Outbound Email Campaigns

What Are Outbound Campaigns?

Velaro's Outbound Campaigns feature lets you send marketing emails, broadcast announcements, and automated drip sequences directly from your Velaro admin portal — no separate email tool required. Your contact data, conversation history, and chat triggers are all in one place.

You can send one-time broadcast emails to a contact list, set up multi-step drip sequences that fire automatically when something happens in a conversation, and manage all your email contacts with CSV import and segmentation.

All delivery, bounces, unsubscribes, and compliance are handled automatically by the platform. You do not need to integrate a third-party email service.

To access Outbound Campaigns, go to Campaigns in the left sidebar. If you do not see this menu item, contact your account manager to enable the feature for your site.

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Setting Up Your Sending Domain

Before you can send any campaign emails, you must verify a sending domain. This tells email providers (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) that your emails are legitimate and protects your deliverability.

Why You Need a Verified Domain

Email providers use SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to verify that emails actually come from who they claim to come from. Without these records, your emails will land in spam or be rejected entirely. Velaro requires domain verification before allowing any sends to protect both your deliverability and the platform's reputation.

Step-by-Step Domain Setup

1. Go to Campaigns → Settings → Custom Sending Domains.

2. Click Add Domain.

3. Enter a subdomain you control, such as mail.yourcompany.com. Using a subdomain (not your root domain) is recommended so these DNS records don't interfere with your existing email setup.

4. The platform will display three required DNS records and one optional record. Copy each one.

5. Log in to your DNS registrar (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Route 53, Namecheap, etc.) and add the records exactly as shown.

6. Return to Velaro and click Verify Domain.

Verification can take up to 48 hours depending on your DNS provider's propagation time. You can check status at any time by returning to the Custom Sending Domains page.

DNS Records You Need to Add

| Record Type | Name | Value |

|---|---|---|

| TXT (SPF) | mail.yourcompany.com | v=spf1 include:spf.communication.azure.com ~all |

| CNAME (DKIM) | selector1._domainkey.mail.yourcompany.com | Azure DKIM endpoint (shown in portal) |

| TXT (DMARC) | _dmarc.mail.yourcompany.com | v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourcompany.com |

| TXT (BIMI, optional) | default._bimi.mail.yourcompany.com | v=BIMI1; l=https://yourcompany.com/logo.svg |

BIMI is optional but recommended — it displays your brand logo in Gmail and Yahoo inboxes next to your email.

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Creating Your First Broadcast

A broadcast is a one-time email sent to a contact list or segment.

1. Go to Campaigns → Broadcasts → New Broadcast.

2. Enter a Subject line. Optionally add a B variant for A/B testing.

3. Select or create an email template using the visual editor.

4. Choose a From address using your verified domain (e.g., hello@mail.yourcompany.com).

5. Select the Contact List or segment to send to.

6. Choose Send Now or schedule a future date and time.

7. Click Review & Send.

The review screen shows estimated recipient count, from address, and subject. Confirm and the send begins. Progress is visible on the Broadcasts list page with sent, delivered, opened, and clicked counts updating in real time.

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Setting Up a Drip Sequence

Drip sequences send a series of emails automatically when a trigger event occurs in Velaro.

Creating a Sequence

1. Go to Campaigns → Sequences → New Sequence.

2. Choose a trigger event:

- chat_resolved — fires when a conversation is closed

- new_contact — fires when a new contact is added

- bot_handoff — fires when a bot transfers to a human agent

- appointment_booked — fires when a calendar booking is made

- form_submitted — fires when a visitor submits a pre-chat form

- survey_completed — fires when a post-chat survey is completed

- first_message — fires on a contact's very first message

- idle_contact — fires when a contact has not engaged for a set period

3. Add steps. Each step has:

- A delay (e.g., send 2 days after the previous step)

- An email template

- An optional condition (e.g., only if contact tag = "prospect")

4. Set the From address using your verified domain.

5. Click Activate.

Once active, the sequence automatically enrolls contacts when the trigger fires. Contacts who unsubscribe are immediately removed from all future steps.

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Managing Contacts

Importing Contacts via CSV

1. Go to Campaigns → Contacts → Import.

2. Download the CSV template or use your own file with columns: email, first_name, last_name, phone, tags, and any custom fields.

3. Upload the file and map columns.

4. Choose which Contact List to add them to (or create a new list).

5. Click Import. Duplicates are merged automatically.

Creating Segments

Segments are dynamic filtered views of your contact list. Go to Contacts → Segments → New Segment and filter by:

• Email domain
• Tags
• Contact source (chat, import, form, bot)
• Conversation sentiment
• Custom fields
• Last activity date

Segments update automatically — a contact is added or removed as their data changes.

Contact List Limits

Each site has a maximum contact count (shown in Settings → Quota Usage). If you approach your limit, contact your account manager to increase it. Imports that would exceed the limit are blocked with a clear error message.

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Unsubscribe and Compliance

Velaro handles compliance automatically. You do not need to build or manage your own unsubscribe system.

Every campaign email includes a one-click unsubscribe link at the bottom. The link is cryptographically signed so it cannot be forged or tampered with. When a contact clicks it:

1. They are immediately unsubscribed from that contact list.

2. A confirmation page is shown with an option to re-subscribe.

3. They will not receive further campaign emails from your site.

Hard bounces (invalid email addresses) are automatically removed from all your contact lists. You do not need to clean your list manually.

Spam complaints are automatically captured and those contacts are unsubscribed from all marketing campaigns for your site.

You are responsible for ensuring you have appropriate consent to email your contacts. Velaro provides the unsubscribe and compliance infrastructure; lawful basis for sending is your responsibility.

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Quota Limits

| Limit | Default |

|---|---|

| Contacts | 500 per site |

| Emails per month | 5,000 per site |

Monthly usage resets on the 1st of each month. You can see current usage in Campaigns → Settings → Quota Usage.

When you reach a limit:

• Contact limit: New imports and manual adds are blocked. Existing contacts are unaffected.
• Email limit: Scheduled broadcasts pause until the next monthly reset. In-flight sequences pause at the next step.

To increase limits, contact your Velaro account manager.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why do I need to verify a domain?

Email providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) check SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to confirm your emails are legitimate. Without verification, your campaigns will be marked as spam or rejected. Velaro requires this for your protection and ours.

How long does DNS verification take?

Usually under 1 hour, but DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate globally depending on your registrar and TTL settings. If verification is still pending after 48 hours, double-check that all three records were added exactly as shown.

Can I use multiple sending domains?

Yes. You can add and verify multiple domains in Settings → Custom Sending Domains. Each broadcast or sequence lets you choose which verified domain to send from. This is useful if you manage multiple brands or product lines.

Can I use my root domain (company.com) instead of a subdomain?

Technically yes, but using a subdomain like mail.company.com or campaigns.company.com is strongly recommended. This keeps campaign email DNS records separate from your main email (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace) and prevents conflicts with your existing SPF record.

What happens to contacts who bounce or complain?

Hard bounces are automatically removed from your lists. Spam complaints automatically unsubscribe the contact. Both happen in real time via delivery event processing — no manual action required.

Can contacts re-subscribe after unsubscribing?

Yes. The unsubscribe confirmation page includes a re-subscribe link. Contacts can also re-subscribe by clicking a link in any future email you send to them outside the platform, or by contacting your support team.