# How to send a broadcast email campaign Open a draft campaign, pick your audience, preview the email, send yourself a test, and launch — a one-off broadcast to your parents, coaches, or students. Canonical URL: https://gigpie.com/docs/how-tos/admins/send-a-broadcast-campaign --- ## Overview Use this guide to send a one-off broadcast email: open a draft campaign, pick your audience, preview what recipients will see, send yourself a test, and launch. ## Before you start - You have a draft campaign with subject and content, or you're ready to write one. - You have a segment built for the audience you want to reach (or you'll use one of the built-in ones like all parents). ## Why this matters A campaign in Gigpie is either a one-off **Broadcast** (what this guide covers) or a multi-step **Journey** automation — the Campaigns list shows both kinds side by side, along with every status a campaign can be in: DRAFT while you're still writing it, ACTIVE or PAUSED once a journey is running, and COMPLETED once a broadcast has gone out. A draft stays fully editable — subject, content blocks, and audience — right up until you launch it. The Live Preview panel renders your actual in-progress content, not a cached version, so what you see is what a recipient gets: same subject, same blocks, same footer with your company's address and an unsubscribe link. Before you commit to a real send, "Send test" saves your draft and emails up to three of your own addresses so you can proofread it as a real inbox would show it — genuinely useful since it renders through the same compile pipeline as the real send, catching broken merge tags or formatting issues before they reach a parent's inbox. Launch is the one irreversible step: it freezes the audience list at that moment and starts sending right away, unless you've checked "Schedule for later." There's no draft-then-approve step after that — review the audience and content carefully before you click it. ## Tips - Audience segments show live member counts right on the checkbox row — a quick sanity check that you're about to reach the right number of people before you launch. - You can select more than one segment; the campaign sends to the union of everyone in any selected segment. - "Send test" only delivers to your own company's admin/staff addresses, not real recipients — it's meant for proofreading, not a partial real send. - Merge tags like `{{first_name}}` and `{{company_name}}` show as literal placeholders in the preview and in test sends — they only resolve to real values for the actual recipient at send time. - If you need this to go out at a specific time instead of immediately, check "Schedule for later" before you launch — otherwise launching sends right away. ## Steps ### Step 1: Sign in as an admin Use your admin account credentials to access the dashboard. ![Company Dashboard after signing in as an admin](https://gigpie.com/how-tos/admins/send-a-broadcast-campaign/01-sign-in-as-an-admin.png) ### Step 2: Navigate to Campaigns Expand Marketing in the sidebar, then click Campaigns to see every campaign and its status. ![Campaigns list showing a PAUSED journey, a COMPLETED broadcast, and a DRAFT broadcast with recipient, sent, suppressed, failed, and click counts](https://gigpie.com/how-tos/admins/send-a-broadcast-campaign/02-navigate-to-campaigns.png) ### Step 3: Open the draft campaign Click a draft campaign's name to open the composer. Edit the subject, preheader, and content blocks on the left — the Live Preview on the right updates as you type. ![Campaign composer showing subject, preheader, and content blocks on the left, with a rendered Live Preview of the email on the right](https://gigpie.com/how-tos/admins/send-a-broadcast-campaign/03-open-the-draft-campaign.png) ### Step 4: Select the audience Scroll down to Audience and check which segment(s) should receive this campaign — each row shows its current member count. ![Audience section with segment checkboxes and member counts, Schedule section, Save button, Test send fields, and Launch campaign button](https://gigpie.com/how-tos/admins/send-a-broadcast-campaign/04-select-the-audience.png) ### Step 5: Preview a test send Enter your own email in one of the Test send fields, then click Send test to get a real copy in your inbox before you launch. ![Test send section with an email address filled in and the Send test button ready to click](https://gigpie.com/how-tos/admins/send-a-broadcast-campaign/05-preview-a-test-send.png) ### Step 6: Review before launching Once the content and audience look right, click Launch campaign. This freezes the audience and starts sending immediately unless you scheduled it for later. ![Launch section with the Launch campaign button ready to submit](https://gigpie.com/how-tos/admins/send-a-broadcast-campaign/06-review-before-launching.png) ## What you'll accomplish - You can open a draft campaign and read its content and live preview together. - You can pick which segment(s) receive the campaign. - You can send a test copy to your own inbox before committing to a real send. - You know Launch is the point of no return — it freezes the audience and starts sending immediately unless scheduled. ## Related Guides - [How to work leads in the CRM pipeline](/docs/how-tos/admins/work-leads-in-the-crm) - The same contacts you email here often start as leads in the pipeline - [CRM & Marketing Automation](/features/crm-marketing-automation) - How broadcasts, journeys, and segments fit together