TL;DR

Create a new campaign in lemlist to start reaching out to leads via email, LinkedIn, or calls. You can build it with AI, create it manually, or start from templates. Once your sequence is ready, import leads and launch. 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, 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 to open your campaigns list.
On the Campaigns page, click the Create campaign button in the top‑right corner.

After clicking Create campaign, you land on the Sequence tab of your new campaign.

Step 2: Choose how you want to build the campaign

On the Sequence tab, choose how you want to create your campaign.

Create with Artificial Intelligence
- Ready to launch in minutes with a pre‑built multichannel sequence.
- Uses the lemlist smart leadlist generator to help you target the right audience.
- Suggests personalised messaging that you can review before sending.
Best when you want a quick, AI‑assisted setup.
Use the AI sequence generator
Create manually
- Add steps (emails, LinkedIn, calls, WhatsApp, manual tasks, delays) and leads manually.
- Write outbound messages using #{{variables}} for personalisation.
- Create complex, condition‑based sequences with full control over timing and logic.
Best when you want full control over every detail.
Start with templates
- Choose from 100+ ready‑made sequences (cold outreach, re‑engagement, event invite, and more).
- Start from a proven structure designed around specific goals and channels.
- Customise steps, delays, and messaging after you load a template.
Best when you want a solid starting point that you can quickly adapt.

You can also duplicate an existing campaign from the Campaigns page by using the actions menu (…) next to a campaign. This is useful when running similar campaigns.

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

If you chose Create manually or Start with templates, you can now edit your sequence and configure how the campaign behaves.

Add and edit steps

Add email, LinkedIn, call, WhatsApp, API calls or manual task steps.
Set delays between steps and add conditions based on opens, clicks, or replies.
Edit the content of each step so it fits your audience and goal.

Edit delays between steps

Click the delay value or the pencil icon on an existing Wait step, and choose Add delay.
Set how long lemlist should wait before moving to the next step (minimum delay is 1 day, you can't add delay in hours).
Use longer delays for colder outreach and shorter delays for warmer leads.

Add a follow‑up step

Click on the + button under the existing step.
Select the type of follow‑up you want to add (Email, LinkedIn, Call, WhatsApp, Task, etc or a condition).
Write your follow‑up message or task instructions.

Delete a step

On the step you want to remove, click the … (3 dots), then click Delete this step.
This is irreversible: once a step is deleted, it can’t be restored.
You can’t delete steps if the campaign is already launched. Only steps in campaigns in Draft can be deleted.

Rearrange steps

Hover your pointer on the left side of the step until the 6 dots (drag handle) appear.
Click and drag and drop the step to the desired place in the sequence.
Steps can’t be rearranged once the campaign is launched. Only steps in campaigns in Draft can be rearranged.

Select senders for each step

Click on the step you want to edit, then in the step editor, use the Sender dropdown (Sender for email steps) to choose which email or LinkedIn account should send this specific step.
If you want multiple senders, select all the senders you want from the dropdown when it’s open. To remove senders, use Clear Senders.

What “Force a specific sender for this step” means

When you enable Force a specific sender for this step, that step is locked to the sender you selected in the step editor.
This step will always be sent from that sender, even if the campaign uses multiple senders or if the lead is reassigned.
Use it when you need strict continuity (for example, making sure a specific AE always sends a particular email in the sequence).

Configure campaign settings

You can adjust campaign settings at any time to control when and how your campaign sends.

Click the Settings (gear) icon at the top of the campaign to open the full Settings panel.

Inside the Settings panel, you’ll find:

General settings

Add default tags that will be applied to all leads in this campaign.
Choose which actions (for example, reply by email/LinkedIn/WhatsApp, book a meeting, or click a link) will automatically stop the campaign for that lead.
Optionally pause people from the same company when one person stops receiving the campaign, so you don’t keep contacting their colleagues.
Enable the deliverability boost (Email provider matchmaker) so lemlist matches the recipient’s email provider when possible to improve inbox placement and reduce spam risk.
Automatically create tasks (for example, call or follow‑up tasks) when people reply, or click a link.
Enable lemlist AI to evaluate replies and score them
Enable lemlist AI to analyse replies of leads and mark them as interested/not interested automatically
Activate the campaign's shareable link

Tracking settings

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 minute delay between sending the first step
Avoid weekends or off‑hours if you want higher open rates.

Set a sending schedule

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 (or when you already have contacts in your campaign, open the Actions dropdown and select Import new leads).

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 that you can use to search and import your targeted leads
CSV import – Upload a CSV file with lead data exported from a spreadsheet or other tool.
LinkedIn import – Add people directly from LinkedIn using the lemlist browser extension.
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.
Manual import – Create new contacts one by one inside lemlist.
Advanced imports – Import leads from the existing campaign or via Zapier or API

Import leads from CSV

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

When everything looks correct, click Launch for X leads.

A launch recap window appears with key details such as:

Number of leads that will be contacted
Time between each lead
Conditions that stop the campaign for a lead (for example, when they reply)
Sending schedule (days and times)

Click Launch campaign for X leads to confirm and start sending.

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: