send Later (schedule a specific time), or Intelligent Sending (AI) — which delivers to each recipient at their most-engaged time.
Click Send Campaign.
Deep dive: Email Campaign.
For an SMS blast
Go to Campaigns → SMS Campaigns. Click the green + button.
Message — name the campaign, pick your From Number, write your message (320-character max). Add merge tags with Personalize. Attach an image if needed (costs 2 extra SMS credits per recipient).
Audience — pick your segment. Confirm the opt-in keyword filter matches your setup. Click Calculate Target Audience.
Time/Trigger — pick Send ASAP or Specific Date & Time.
Confirm — a summary shows the send count and any credit overage. Click Confirm to send.
Deep dive: SMS Campaign.
Before you hit send — a quick checklist
After you send
Watch stats live. As the campaign begins delivering, open the campaign detail view to see opens, clicks, replies, bounces, and unsubscribes update in real time.
Email deep dive: Email Campaign Stats
SMS deep dive: SMS Campaign Stats
Reply management. Replies come into your Inbox. See Filtering Conversations to filter to just your campaign's responses.
Duplicate for future blasts. Once a blast worked well, duplicate it (three-dot menu on the campaign) so you don't rebuild from scratch next month.
Common scenarios
"I want to send this to summer-camp customers who haven't visited in 30 days"
Build a segment combining two filters:
Purchase Info → Has Purchased Item → Summer Camp product
Visit Info → Last Visit → Over Days: 30
Send the campaign to that segment. See Filter Options for operator details.
"I want to send different content to two subsets"
Two options:
Two separate campaigns — one per segment. Simple, full control.
A/B campaign — one campaign, two variants. Use for testing the same message with tweaks. See A / B Campaign.
"I want to send this every time a new customer joins that segment"
Change Send ASAP to Automated / Ongoing (email) or Ongoing (SMS) in the timing step. New contacts entering the segment will receive it automatically.
"I want to send from a different email address"
The From dropdown in Review & Send lists all authenticated sender emails on your account. If the one you want isn't there, set it up in Configure → Configure Email. See Configure Email.
"I sent to the wrong segment — how do I stop it?"
Open the campaign and change its status to Paused. See Updating Campaign Status. If it's already partway through delivery, you can pause the remainder — the messages already sent can't be recalled.
Related pages
Email Campaign — full detail on the email campaign builder
SMS Campaign — full detail on the SMS campaign builder
Creating Segments — how segments work
Creating Templates — reusable message content
Ongoing vs One Time — when to use each timing option
Sending a Test — always do this before hitting send
Understanding Suppression — why some contacts won't receive
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