Email Campaign Builder: Create, Test, Send & Analyze Campaigns

The Email Campaign Builder lets you create, target, test, and send professional email campaigns directly from your LenzVU account — no third-party tools required. Whether you are sending a class promotion, booking reminder, or newsletter, this guide walks you through every step of building and analyzing your campaign.

What Is the LenzVU Email Campaign Builder? #

The Email Campaign Builder is LenzVU’s built-in email marketing tool. It guides you through five structured steps — Compose, Audience, Follow-up, Review, and Send — and provides detailed analytics once your campaign goes out.

Key features include:

• Drag-and-drop email editor with templates
• Tag-based and audience-based contact targeting
• A/B testing for subject lines and sender names
• Automated follow-up emails for non-openers
• Inbox preview across desktop, mobile, and plain text
• Send now or schedule for a future date and time
• Detailed post-send analytics including open rate, click rate, CTOR, Reader Journey, and per-recipient data

Email Campaign Builder: Step-by-Step Overview #

Step	Name	What You Do
1	Compose	Write the email subject, body, and sender details
2	Audience	Choose which contacts receive the campaign
3	Follow-up	Auto-resend to contacts who did not open
4	Review	Preview the email and check for errors
5	Send	Send immediately or schedule for later

After your campaign is sent, the Analytics page becomes available with full performance data.

Step 1 — Compose Your Email #

The Compose step is where you write and design your email content.

Notification and Communication Category #

Use the two dropdowns at the top to classify your campaign:

• Notification Category — for example, News and Marketing
• Communication Category — for example, Appointment and Booking Notifications

These categories determine which contacts are eligible to receive the campaign based on their saved communication preferences in LenzVU.

From Address and From Name #

• From address — the email address the campaign is sent from
• From name — the display name recipients see in their inbox

Choosing a recognisable sender name improves open rates and builds trust with your audience.

Reply-To Address #

The Reply-To field controls where responses from recipients are delivered. By default this is set to your company send settings, but you can customise it per campaign.

Subject Line #

Your subject line is the single most important factor in whether your email gets opened. Keep it specific, relevant, and under 50 characters for best results. The field allows up to 200 characters and includes a live character counter.

Preview Text #

Preview text (also called preheader text) appears directly beneath the subject line in most email clients. Use it to support your subject line or include a secondary call to action. Max 200 characters.

Email Editor #

The drag-and-drop Email Editor is embedded at the bottom of the Compose step. Use it to build visually rich emails without any coding knowledge.

• Click the + (plus) button to add content blocks such as text, headings, images, buttons, tables, forms, and dividers — including any custom blocks you have created, such as saved footers.
• Use the Settings panel on the right to:
  • Switch between Marketing layout (centred, ideal for promotions) and Plain reply layout (full-width, ideal for conversational emails)
  • Set a background colour for the entire email
  • Add Custom CSS for advanced brand styling
• Click Templates to choose from pre-built email designs
• Click Import to paste in your own HTML
• Click to preview how your email looks with dark mode enabled
• Click to edit your email in fullscreen mode
  

A/B Testing #

A/B testing lets you compare up to five subject line or sender name variants to find what resonates best with your audience.

To set up an A/B test:

1. Click Enable A/B testing at the top of the Compose step.
2. Add up to five variants (A through E) using the + Add Variant button.
3. Drag the test pool size slider to set the percentage of your audience that receives test variants versus the automatic winner.
4. Select a Winning metric — Open rate is recommended for subject line tests.
5. Set the Test window — 8 hours is the default.
6. Write unique content for each variant. Use the Copy A / Copy B / Copy C buttons to duplicate settings between variants.

Important: A/B testing requires a large enough audience to produce statistically reliable results. LenzVU will display a low-reliability warning if your audience is too small.

Step 2 — Select Your Audience #

The Audience step controls which contacts receive your campaign.

Targeting Method #

Select one of three targeting methods:

Method	Best For
Tags	Focused promotions, class groups, and interest-based sends
Audiences	Saved segments built on behaviour, profile data, or lifecycle rules
All Clients	Broad announcements to every contact in your CRM

Including Contacts #

Under the Include panel, search for or scroll through your available tags and audiences. Click a tag to select it. Each tag displays the number of associated contacts to help you estimate your reach.

You can select multiple tags or audiences at once — LenzVU automatically deduplicates your list, so if a contact belongs to more than one selected group, they will only receive the email once.

Excluding Contacts #

Use the Exclude panel on the right to filter out specific contacts. Switch between None, Tags, and Audiences tabs. Excluding contacts is optional but recommended when suppressing recent buyers, staff accounts, or contacts who have already converted.

Automatic Recipient Protections #

Even after you select your audience, LenzVU applies the following automatic filters before any email is sent:

Automatic Filter	What Happens
Unsubscribed contacts	If a contact has unsubscribed from the selected Notification Category (e.g., News and Marketing), they are automatically removed to honour their communication preference
Invalid email addresses	Contacts with no email, unvalidated emails, or addresses that have previously bounced are automatically excluded
Duplicates across groups	If a contact appears in multiple selected tags or audiences, they are counted and delivered to only once

These protections run automatically — you do not need to configure them. They are reflected in the recipient count at the bottom of the Audience step.

Recipient Count #

The summary bar at the bottom of the Audience step shows a real-time calculation:

Included − Excluded − Invalid = Net Recipients

• Included — total contacts across all selected tags and audiences (deduplicated)
• Excluded — contacts manually excluded via the Exclude panel
• Invalid — contacts automatically removed due to unsubscribes, bad email addresses, or previous bounces
• Net — the actual number of contacts who will receive your campaign

Always confirm the Net count before moving to the next step.

Step 3 — Set Up Follow-up Emails #

The Follow-up step lets you automatically resend your campaign to contacts who did not engage with the original send.

Enabling Follow-up #

Toggle the Enabled switch in the top-right corner of this step to turn follow-up on or off.

Timing #

Choose how many days to wait before resending:

• 1 day | 2 days (recommended) | 3 days | 5 days | 1 week | Custom

Best practice: 2–3 days is the sweet spot. Sending sooner can feel intrusive; waiting longer risks the original context becoming stale.

Who Receives the Follow-up #

Option	Description
Didn’t open	Resend only to contacts who never opened the original email
Opened, didn’t click	Resend to contacts who opened but did not click any link
Both	Resend to anyone who did not click through

Maximum Follow-ups #

LenzVU allows up to 3 follow-up resends per campaign, but 1 follow-up is strongly recommended. Sending more than one can negatively affect your sender reputation and email deliverability. Use additional follow-ups sparingly and only when your audience and content genuinely warrant it.

Follow-up Subject Strategy #

Choose how the follow-up subject line is handled:

Strategy	How It Works	Best For
Same subject	Resends with the identical subject line as the original	When the original subject was strong and you want consistency
New subject	You write a completely different subject line	When you want to give the resend a fresh angle to boost open rates
ICYMI prefix	Prepends “ICYMI” (In Case You Missed It) to the original subject line	Quick, transparent resends that acknowledge the email was sent before

Tip: ICYMI follow-ups perform well because they are honest and low-pressure — recipients know they received the original and simply missed it.

Follow-up Variant (A/B Testing only) #

If you ran an A/B test on the original campaign, LenzVU gives you an additional choice for the follow-up send:

Option	Description
Winner variant	Send the follow-up using the A/B test’s winning variant — the best-performing version
Same variant	Send each recipient the same variant they originally received

Using the winner variant is recommended in most cases, as it ensures non-openers receive your best-performing content.

Step 4 — Review Your Campaign #

The Review step gives you a complete summary of your campaign settings and a live inbox preview before anything is sent.

Campaign Summary #

Setting	What to Verify
Campaign name	Clear and identifiable
Subject line	Present and compelling
From name and address	Correct sender identity
Audience	Expected recipient count with inclusions and exclusions
Follow-up	Correct timing and target group
Subject strategy	Follow-up subject is set if using New subject

Click Edit next to any item to jump back and make changes.

Send a Test Email #

Before sending to your full list, use the Send a test to yourself field to preview the email in a real inbox. Enter one or more addresses separated by commas, then click Send test.

Inbox Preview #

The right panel displays a live preview of your email in three views:

• Desktop — how it looks in full-screen email clients
• Mobile — how it renders on smartphones
• Plain text — the fallback version for clients that block HTML

Pre-send Warnings #

LenzVU displays yellow warning banners for any issues that must be resolved before you can send:

• Audience is empty — return to Step 2 and select at least one tag or audience
• Subject line is required — return to Step 1 and add a subject
• Add new subject for follow-up — return to Step 3 and enter a follow-up subject

Step 5 — Send or Schedule Your Campaign #

The final step confirms your sending details and dispatches the campaign.

Send Now #

Select Send now to deliver the campaign immediately. The right-hand panel displays a final confirmation showing:

• Campaign subject
• Sender name
• Total recipient count
• Initial send time
• Follow-up schedule (if enabled)

Click Send to [X] now to confirm and dispatch.

Send Later #

Select Send later to choose a specific date and time for delivery. LenzVU queues the campaign and sends it automatically. You can cancel a scheduled campaign before it goes out.

Final Validation #

LenzVU runs a final check and blocks sending if any critical items are missing:

• At least one recipient must be selected
• A subject line must be present
• A follow-up subject must be entered if the follow-up step uses the New subject strategy

Saving a Campaign as a Draft #

LenzVU automatically saves your progress as you click Continue and move through the builder. To manually save at any point, click Save draft.

To resume a saved draft, go to Marketing Email Campaigns in the main menu and select the draft from your campaign list.

Email Campaign Builder Analytics — Measuring Campaign Performance #

After a campaign is sent, LenzVU automatically generates a detailed analytics report. This is where you measure performance, understand recipient behaviour, and decide on next steps.

How to Access Analytics #

There are two ways to open the analytics page for a sent campaign:

1. Click the campaign name directly from the Email Campaigns list
2. Click the ⋮ (ellipsis) menu on any campaign row and select View Analytics

Note: Analytics are only available after a campaign has been sent. Draft campaigns show no analytics data. Once sent, analytics update every 10 minutes.

Analytics Dashboard Overview #

The analytics page adapts based on whether you enabled A/B testing and/or follow-up on your campaign. The sections below cover all possible views.

Performance Metrics #

At the top of the analytics page you will see five key metrics:

Metric	What It Measures
Delivered	Total number of emails successfully delivered
Open Rate	Percentage of delivered emails that were opened
Click Rate	Percentage of delivered emails where a link was clicked
CTOR	Click-to-open rate — percentage of openers who also clicked
Bounce / Unsub	Number of bounces combined with the number of contacts who unsubscribed directly from this email

Each metric also shows a comparison to your 90-day average so you can benchmark performance at a glance.

Small Audience Warning #

If your campaign was sent to fewer than 100 recipients, LenzVU displays a Small Audience Warning. Variance-sensitive features are hidden or marked as directional, and A/B test results may not be statistically meaningful.

For reliable A/B test results, LenzVU recommends the following minimum audience sizes:

Number of Variants	Minimum Recommended Recipients
2 variants	1,000 total recipients
3 variants	2,100 total recipients
4 variants	4,000 total recipients
5 variants	6,000 total recipients

A larger audience ensures your results are statistically significant and gives you the confidence to act on the winning variant. If your audience is too small, consider broadening your audience criteria in Step 2 before enabling A/B testing.

Audience Summary #

Below the metrics, LenzVU shows a breakdown of who was included and excluded. This is a snapshot of your audience at the time the campaign was sent — it will not change even if contacts are added, removed, unsubscribed, or marked as invalid afterward.

• Included — the tags or audiences selected during the Audience step
• Excluded — any tags or audiences filtered out
• Matched / Excluded / Unsubscribed / Invalid / Recipients — a count breakdown showing exactly how the final recipient list was calculated

A/B Test Results (if A/B testing was enabled) #

If you ran an A/B test, the analytics page shows a dedicated A/B/C/D/E Variant Comparison table with results for each variant:

Column	Description
Subject	The subject line and sender name for each variant
Sent	Number of contacts who received that variant
Open	Open rate for that variant
Click	Click rate for that variant
CTOR	Click-to-open rate for that variant
Unsub	Unsubscribe count for that variant
Winner	Marked on the statistically preferred variant

The Winner banner at the top highlights the leading variant based on current data, along with its open rate, click rate, and confidence level. LenzVU will automatically send the winning variant to the holdback portion of your audience once the test window closes.

