Why aren't my campaign messages sending?
Campaigns are a great way to engage your subscribers with both automated content and targeted messages with numerous automations. With multiple options for triggers and automations, you can create customized series that all work without needing daily oversight.
If you're in a situation where campaign messages are not being sent out, there could be a couple of simple reasons for that. In this article, we'll cover the most common reasons why a campaign isn't sending messages.
Campaign Status
The campaign status would refer to the current campaign's sending. A campaign needs to be active in order for new subscribers or tagged individuals to trigger that campaign.
If the status is showing as "Draft," that would mean the campaign hasn't been started. Just click the Activate icon to change the status.
A paused campaign will not let any new subscribers in and any subscribers currently in that series would be paused where they are in the campaign. No messages will be sent until that campaign is reactivated.
Campaign Trigger
The trigger for the campaign would be what actually causes the message to send. There are two kinds of triggers for campaigns and we'll cover both below.
On Subscribe
When using the "On Subscribe" trigger for your campaigns, only newly added subscribers are going to be able to receive that campaign. Anyone currently on the list, as they have already subscribed, would not be triggered to start that campaign.
When specifying a certain trigger for On Subscribe, make sure it matches the method they're being added from. If using 'Source is API', any subscribers added through an integration will trigger the series. If subscribers join your list through an AWeber form or an import, they wouldn't be triggered to start that same series. If you're setting up multiple filters for that campaign trigger, make sure that they don't contradict each other as well.
For example, for subscription source, you wouldn't have a source as webform AND import, as they can only be added to the list through one method at a time.
Remember that if you want any subscriber added to that list to receive that campaign, you don't have to designate a filter.
On Tag
Having the campaign trigger, "Tag Applied", means the campaign will trigger only when a specific tag is applied to a subscriber. If that tag is applied to a subscriber before the campaign is activated, those subscribers will not receive it. The campaign has to be active so it can register the tag being applied to the subscriber.
If the tag was applied before the campaign was activated, you can still add those subscribers to the campaign. You would want to first change that trigger to a different tag. Once you've done that and ensured the campaign is active, you can then apply that new tag to those subscribers.
Wait Action
On the topic of Wait actions, any subscriber that enters a wait action in your Campaign, that subscriber will wait the amount of time set in that action. How this can tie into messages not appearing to send would be if you reduced a Wait period down from where it was originally, as subscribers will wait the amount of time the action dictates when they first entered the Campaign. So if you change the wait time after the subscribers have joined that Campaign, then they are still going to wait the initial time. However, any new subscribers added to that Campaign would have the new wait intervals.
As an example, a subscriber enters your campaign where the first action is a wait of 6 days.
If a day after that subscriber joined, you adjusted that wait time to only 1 day, that subscriber is already in the original wait, so they will still have to wait that original 6 day interval to get that next action in the campaign. Any new subscribers added after the wait is updated will have the new wait time.
