Email newsletter and email campaign in CloudCart: step by step

In short: an email newsletter is one email sent to a chosen group of subscribers. In CloudCart it is a "Regular" campaign, and a series of emails is an "Automated" campaign with up to 5 steps. Both are built in Marketing → Campaigns in 5 boxes: basic settings, segment, channel and message, exit tag and goal. Opens, clicks, orders and revenue update every hour.

This guide is the hands-on part: what you click in the admin, in which order and with which settings. The strategy behind it is in the guide email marketing for an online store: 7 automated emails. The CloudCart facts come from the documentation of CloudCart, the ecommerce platform from Bulgaria, and from the Campaigns, Subscribers and segments and Pricing pages, with admin menu names as they appear in English.

Newsletter or automated campaign: which one to choose

A newsletter is one email you send once to a chosen group. An automated campaign is a series of emails that starts on its own for each person who enters a segment. You pick the type when you create the campaign, and it cannot be changed later.

	Regular (newsletter)	Automated (series)
Used for	A new collection, a sale, Black Friday, store news	Welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase, win-back
Who receives it	The people in the segment at the start	Everyone who enters the segment while it runs
Steps	1 message	Up to 5, with a wait and a condition between them
After it ends	Archives itself once sent to everyone	Keeps running until you stop it
Channels	Email, SMS, Viber, Web Push

The rule of thumb: an email tied to a date (a sale, a season, a new product) is a Regular campaign. An email tied to something the customer did (signed up, left a cart, ordered) is an Automated one.

What has to be ready before your first campaign

Before the first email you need three things: the accepted anti-spam policy, a connected email channel on your own domain and subscribers with a confirmed address. Without them the campaign does not start.

1. The anti-spam policy. The first time you open Marketing → Campaigns, the admin shows the sending rules. You accept them once for the store, and the acceptance is recorded with the date, IP address and text version.
2. The email channel. In Marketing → Channels open the Email card and complete four steps: profile, domain, DNS verification (SPF, DKIM, Tracking CNAME and DMARC) and sender address. Emails go out from your domain through an account used only by your store, so the sender reputation is yours alone.
3. Confirmed subscribers. By default the channel does not send to unconfirmed addresses. A subscriber is confirmed by a link in a confirmation email, by a checkbox on import, or automatically on opening or clicking an email. Keep "Sending emails to unverified subscribers" off for old or imported lists.

These records matter beyond CloudCart. Since February 1, 2024 Gmail requires senders of more than 5,000 messages a day to use SPF, DKIM and DMARC, offer one-click unsubscribe and keep the spam rate below 0.3% (Google: email sender guidelines).

Plan (billed annually, excl. VAT)	Subscribers in Marketing Suite	Signup forms	RFM analysis
Baby Pack, €14/month	50	no	no
Starter Pack, €33/month	100	3	no
CC Pro, €83/month	500	10	yes
CC Master, €249/month	1,000	25	yes

Your usage against the limit is in Marketing → Subscribers, in the limits window, with a button to raise each limit. If the list is larger than the limit, campaigns take the earliest subscribers first. Deleting unsubscribed and bounced addresses opens up places within about 10 minutes.

How to collect newsletter subscribers: the signup form

Newsletter subscribers are collected with a form in Marketing → Subscribers → Subscribe Forms. It captures visitors before they order, so you can write to them later.

1. Pick the type. A centered pop-up, a bar, a corner panel, a sidebar or full screen, or embed the form in the page.
2. Pick when it shows. Immediately, after a set number of seconds, or on exit intent (desktop only). With two triggers, the first one to happen wins.
3. Add the consent checkbox. Link your marketing policy, so the date, IP address and accepted text are saved to the subscriber's record.
4. Give a reason to sign up. A first-order code or early access to sales, delivered by the first email of the Welcome series.

On a phone, a full-screen pop-up that appears at once gets in the way of buying. A bar, or a pop-up after 20 to 30 seconds, lets the visitor see the products first.

How to send a campaign only to customers who bought: the segment

A campaign only to buyers goes to a segment with an Order condition. Every CloudCart campaign goes to exactly one segment, and segments live in Marketing → Segments.

1. Click Create segment. Start from scratch, use Generate with AI (describe who you want in words) or pick a predefined template.
2. Pick the type. One-time is a snapshot and suits a newsletter. Automated recalculates on every subscriber action and every 5 minutes, and series need it. The type cannot be changed later.
3. Add conditions. More than 60 are available (orders, amounts, products, categories, views, cart, UTM, shipping, payment, opens, clicks). Up to 4 per segment, joined with AND. For OR, create two segments.
4. Check the count. If it shows 0 or a suspiciously large number, a condition is wrong.

