# Send an email campaign
In this guide, we'll walk you through setting up and sending your first email marketing campaign with Bird.
### What you'll need
* An installed [Email channel](https://docs.bird.com/applications/channels/channels/supported-channels/email) instance.
* An [Email message template](https://docs.bird.com/applications/content/email-templates).
* A [list](https://docs.bird.com/applications/audience/lists-and-segments/concepts/lists) or [segment](https://docs.bird.com/applications/audience/lists-and-segments/concepts/segments) or customers that have opted-in to receive marketing messages on Email.
### Step one: Set up your Email campaign
1. Navigate to your Marketing Dashboard
2. Click Campaigns, then select Create in the top-right corner
3. Choose Email as your campaign channel
4. Give your campaign a clear, memorable name.
### Step two: Select your audience
1. Choose your recipient list or segment.
2. Select one or multiple audience lists by searching and adding each one.
3. Optionally, exclude specific groups from receiving this campaign.
4. Open Advanced settings to see the following options:
* Skip frequently messaged contacts
* Limit maximum recipients
* Global & Percentage Holdout settings
5. Click **Save and continue**.
### Step three: Choose your Email sender
1. Use the **Send from** dropdown to choose the Email account that you want to send your campaign from.
2. In the **Sender name** field, enter the name that you want to send your email from.
3. In the **Sender email address** field, enter the email address you want to send your campaign from. The domain name is automatically filled based on the **Send from** email channel you chose.
4. \[Optional] If you want to use a different 'Reply-to' address, uncheck the **Use this as your reply-to address** box, and enter the email address that you want to use in the new field.
### Step four: Schedule your campaign
Choose your sending type:
* Send immediately
* Fixed time β schedule a future date and time
* Optimal send time - delivers messages at the best time for each recipient.
* Gradual send β control delivery over time
* Auto-warmup - ideal for new IPs
{% hint style="warning" %}
If scheduling:
* Select the date and time
* Adjust the timezone as needed
* Set a fallback timezone for unknown locations
* Choose a time when your audience is most likely to engage
{% endhint %}
### Step five: Organize and track
Navigate to **More Settings** to setup the following.
1. Add tags to categorize your campaign.
{% hint style="info" %}
Want to add a new tag? Start typing in the tag you want to create, and then select **Create New Tag.** This tag will then be saved to your Campaign tag list, ready to use for any other Campaign.
{% endhint %}
2. Set up custom tracking parameters to override defaults:
* Use dropdown to add parameters
* Define Medium (e.g., email, social, CPC)
* Toggle Customize tracking parameters on/off
3. Click **Locale matching** to ensure recipients get the right language version.
### Step six: Choose your content
1. Click the **Select a template** button to choose the [Email message template](https://docs.bird.com/applications/content/email-templates) that you want to send as your campaign. You'll be able to see a preview of your message.
{% hint style="danger" %}
Can't see your email template? Make sure it's set to **published.** You can check this by going to **content > email templates > selecting your template.**
{% endhint %}
2. \[Optional] If your message template is localized into more than one language, choose the language that you want to send it in.
3. If there are variables in your template message, map them in the **Template variables** section.
4. Click **Continue to preview**.
### Step seven: Preview and test your campaign
1. Click Send test to preview the campaign before launch. Select **Send test** in the top right hand corner.
2. Click the **Simulated contact** dropdown and search and select for a contact that you want to send a test message to. You can choose an: **Email Address, List or Contact.**
3. For **Contacts**: If the test message recipient has more than one email on their profile, select the email that you want to send to.
4. Click **Send a test message**.
{% hint style="success" %}
You've just sent your first Email campaign! Time to sit back, relax, and watch the results roll in.
{% endhint %}
### FAQs
#### I can't send a test message. I'm seeing an error message that says βAn error occurred while trying to send the message. Please, try again.β
This might stem from an unhealthy email channel. Visit **Enable Channels** > **Email** and double-click on the channel you want to inspect. If that channel is not healthy, you will see error messages to explain the issues. Once you have addressed these issues, you can try to send your email campaign again.
