Email Campaigns
Use this page to write one email and send it to your customers — everyone, or a group picked by tag, loyalty tier, spend or last visit.
Quick steps
- Click Email Marketing in the admin menu, then New Campaign.
- Fill in the Campaign Name (only you see it), the Email Subject and the Message. Click a variable under Available Variables to add things like the customer's name.
- Under Target Audience, pick who gets it (or leave it blank for everyone). Click Preview Audience to check how many people match.
- Click Create Campaign. It's saved as a Draft — nothing is sent yet.
- Open the campaign and use Send Test to email yourself a copy. Read it.
- Click Send Now, or pick a date and time and click Schedule.
Always send yourself a test first.
Common questions
Who never gets the email? Customers with no email address and customers who have unsubscribed are always left out.
Can I stop a scheduled campaign? Yes — click Cancel before it sends. To send it later after all, open it and click Edit as draft.
The subject shows {{loyalty_points}} instead of the points.
Only {{customer_name}} and {{store_name}} work in the subject. Put other variables in the message.
Can I see who opened it? No. Opens and clicks aren't tracked. The campaign page shows how many were sent and how many failed.
A manager can't see Email Marketing. Email campaigns are for Admins only.
More detail: what email campaigns are
An email campaign is one email you write once and send to many customers — a sale announcement, a holiday closure, a new product drop. You can send it to everyone, or narrow it down to a group, such as "Gold tier customers who haven't been in for 60 days".
Email Campaigns is available once Email Marketing is switched on for your store. Open it from Email Marketing in the admin menu. Only Admins can create and send campaigns.
More detail: writing a campaign and its variables
Creating a Campaign
- Go to Email Marketing.
- Click New Campaign.
- Fill in the details, pick your audience (see below), and click Create Campaign.
The campaign is saved as a Draft. Nothing is sent yet.
Campaign Details
| Field | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Campaign Name | Your own name for it, e.g. "Spring Sale Announcement". Customers never see this. |
| Email Subject | The subject line customers see. |
| Message | The email itself. |
Writing the Message
Type the message like a normal email. A blank line starts a new paragraph, and a single line break stays a line break. For example:
Hi {{customer_name}},
Our spring sale starts Friday — 20% off everything in store.
See you soon,
{{store_name}}
If you know HTML, you can use it instead — a message with HTML in it is sent exactly as written.
Template Variables
Variables are filled in with each customer's own details when the email goes out. Under the message box is a list of Available Variables — click one to drop it into the message where your cursor is.
| Variable | Becomes |
|---|---|
{{customer_name}} | The customer's name |
{{customer_code}} | Their customer code |
{{loyalty_points}} | Their loyalty points balance |
{{loyalty_tier}} | Their loyalty tier name |
{{store_name}} | Your store name |
{{store_phone}} | Your store phone number |
{{store_address}} | Your store address |
{{unsubscribe_url}} | Their personal unsubscribe link |
The Email Subject only fills in {{customer_name}} and {{store_name}}. Any other variable in the subject is sent as typed. All of them work in the message.
More detail: choosing the audience
Choosing the Audience
The Target Audience section decides who gets the email. With nothing picked, it goes to everyone with an email who hasn't unsubscribed.
Customers without an email address, and customers who have unsubscribed, are always left out.
| Filter | How it works |
|---|---|
| Only active members & punch pass holders | Shown when memberships are on for your store. Only people with a current membership, or a punch pass with visits left. Handy for closures and schedule changes. |
| Customer Tags | Tick one or more tags. A customer with any of the ticked tags is included. |
| Loyalty Tier | Tick one or more tiers. A customer in any of the ticked tiers is included. |
| Min Lifetime Spend ($) | Only customers who have spent at least this much in total. |
| Max Lifetime Spend ($) | Only customers who have spent no more than this in total. |
| Days Since Last Purchase | Pick More than or Less than and type a number of days. "More than 60" finds customers who haven't bought anything in 60 days — including customers who have never bought anything. "Less than 30" finds recent shoppers. |
When you use more than one filter, a customer must match all of them. For example, ticking the Gold tier and setting More than 60 days reaches Gold customers who haven't been in for two months.
Preview Audience
Click Preview Audience to check who you're about to reach. It shows how many customers match and lists the first 10 by name and email. The count also appears at the top of the Target Audience section.