Important: When an A/B test concludes without enough results to determine a winner, Version A will be sent to the rest of the audience that was not included in the test. For example, if the winning metric is the open rate and none of the variants receive any opens, Version A will be sent to the rest of the audience that was not included in the test.

Follow-up Results (if follow-up was enabled) #

If you enabled follow-up, a separate analytics view is available for the follow-up send. It shows:

• Follow-up recovery — how many additional opens were recovered from non-openers
• A note confirming whether the follow-up has been sent or is still pending
• The same performance metrics (Delivered, Open Rate, Click Rate, CTOR, Bounce/Unsub) specific to the follow-up send

Follow-up campaigns typically show significantly higher open rates since they target contacts who did not open the original send.

Performance Over Time #

The Performance Over Time chart shows cumulative opens and clicks over a 7-day window after send. Use this to understand when your audience is most active and how engagement tapers off over time.

• Purple line — Opens
• Green line — Clicks

Reader Journey #

The Reader Journey panel tracks the full funnel from delivery through to conversion:

Stage	What It Tracks
Delivered	Emails that reached the inbox
Opened	Recipients who opened the email
Clicked	Recipients who clicked a link

Email Preview and Click Heatmap #

The Email Preview and Click Heatmap shows a visual preview of your sent email with click pins overlaid. Pins are ranked by click volume, so you can see exactly which links and buttons received the most engagement.

For A/B test campaigns, use the A / B / C / D / E tabs to switch between variant previews and their individual heatmaps.

The panel also confirms the Reply-To address and Sent From address used for each variant.

Top Links #

The Top Links panel lists every tracked link in the email along with its click count and click rate. Click Tracking next to any link to open a per-link tracking drawer with more detail.

Audience Segments #

Below the heatmap, LenzVU surfaces three contact segments to help you act on your results:

Segment	Description	What to Do
First Movers	Contacts who opened earliest after send	Your most engaged subscribers — prioritise them for future campaigns
Multi-Openers	Contacts who opened 3+ times without clicking	“On the fence” audience — good candidates for a targeted follow-up offer
Non-Openers	Contacts who did not open	Schedule a follow-up to re-engage these contacts

Recipients Table #

The Recipients table lists every contact the campaign was sent to:

Column	Description
Recipient	Contact name and avatar
Status	Opened, not opened, bounced, or unsubscribed
Opens	Number of times the contact opened the email
Clicks	Number of link clicks recorded
Last Activity	Timestamp of the most recent interaction
Device	Device type detected at time of open
Variant	Which A/B variant the contact received (if applicable)

Use the filter tabs — All, Opened, Clicked, Not opened, Bounced, Unsubscribed — to segment the list. Click Export recipients to download the full list as a CSV.

Exporting and Sharing Results #

Two options are available in the top-right corner of the analytics page:

• Export CSV — downloads the full campaign performance data as a spreadsheet
• Share Campaign — generates a shareable link of the email

Frequently Asked Questions #

What can I do with the Email Campaign Builder? #

The Email Campaign Builder allows you to create emails, select audiences, run A/B tests, schedule sends, automate follow-ups, and analyze campaign performance after sending.

Can I edit a campaign after it has been sent? #

No. Once a campaign is sent it cannot be modified. To resend with changes, duplicate the campaign and create a new one.

What happens if I enable follow-up but have zero recipients? #

Always set your audience in Step 2 before configuring follow-up in Step 3.

How many A/B test variants can I create? #

Up to five variants (A through E) per campaign.

Can I use the same tag in both the Include and Exclude panels? #

Yes, but any contact in an excluded tag will be filtered out even if they also appear in an included tag. Exclusions always take priority.

Where do I create and manage contact tags? #

Tags are created and managed in the Contacts section of LenzVU, separate from the Campaign Builder.

How do I improve email deliverability? #

Use a recognisable From name, keep follow-ups to a maximum of one, maintain a clean contact list by excluding invalid or unsubscribed contacts, and always include a clear subject line.

Related Articles #

• How to Build Target Audience Filters with Segments in LenzVU
• Email Sender Policy Framework