TL;DR
Create a new campaign in lemlist to start reaching out to leads via email, LinkedIn, or calls. You can build it step by step, import leads, and launch once everything is ready. The whole setup usually takes 5–10 minutes.
Who Should Use This
New users setting up their first outreach campaign
Teams launching a new prospecting initiative
Anyone ready to import leads and start sending sequences
Users switching from other cold email tools to lemlist
Why This Matters
Campaigns are the foundation of your outreach. Without a campaign, you cannot send emails, track engagement, or manage leads. Setting up your first campaign correctly ensures:
Your leads receive personalized, multi-step sequences
You can track opens, clicks, and replies in one place
You can scale outreach without manual follow‑ups
This guide walks you through the fastest way to get started, so you can launch in minutes.
Key Concept: Campaign Structure
Every lemlist campaign has three core sections you will see at the top of the page:
Sequence
Build your workflow with steps such as emails, LinkedIn messages, calls, tasks, and delays.
Add conditions to create logic (for example, “if lead clicks, send Step 5”).
Access campaign Settings to control schedules, tracking, senders, sharing, and CRM integrations.
Lead list
Import your leads stored in your Contact section.
Import leads via CSV, CRM, LinkedIn, Signals, manual entry, existing campaign, API or Zapier.
Launch
Preview how the sequence will run for each lead.
Confirm sending schedules, stop conditions, and other launch settings.
Start sending the campaign once everything looks good.
Think of it like this: Sequence = what you say, Lead list = who you say it to, Launch = when you say it.
Step‑by‑Step: How to Create a Campaign
Step 1: Start creating a campaign
Start a new campaign from the Campaigns section.
From the left‑hand menu, click Campaigns, then click Create campaign in the top‑right corner.
After clicking Create campaign, you land on the Sequence tab of your new campaign.
Step 2: Build your sequence
On the Sequence tab, start building the workflow for your campaign.
Click Add step to insert a new step.
You can also use the lemAgent panel on the left — lemlist's built-in AI assistant. Beyond drafting and improving your sequence, Lem Agent can also search for leads and analyze results from previous campaigns. Write your prompt in the panel and follow the on-screen instructions.
When adding logic to your sequence, use the tabs inside the step picker:
Steps lets you add actions like emails, LinkedIn steps, calls, tasks, and more.
Conditions lets you add branching logic based on lead data or behavior.
Why some conditions are unavailable as the first step: Conditions rely on a lead having already taken an action (such as opening an email or clicking a link). Since no lead action has occurred at the very start of a campaign, those conditions cannot fire. For example, Opened email is not available as a first step. Conditions based on lead data rather than behavior can still be used first.
Step 3: Name your campaign
At the top left of the page, enter a descriptive name for your campaign.
Naming best practices:
Use names that describe the goal or audience, such as “SaaS Cold Outreach – Q1 2025” or “Re‑engagement – Inactive Leads”
Avoid vague names like “Campaign 1” or “Test”
Step 4: Build and configure your sequence
Once your first step is added, you can edit the step content and choose which sender will be used.
Select senders for each email step
Click the email step you want to edit.
In the right-side panel, open Select senders for your campaign.
Search for the sender you want, then select it from the list.
You can also add senders from your teammates. Expand a team member's name in the sender list to see and select their connected sending accounts for your campaign.
If lemlist detects a sender issue, click Show errors to review it.
To fix sender issues for the campaign, open the sender settings and enable or disable the affected sending account as needed.
Add a follow‑up step
Click Add step under an existing step.
Select the type of follow‑up you want to add, then write your message or task instructions.
Plan availability: Not all steps and conditions are available on every plan. If a step or condition appears greyed out or is missing from the picker, it may require a higher-tier plan.
Configure campaign settings
You can adjust campaign settings at any time to control automation, sender behaviour, schedules, sharing, unsubscribes, and CRM options.
Click the Settings (gear) icon at the top of the campaign, then open the relevant section from the left panel, such as Automation, Tracking, Senders, Schedules & launch, CRM integration, or General.
Automation
When people click on a link: choose whether to Create a new task and define the Campaign progress behaviour.
When people reply: choose whether to Create a new task and define the Campaign progress behaviour.
Also pause contacts from the same company: when enabled, leads from the same company will also stop or pause according to your reply automation.
When people reply, use AI to:
Score the reply based on the tone
Manage Out-Of-Office replies automatically
Mark lead as interested
Mark lead as not interested
When people book a meeting: set the Campaign progress behaviour and choose whether to Also pause contacts from the same company.
Senders
Sender configuration: define how senders are assigned across your campaign.
Dynamically match sender with ownership: when available, lemlist can align the sender with lead ownership.
Matching email service provider: use provider-based sender matching to improve sending consistency.
Deliverability boost: Email provider matchmaker lets lemlist match your recipient’s email provider and send from the same one (if you’ve set it up) for better inbox placement and to minimize spam risks.
General
Add tags (Optional): add tags to better organize your campaigns.
