An email campaign is a targeted batch of marketing emails sent to a defined audience with a specific goal — a promotion, a newsletter, a re-engagement effort, or an announcement. This article walks you through building and sending your first campaign using MigoSMTP, from audience preparation to post-send analysis.
Before You Send — Pre-Campaign Checklist
| ✓ | Pre-send requirement |
|---|---|
| □ | Sending domain is verified in MigoSMTP with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records published |
| □ | Contact list is clean — no purchased lists; all recipients have opted in |
| □ | Email template is designed, tested, and previewed on both desktop and mobile |
| □ | Subject line is written and tested with no spam trigger words |
| □ | Unsubscribe link is visible and functional in the email |
| □ | Monthly quota has sufficient remaining capacity for your list size |
| □ | A test email has been sent to your own inbox and reviewed |
Step 1 — Define Your Campaign Goal
Every campaign should have a single, clear goal. Mixing goals in one email dilutes your message and confuses recipients. Define yours before writing a single word:
- Drive traffic: Get recipients to click through to your website or landing page.
- Generate sales: Promote a specific product, offer, or discount.
- Build awareness: Introduce a new feature, product, or brand update.
- Re-engage inactive subscribers: Win back lapsed readers before removing them from your list.
- Gather feedback: Drive survey completions or NPS responses.
Step 2 — Prepare Your Recipient List
Your recipient list is the most important factor in campaign success. A well-maintained list of genuinely interested recipients consistently outperforms a large, low-quality list.
List preparation steps:
- Segment your audience — do not send the same email to everyone. Group recipients by interest, purchase history, location, or engagement level and tailor the content to each segment.
- Remove hard bounces — check your previous delivery reports and remove any addresses that resulted in a hard bounce. Sending to known-bad addresses hurts your reputation.
- Check suppression list — MigoSMTP automatically skips suppressed addresses, but review your suppression list to confirm it is current before a major send.
- Validate email format — run your list through a format validation check to catch obvious typos (e.g.
user@gmial.com).
Step 3 — Create Your Email Template
A well-structured marketing email contains the following elements:
| Element | Purpose | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Subject line | Determines open rate — the first thing recipients see | 40–60 characters; create curiosity or urgency; personalise with first name if possible |
| Preview text | The snippet shown after the subject line in the inbox | 60–100 characters; extend or complement the subject line; do not repeat it |
| Header / logo | Establishes brand identity immediately | Use consistent branding; include alt text on the logo image |
| Body copy | Delivers the message value | Keep it concise; use short paragraphs; lead with benefit, not feature |
| Call-to-action (CTA) | Drives the desired action | One primary CTA per email; use a button not a text link; action-oriented text (Shop Now, Get Started) |
| Footer | Legal compliance and trust | Must include: unsubscribe link, physical mailing address, your company name |
Step 4 — Send via MigoSMTP API (Bulk Sending)
For sending a campaign to a list of recipients, use the bulk email endpoint:
POST https://api.migosmtp.com/v1/email/send/bulk
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
Content-Type: application/json
{
"from": "newsletter@yourcompany.com",
"subject": "Our biggest sale of the year starts now 🎉",
"html": "<html>...your template...</html>",
"text": "Our biggest sale of the year starts now.",
"recipients": [
{ "to": "alice@example.com", "variables": { "first_name": "Alice" } },
{ "to": "bob@example.com", "variables": { "first_name": "Bob" } }
],
"track_opens": true,
"track_clicks": true,
"tags": ["campaign:summer-sale-2026"]
}
Step 5 — Scheduling Your Campaign
The time you send a marketing email significantly affects open rates. General benchmarks for India-focused campaigns:
| Day | Best Time (IST) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Consistently highest open rates across B2B and B2C |
| Wednesday | 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Strong second choice; mid-week focus |
| Thursday | 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM | Good for promotional offers — payday proximity |
| Monday | Avoid morning — send at 2:00 PM+ | Recipients catch up on weekend backlog in the morning |
| Friday–Sunday | Generally lower engagement | Exception: weekend promotional flash sales can perform well for e-commerce |
Step 6 — Monitor Campaign Results
After sending, monitor results in Reports → Delivery Reports. Filter by the tag you added to the campaign (e.g. campaign:summer-sale-2026) to isolate your campaign metrics:
- Watch the delivery rate for the first hour — a sudden drop indicates a deliverability issue.
- Monitor the bounce rate — if it exceeds 5%, pause the campaign and clean the list before resuming.
- Track opens and clicks in the first 24 hours — most engagement happens in this window.
- Check spam complaints — even one or two complaints from a small send is a serious signal to investigate.