Campaigns

Campaigns are multi-step email sequences sent automatically to a list of candidates. Use them for cold outreach, re-engagement, and any scenario where you want follow-ups sent on a schedule.

What a campaign is#

A campaign has three parts:

• A sequence — An ordered list of email steps (e.g., initial message, follow-up in 3 days, final follow-up in 7 days).
• An enrolled candidate list — The people the sequence is sent to.
• A sending email account — One of your team's connected mailboxes sends the messages.

Candidates progress through the sequence automatically at the intervals you define, unless they reply or are removed.

Creating a campaign#

From Sourcer → Campaigns, click New campaign and provide:

• Name — Internal label.
• Sending account — Which of your connected email accounts to send from.
• Associated job — Optional. Links the campaign to a specific job so replies surface on that job's pipeline.

Writing the sequence#

For each step, configure:

• Interval — How long after the previous step to send (e.g., 3 days).
• Subject line — Supports variables like {{candidate.firstName}}, {{job.title}}.
• Body — The message. Variables work here too. Previous steps in the same thread reuse the original subject line to keep the conversation threaded.

You can have as many steps as you want, though 3–5 is typical.

Template immutability#

Once a campaign has enrolled candidates, the sequence template is immutable for those candidates. Editing the sequence creates a new version.

• Candidates already enrolled continue on the version they were enrolled under.
• Newly enrolled candidates get the new version.

This avoids weird half-sent sequences when you update a template mid-flight. If you want everyone to get the new version, you can un-enroll candidates from the old one and re-enroll them on the new version.

Enrolling candidates#

Candidates can be added to a campaign from:

• Sourcer Search results — Bulk select and Add to campaign. See Search.
• The Candidates list — Bulk select and Add to campaign. See Candidates.
• A job's pipeline — Right-click or use the card menu to enroll.

Enrolling a candidate requires they have a verified email. If enrichment hasn't happened yet, Elly will prompt you to enrich (5 credits per candidate).

Activating and pausing#

A campaign has one of two statuses:

• Active — New enrollments start sending immediately; scheduled steps fire on time.
• Paused — No new sends. Candidates who've received step N stay at step N until you resume; the clock on their next interval restarts from the moment you resume.

Pausing is safe — nothing is lost — and is the right move whenever you need to review a sequence mid-flight.

Reply detection#

Elly watches the connected sending account for replies via Gmail or Outlook webhooks. When a reply is detected:

• The candidate is automatically removed from the pending sequence (their state flips to Replied).
• The reply is attached to the candidate's timeline.
• You're notified so you can follow up manually.

Reply detection is not perfect — auto-responders and out-of-office messages sometimes get flagged. If a candidate is incorrectly marked as replied, you can re-enroll them manually.

Candidate states#

Within a campaign, each candidate has one of these states:

State	Meaning
Active	Currently in the sequence; next step is scheduled.
Completed	Reached the end of the sequence without replying.
Replied	Sent a reply; removed from further sends.
Failed	A send permanently failed (e.g., the email address bounced).

Retry and failure handling#

• Transient failures (temporary service issues) — Elly retries automatically.
• Hard bounces — Candidate is marked Failed and no further sends are attempted. The reason appears on the candidate's campaign detail.
• Rate limits — If the sending account hits a provider rate limit, sends are slowed but not lost.

Reviewing performance#

Each campaign has a performance page showing:

• Sent — Total emails delivered.
• Open rate — If the sending account supports tracking.
• Reply rate — Percent of recipients who replied.
• Completion rate — Percent who reached the final step without replying.

Use these to compare sequences over time. A strong cold-outreach sequence typically lands in the 10–20% reply range; below 5% means the subject line or opening paragraph needs work.