Share your campaign: create a sharable link so only people with the link can view your campaign steps and duplicate them in their account.
Activate the campaign’s sharable link to enable sharing.
Unsubscribe contact: select the system behavior when the contact clicks on the unsubscribe link.
Delete campaign: permanently remove the campaign from lemlist.
Tracking
Enable or disable reply tracking.
Enable or disable open tracking.
Enable or disable link click tracking.
Schedules & launch
Set which days and times emails can be sent.
Set the minute delay between sending the first step to different leads.
Avoid weekends or off‑hours if you want higher open rates.
CRM integration
Connect your CRM to sync campaign activity (HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce).
Step 5: Import your leads
Next, import leads to the campaign from the Lead list tab.
Open your campaign and go to the Lead list tab at the top of the page.
Click Import new leads in the middle of the screen.
When you click Import new leads, a toolbar appears at the top of the page with multiple import options. Use these to import leads into lemlist:
People database – lemlist's database with over 450m people to search and import targeted leads. To refine searches, use filters like "not already in a campaign." Select leads and click "Push [X] leads to campaign" to integrate them.
Contacts lists – import leads from your existing contact lists.
CSV import – Upload a CSV file with lead data exported from a spreadsheet or other tool.
CRM import – Sync contacts from your CRM (for example, HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive).
Signals import – Import leads based on buying signals and intent detected by lemlist.
LinkedIn import – Add people directly from LinkedIn using the lemlist browser extension.
Manual import – Create new contacts one by one inside lemlist.
Advanced imports – Import leads from an existing campaign or via Zapier or API.
Managing individual leads after import
Click any lead in the list to open their full profile. From there you can view and edit their data, add or remove fields, and see every other campaign that lead is currently enrolled in.
Step 6: Review and launch
When your sequence and Lead list are ready, go to the Launch tab.
Here you can:
See how many leads are ready to launch
Preview the sequence for each lead
Confirm the sending schedule and conditions
Per-lead personalization
In the Launch tab, you can personalize a specific step for an individual lead. Select the lead, then edit the step content directly for that person. Other leads continue to use the default sequence text.
Warning — Reset Override is permanent: Clicking Reset Override on a personalized lead immediately removes the custom content with no undo. Double-check before resetting any per-lead override.
When everything looks correct, click Launch for X leads to open the launch recap, then review the key details such as the number of leads that will be contacted, the time between each lead, and the sending schedule.
How the delay between leads works: The time between each lead shown in the launch recap applies only to the first step of your campaign. For all follow-up steps, lemlist calculates delays automatically using its sending algorithm — this cannot be adjusted manually. The algorithm is designed to replicate natural human sending behavior to protect your sender reputation and optimize deliverability.
Click Launch campaign for X leads to confirm and start sending.
Step 7: Monitor performance
Once your campaign is live, use the Performance tab to track results.
See delivery stats per lead: who received each step, who replied, and what the open and click rates are.
Review the Negative stats signal for an at-a-glance overview of engagement and deliverability health.
Switch to Step details to compare performance step by step and identify which step drives the most replies.
Export the full campaign report as a CSV by clicking the export button — useful for deeper analysis or sharing with your team.
How You’ll Know It Worked
Your campaign appears in the Campaigns list with status “In Progress”.
Leads show status like “In progress” in the campaign’s Lead list.
You see scheduled sends and activity in your Outreach queue or campaign statistics.
First emails start sending according to your schedule and lemlist sending algorithm (check campaign stats for “Sent” messages).
If you do not see these, go back and verify you completed the launch step and that leads were added to the campaign.
Troubleshooting
Issue: Can’t find the “Create campaign” button
Root cause: You may be on the wrong page or not have the right permissions.
Fix:
Open the Campaigns page from the left‑hand menu and check the top‑right corner.
If you are on a team account, confirm with your admin that you can create campaigns.
Refresh the page or log out and back in if the button still does not appear.
Issue: Campaign created but no leads imported
Root cause: You skipped the import step or the import failed.
Fix:
Go to your campaign, lead section, and check that your leads are imported.
If not, click one of the import options (CSV, CRM, LinkedIn, etc.) and re‑import.
Add the imported leads to your campaign’s Lead list.
Verify your CSV format follows lemlist requirements.
Import leads from a CSV
Issue: Campaign will not launch
Root cause: Leads aren't in "Reviewed" status, required data is missing, or the email sender is misconfigured.
Fix:
Go to campaign’s Lead list and check lead status.
If leads show "To Launch," click Launch to move them to "Launched"
Ensure each lead has mandatory fields such as email and first name.
Double-check the DNS setup and the email configuration of the sender.
If you see error messages in the Launch recap, follow the suggestions shown there.
Issue: Created with AI but want to change the sequence
Root cause: You want to customise the AI‑generated content.
Fix:
AI campaigns are not editable. You can't change or delete steps
Make sure to create a manual campaign in case you want to customise it.
Video Tutorial
