Setting Up Outbound Email Campaigns

Overview

Velaro's Outbound Campaigns feature lets you send marketing broadcasts, automated drip sequences, and event-triggered emails directly from your Velaro admin panel — no separate email platform needed. This guide walks through every step from domain setup to your first live campaign.

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Step 1: Verify Your Sending Domain

Before any emails can go out, you must verify a domain. This protects your deliverability — email providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo) reject or spam-folder emails that lack SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication.

Recommended: Use a subdomain like mail.yourcompany.com rather than your root domain. This keeps campaign DNS records separate from your main business email (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365) and avoids SPF conflicts.

How to verify

1. Go to Campaigns → Settings → Sending Domains

2. Click Add Domain

3. Enter your subdomain (e.g. mail.yourcompany.com)

4. Copy the three required DNS records shown:

Record	Type	Name	Value
SPF	TXT	mail.yourcompany.com	v=spf1 include:spf.communication.azure.com ~all
DKIM	CNAME	selector1._domainkey.mail.yourcompany.com	(shown in portal)
DMARC	TXT	_dmarc.mail.yourcompany.com	v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourcompany.com

5. Add these records in your DNS registrar (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Route 53, Namecheap, etc.)

6. Return to Velaro and click Verify Domain

Verification usually completes within 1 hour. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate globally. If still pending after 48 hours, double-check that all three records were added exactly as shown with no extra spaces.

Optional — BIMI (brand logo in Gmail/Yahoo):

Add a v=BIMI1; l=https://yourcompany.com/logo.svg TXT record at default._bimi.mail.yourcompany.com. Your logo appears alongside your emails in supporting inboxes. Requires a square SVG.

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Step 2: Build an Email Template

Go to Campaigns → Templates → New Template.

• Name — internal label (e.g. "Welcome Day 1")
• Subject — keep under 50 characters for best open rates
• From Name — what recipients see (e.g. "Sarah at Acme")
• From Address — must use your verified domain (e.g. hello@mail.yourcompany.com)
• Body — use the visual HTML editor or paste raw HTML

Personalization variables

Insert merge tags anywhere in the subject or body:

Variable	What It Inserts
<<contact.name>>	Contact's full name
<<contact.email>>	Contact's email address
<<contact.firstName>>	First name only
<<site.name>>	Your company name
<<ctx.agentName>>	Agent who handled the chat (drip sequences)
<<ctx.rating>>	CSAT score (negative CSAT trigger)
<<ctx.startTime>>	Appointment time (appointment trigger)

Fallback values: <<contact.firstName | there>> renders as "Hi there" when no first name is on file.

Test your template by clicking Send Test and entering your own email address before activating any campaign.

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Step 3: Add Contacts

CSV Import (recommended for bulk)

1. Go to Campaigns → Contacts → Import

2. Prepare a CSV with columns: email, first_name, last_name, phone, tags

3. Upload the file and map columns to Velaro fields

4. Choose an existing Contact List or create a new one

5. Click Import — duplicates are merged automatically

Manual add

Go to Contacts → Add Contact for one-off additions.

Segments (dynamic lists)

Create a Segment under Contacts → Segments to automatically group contacts by tag, source, last activity, custom field, or conversation sentiment. Segments update in real time — contacts are added or removed as their data changes.

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Step 4a: Send a Broadcast

A broadcast is a one-time send to a list or segment.

1. Go to Campaigns → Broadcasts → New Broadcast

2. Select your template

3. Pick a contact list or segment

4. Choose Send Now or Schedule (pick a date and time)

5. Review the summary — estimated recipient count, from address, subject

6. Click Confirm & Send

Live progress updates in the Broadcasts list: sent, delivered, opened, clicked.

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Step 4b: Set Up a Drip Sequence

A sequence sends a series of emails automatically when a trigger event fires.

1. Go to Campaigns → Sequences → New Sequence (or pick a quick-start template)

2. Choose a trigger:

Trigger	Fires When
Conversation Ended	A chat is closed
New Contact Created	A contact is added for the first time
Negative CSAT	A 1 or 2-star rating is submitted
Appointment Booked	An Outlook/Calendly booking is made
Tag Added	A specific tag is applied to a contact
Trial Started	Contact begins a free trial
Webhook / Form	External form, Zapier, or app POSTs to your unique URL

3. Add steps — each step has:

- A delay (e.g. send immediately, or 2 days, or 7 days after the previous step)

- An email template

4. Optionally configure Break Conditions — stop the sequence automatically when a contact converts, replies, or gets a specific tag

5. Click Activate

Once active, the sequence runs automatically. Contacts who unsubscribe are immediately removed from all remaining steps.

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Step 5: Monitor and Optimize

Campaign analytics

Each campaign shows:

• Enrolled — total contacts who entered the sequence
• Active — currently receiving steps
• Sent / Delivered / Opened / Clicked — per-step performance
• Unsubscribed — opt-outs (auto-suppressed from all future sends)
• Break events — where and why contacts exited early

Deliverability tips

• Start with smaller sends (a few hundred) to a warm, engaged list before sending to your full database
• Avoid spam trigger words in subject lines ("FREE!!!", "LIMITED TIME ONLY!!!")
• Clean your list regularly — remove contacts who have not engaged in 6+ months
• Keep unsubscribe rates below 0.5% and spam complaint rates below 0.1%

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Quota and Limits

Setting	Default	How to Increase
Max contacts	500	Contact your account manager
Emails per month	5,000	Contact your account manager

Monthly email count resets on the 1st of each month. View current usage at Campaigns → Settings → Quota Usage. Broadcasts scheduled when quota is exhausted will queue and send once the counter resets.

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Compliance Checklist

Before sending to any list, confirm:

• [ ] You have lawful basis to email each contact (consent, legitimate interest, or existing customer relationship)
• [ ] Each contact opted in or you have a clear record of how you obtained their email
• [ ] You are not purchasing or renting third-party email lists
• [ ] Your domain is verified (SPF + DKIM + DMARC all green)

Velaro handles the technical compliance infrastructure (unsubscribe links, bounce processing, spam complaint suppression). Your legal relationship with contacts is your responsibility.

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Troubleshooting

Domain stuck on "Pending" after 48 hours

Check each DNS record exactly as shown — no extra dots, no missing selectors. Use dig TXT mail.yourcompany.com or MXToolbox to check current DNS values.

Emails landing in spam

Common causes: no DMARC record, sending to old/cold lists, spam keywords in subject, sending high volume too fast from a new domain. Warm up gradually (start with 100–200/day) and improve list quality.

Sequence not firing

Confirm the campaign is set to Active (not paused), the trigger type matches the event, and the contact is not already on an unsubscribe list for that category.

Send blocked: "sender domain not verified"

The From Address on your template uses a domain that is not yet verified. Add and verify the domain under Campaigns → Settings → Sending Domains, then re-save the template.

Quota error during import

Your contact limit has been reached. Remove inactive contacts or contact your account manager to raise the limit. Existing contacts are unaffected — only new additions are blocked.