Sending a marketing campaign to a group of clients
Text or email a group of clients, like everyone who hasn't been in for three months or this month's birthdays, with opt-outs handled for you.
A campaign is one text or email to a group of clients: a quiet week's free spots, a new service, a nudge to everyone who hasn't been back in a while. FullColumn picks out the clients for you, only sends to those who've agreed to marketing, and adds the opt-out to every message.
Who can send campaigns
Campaigns are on Messages → Campaigns for people with Send campaigns, set up automatic marketing, and make promo codes (with "Give discounts" too). Managers have it to start with, and owners have every permission. On a Front desk device, the tab shows a lock and asks for the person's password first (shared devices).
Sending a campaign
- Open Messages → Campaigns and press New campaign (or N).
- Under Who should get it?, choose a group. The box below shows how many clients will get it, with a few of their names.
- In Send as, choose SMS or Email.
- Give it a Campaign name if you like. It's just for you (clients don't see it); left empty, it's named after the group.
- For an email, write the Subject (left empty, it's "News from" and your salon's name).
- Write the Message, or press Use a suggestion for a starting point that suits the group.
- Check the preview, then press Send to N clients, and confirm.
The campaign starts going out straight away and can't be stopped or undone, so check the preview and the count first.
Choosing who gets a campaign
| Group | Who's in it |
|---|---|
| Everyone | Every client who's happy to hear from you |
| Haven't been in | No visit in the last number of days you choose (6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, or any number), and nothing booked |
| Recent clients | Visited in the last number of days you choose (2 weeks, 30 days, 3 months, or any number) |
| Birthdays | Clients with a birthday in the month you choose (this month to start with) |
| By stylist | Clients who've seen that stylist in the last 12 months |
| By service | Clients who've ever had that service |
| By tag | Clients with that tag on their profile: type it exactly as it appears there |
The Haven't been back list in Reports → Clients has a Text or email them button that starts a campaign to those clients (the Clients report).
Who's left out of every campaign
Whatever group you choose, a campaign only goes to clients who:
- have a mobile number (for SMS) or an email address (for email)
- have Marketing texts or Marketing emails switched on, for the way you're sending (marketing consent)
- aren't archived
A text also isn't sent to a mobile that any client card has opted out on (a family sharing a phone opts out together), and an email isn't sent to an address that's unsubscribed. Those show in Messages as Not sent with the reason. A campaign goes to at most 5,000 clients. When more match, the box under Who should get it? says "More match: only the first 5,000 get it. Narrow the audience to reach the rest.", and the confirmation says so too.
Writing the campaign message
- Insert adds
{first_name}(each client's first name),{book_link}(your booking page) and{business}(your salon's name). - Texts start with your salon's name ("Halo Hair: Hi Sarah…") unless the message already says it, so clients know who it's from even on the shared number.
- Every text ends with "Opt out: Reply Stop", and a STOP reply opts the client out of your texts (STOP replies).
- Every email ends with an unsubscribe link, which opts them out of your marketing emails and texts.
The count under the message includes your salon's name and the opt-out, measured with the longest first name in the group, and shows the total: "1 text each × 240 = 240 texts". An emoji or special character brings a text's limit from 160 to 70 characters.
How many SMS credits a campaign uses
For a text campaign, FullColumn shows "About N SMS credits needed" and how many are left this month, and the confirmation repeats it.
- If the campaign needs more than you have left before your monthly limit on extra texts, the texts past the limit aren't sent. Raise the limit in Settings → Plan & billing first if you want them all to go (SMS credits).
- On the free trial, a campaign can only use what's left of the trial's 50 texts.
- If FullColumn has paused your marketing texts, the campaign screen says so and no texts go.
Campaigns wait behind confirmations and reminders, so appointment messages are never held up by a big send.
Following a campaign after it's sent
Messages → Campaigns lists your latest 50 campaigns: the name, how many clients, SMS or email, the group, who sent it and when. A bar shows sent (green), still sending and not delivered. Tap a campaign to see the message it sent. Each message is also in Messages → Activity, marked Campaign, and on each client's profile. To see whether it brought clients in, look at the Marketing report.
Common questions
Why is the count lower than my number of clients?
Only clients with a mobile (or email) who've agreed to marketing are counted, and archived clients never are. Switch between SMS and Email to see each count.
Can I send a campaign later, or on a schedule?
Campaigns go when you press send. For messages that go by themselves, like birthday wishes or "not seen for a while", use automatic marketing.
Can I send a campaign by text and email at once?
Each campaign is one or the other. Send a second campaign by email to reach clients without a mobile; clients who have both, and agreed to both, will get both.
Do clients who've booked online get campaigns?
Only if they ticked "Send me the occasional offer or news" when they booked, or agreed some other way and you've switched their marketing on.