Click Export audience beside it to download everyone the filters pick as a CSV file (name, email, customer code, loyalty points and lifetime spend). The campaign page has the same Export audience button for a saved campaign.
Preview the audience every time you change a filter. It's the easiest way to catch a filter that matches nobody — or everybody.
More detail: testing, sending and scheduling
Checking the Email Before It Goes Out
Open the campaign (click its name in the list). While it is a Draft you can:
- Edit — change the details, message or audience.
- Preview — opens the email in a new tab, with the variables filled in with sample details ("Sample Customer").
- Send Test — in the Test Send box, type an email address (yours is filled in for you) and click Send Test. You get the real email, marked [Test] in the subject and filled in with sample details — never a real customer's name or points.
- Delete — removes the draft.
The unsubscribe link in a test email doesn't do anything, so it's safe to click.
Sending or Scheduling
From the campaign page (while it's a Draft and Email Marketing is switched on):
- Send Now — sends the campaign right away. It usually starts going out within about five minutes.
- Schedule — pick a date and time and click Schedule. The campaign moves to Scheduled and goes out at that time (within about five minutes of it).
The customer list is worked out when sending starts, not when you create the campaign — so customers who join or unsubscribe in between are handled correctly.
A scheduled campaign can be stopped with Cancel before it sends. To send a cancelled campaign after all, open it and click Edit as draft. Saving it turns it back into a Draft, ready to schedule again.
If Email Marketing is switched off for your store, the campaign pages say so, and Send Now and Schedule are not offered — a campaign scheduled then would never go out.
Once a campaign is sending, it can't be stopped or edited. Send yourself a test first.
The email comes from your store name. If your store has an Email set in store settings, that's the address it comes from and the one customers reply to.
More detail: unsubscribes
Unsubscribes
Every campaign email has an Unsubscribe link at the bottom, along with your store name and address. When a customer clicks it, they confirm on a simple page and are taken off all future marketing emails. Receipts and other non-marketing emails are not affected.
- Unsubscribing applies to every customer record with that email address at your store, and to their record at any of your other stores that share customers.
- If someone unsubscribes while a big campaign is still going out, they are skipped.
- A customer can also ask you in person. Open their customer record, and in the Marketing section tick No marketing emails.
More detail: campaign status and results
Campaign Status and Results
The Email Marketing page groups your campaigns into Sending Now, Scheduled, Drafts, Completed and Cancelled & Failed. Export at the top downloads the list of campaigns as a CSV file, with each one's status, recipients, sent and failed counts, and dates.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Saved, not sent. Can still be edited. |
| Scheduled | Waiting for its send time. |
| Sending | Going out now. |
| Completed | Every email has been attempted. |
| Cancelled | Stopped before it was sent. Can be edited back to a Draft. |
| Failed | Sending could not start or finish. The Delivery Log shows what went out. |
Open a campaign to see its results:
| Figure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Recipients | How many customers were on the list when it went out. |
| Sent | Emails sent successfully. |
| Failed | Emails that couldn't be sent. |
| Delivery Rate | Sent as a percentage of recipients. |
Below that, the Delivery Log shows the 50 most recent emails: customer, email, status, when it was sent, and an error for any that failed (for example "Unsubscribed" for someone who opted out mid-send).
"Sent" means the email left BrotherPOS. Opens and clicks are not tracked.
More detail: troubleshooting and best practices
Troubleshooting
Preview Audience says 0 matching customers. Check your filters — every filter must match. Also remember customers without an email, or who have unsubscribed, are never included.
The subject shows {{loyalty_points}} literally.
Only {{customer_name}} and {{store_name}} work in the subject. Move the other variables into the message.
I can't find Edit or Send Now on my campaign. Those are only available while a campaign is a Draft (a cancelled one shows Edit as draft). Once it's scheduled, you can only cancel it; once it's sending or done, it can't be changed. If Send Now is missing on a Draft, Email Marketing is switched off for your store.
A manager can't see Email Marketing in the menu. Email campaigns are for Admins only, so the menu item is shown to Admins.
Best Practices
- Always send a test to yourself first and read it on your phone.
- Keep it short. One offer or one piece of news per email.
- Use the audience filters. A "we miss you" email to customers who haven't visited in 60 days works better than the same email to everyone.
- Respect unsubscribes. Never re-add someone who asked to stop.
What's Next?
- Customer Management — add emails and tags to customers
- Loyalty Tiers — set up the tiers you can target
- Memberships Overview — memberships and punch passes