Create, Preview, Test, Send and Schedule Customer Campaigns

Understand the Campaign Lifecycle

Prepare Before Composing

• Enable Marketing under Manage -> Features. Campaign creation and real delivery require Branch Write unless that permission is not explicitly denied.
• Configure and test the required provider under Manage -> Messaging. SMS uses the branch SMS provider; WhatsApp uses the shop's linked local WhatsApp device in the current campaign service.
• Clean customer phone numbers, loyalty tiers and points, category assignments, last-purchase dates and per-channel opt-out records before selecting an audience.
• Agree the purpose, audience, message, delivery time and approver outside the send screen.
• Confirm the active branch before creating the campaign because its messaging adapter and audit metadata come from that branch.
• Use Preview reach first. Do not use Send now as a preview.

Choose the Audience Precisely

Create the Campaign Step by Step

1. Open Manage -> Marketing -> Campaigns and click New campaign.
2. Enter a clear internal Name. Name and Message are mandatory; only WhatsApp or SMS is accepted.
3. Choose the Channel whose provider and customer consent records have already been checked.
4. Choose the Audience and complete the tier, minimum-points, lapsed-days or category-ID field that appears.
5. Write the Message and insert supported merge chips at the cursor where needed.
6. Select Preview reach and record the reachable count, total segment count and sample names.
7. Correct source customer data or narrow the audience when the preview is unexpectedly broad, narrow or empty.
8. Select Save draft when copy, timing or audience still needs approval.

Use Merge Fields Correctly

• The live form exposes chips for {name}, {points} and {tier}; supported backend fields also include {phone}, {balance} and {lifetime} when typed exactly.
• Token matching is case-insensitive, but use the displayed lowercase spelling for review consistency.
• Preview reach does not show the rendered message. Proofread every token and test with representative customer data.

Preview Reach Before Saving

Preview is the safest read-only audience check. Posnic rebuilds the selected segment, counts every matching customer, then counts a customer as reachable only when a nonblank phone exists and that customer has not opted out of the selected channel.

• The sample contains at most five reachable customers and displays names, falling back to phone only when the name is blank.
• Preview checks that a phone string exists; it does not prove the number is valid or that the provider can deliver.
• Changing Channel can change the reachable count because SMS and WhatsApp opt-outs are independent.
• The audience query is license-wide in the current service, not restricted to the branch that created the campaign. Treat Preview as the authoritative reach count for multi-outlet shops.

Understand the Current Dry-Run Caveat

Test (dry run) first saves the form, renders a message for each reachable customer and writes recipient logs without calling SMS or WhatsApp. However, the current de-duplication query treats a dry-run record as already processed. A later real send of that same saved campaign skips those dry-run recipients.

• A dry run dispatches zero messages and leaves the campaign status unchanged, normally Draft.
• Its result alert reports reachable dry-run rows under skipped rather than sent.
• Do not dry-run the exact campaign record intended for delivery in the current release.
• Safe controlled workflow: preview the final audience, create a temporary test campaign for the dry run, inspect the result, delete that temporary row if approved, then create a fresh campaign record for real send or scheduling.
• Deleting the temporary campaign keeps its recipient send history in the database. Use a clearly labeled test name for auditability.

Save, Edit and Delete Drafts

• Save draft creates a durable campaign row with Draft status and zeroed result totals.
• Open uses the pencil action and loads the row into the same form. Saving updates name, channel, message, segment and branch metadata but preserves the existing status and counters.
• A sent campaign may be opened and edited, but editing does not make it sendable again; Send now still rejects a Sent record.
• Delete asks for confirmation and removes the campaign row. Its per-recipient send history is deliberately retained.
• Do not edit a sent record to represent a new promotion. Create a new campaign so content and delivery evidence stay aligned.

Send Now Safely

1. Create or open the approved delivery campaign and run Preview reach again.
2. Confirm the campaign is a fresh record with no dry-run logs attached.
3. Select Send now. Posnic saves current form values before it asks for confirmation.
4. Read the confirmation: reachable customers will be messaged. Cancel if any audience, copy or provider check is incomplete.
5. Confirm only once. The campaign moves through Sending and finishes as Sent or Partial.
6. Record the displayed sent, failed and skipped totals and compare them with Preview reach.
7. Open the list again and verify channel, audience label, status and accumulated result totals.

Schedule a Future Send

A future campaign is sent only when the server's due-campaign runner executes. Invalid dates are rejected, but the service does not itself reject a past time. Confirm server and branch time-zone policy before scheduling.

1. Enter a date and time in the field beside Schedule. The browser submits the datetime-local value and the server stores the parsed instant.
2. Select Schedule. Posnic saves the campaign first, then marks it Scheduled and stores schedule_at.
3. Verify the Scheduled badge in the list; the current list does not display the scheduled timestamp, so retain the approved time separately.
4. Keep the branch provider connected until the scheduled runner processes the due campaign.
5. After the due time, verify the status and result totals rather than assuming the runner dispatched it.

Read Status and Result Totals

Retry a Partial Campaign

A Partial campaign can be sent again. Posnic suppresses every customer with an earlier non-failed recipient record and retries only customers whose prior record was Failed. This makes successful deliveries idempotent per campaign and customer.

• Fix the SMS or WhatsApp provider before retrying.
• Do not change the audience or message before a retry; doing so makes the original and retry evidence describe different content.
• Customers skipped for no phone, opt-out or dry run are treated as processed and are not reconsidered on that same campaign.
• Successful retry increments the cumulative Sent count, while the earlier Failed count remains in the campaign totals.
• A fully Sent or currently Sending campaign is rejected by Send now.

Permissions, Scope and Privacy

Controlled Campaign Test Matrix

Troubleshoot Campaigns