Predefined template	Condition	Campaign it suits
One-timers	Orders = 1	A second purchase with a code
Returning customers	Orders > 1	Early access to a sale
Loyal customers	Orders > 1 and average order > €500	A new collection, no discount
High Spenders	Average order > €1,500, last order within 180 days	A personal VIP offer
Special product fans	Viewed a product more than 2 times	Back in stock or on sale
Cart abandoners	Cart = abandoned	A reminder with a cart link

Important: templates and AI-generated segments are created as One-time. For a series that must catch new people, build an Automated segment from scratch with the same conditions, and adjust the €500 and €1,500 defaults to your average order.

How to create a newsletter in CloudCart: 9 steps

A newsletter starts in Marketing → Campaigns → + Create campaign → Regular, and the editor has 5 numbered boxes. Example: a coffee store sends "The new Ethiopia harvest" to everyone who bought in the last 90 days.

1. Create the campaign. Choose Regular and click Create campaign. It appears as an untitled draft on the Draft tab.
2. Box 1: name and time. The name must be unique and becomes utm_campaign in every link. To send later, turn on Start delay and pick a date and time in the store's time zone.
3. Box 2: the segment. Pick "Ordered in the last 90 days" or build it on the spot. The field shows how many will receive the email.
4. Box 3: the channel. Choose Email. Only channels you have set up are listed.
5. Set the message. Click Set message, write the subject (up to 191 characters, though a phone shows only the start) and pick a template or start from scratch.
6. Build the email. Use blocks: text, image, button, product, columns, code. The product block pulls photo, price and link from your catalog. Add {$customer.first_name} for the greeting and {$unsubscribe_url} in the footer.
7. Send yourself a test. Send example email delivers it with sample data and does not count towards the limit. Check it on a phone and click every link.
8. Boxes 4 and 5: tag and goal. The exit tag (for example "ethiopia-received") marks everyone who completes the campaign, for a later segment. The goal is "Completes the last step" or "Makes an order".
9. Launch. Click Start campaign and confirm in the Review and launch window. A started campaign cannot be edited: to change it, copy it and launch the copy.

Links also get utm_source=cloudcart and the channel as utm_medium, so newsletter sales show up in Google Analytics with no manual tagging. Setup is in the guide to GA4 and Google Tag Manager for an online store.

Email templates: prebuilt, saved and your own design

Email templates in CloudCart come in three kinds: prebuilt templates by category, your saved templates, and a blank design built from blocks. A saved template is the fastest route to a regular newsletter.

• Save the design once. Choose Save template in the editor; the next campaign starts from it.
• Template changes reach linked campaigns. A new logo in a saved template appears in the next send of linked emails. For a separate version, edit the email inside the campaign.
• The product block has three sources: a chosen product, the bestsellers, or the products that triggered the campaign ({$triggered_products:N}), such as those left in a cart.
• Discount codes are personal. {$generate_discount_code:10%} creates a unique code per recipient. Link a discount to the campaign first, or the email will not save.
• Upload images through the Image block. Images embedded in the HTML as base64 are rejected.

Build in one column, make the button at least a thumb wide, and put the offer in the subject and first line: most customers read on a phone.

Automated campaign: the series with a condition

An automated campaign has up to 5 steps, with a wait and an "Email opened" or "Link clicked" condition between them. If the condition is met before the deadline, the customer takes the IF path, otherwise the ELSE path, and each path continues, exits, adds a tag or exits with a tag. The quickest start is a predefined automation under + Create campaign → Automated.

Welcome series step	When	What
Trigger	Enters the Automated segment "Signed up in the last 7 days"	The series starts
1. Email	Immediately	Welcome with {$generate_discount_code:10%}
Condition	Within 3 days	Was the link clicked?
IF clicked	Immediately	Tag "clicked-welcome", exit
ELSE	After 3 days	2. Email: bestsellers and a code reminder
Exit	On order	Tag "new customer"

Two switches in box 1 decide who enters. "Execute campaign for existing subscribers in segment" includes people already in the segment before the start. "Repeat the campaign for customers that got into it more than once" lets someone back in after leaving and re-entering: off for Welcome, on for abandoned carts.

Black Friday email campaign: one scenario in CloudCart

A Black Friday email campaign works best as three campaigns: early access for past buyers, one email to everyone on the day and a last reminder. Here is the scenario for an accessories store; the store checklist is on the Black Friday page.

Campaign	Type and segment	Start	Content
"BF early access"	Regular, Orders > 1	Start delay: Thursday 18:00	The sale opens 12 hours early, personal code
"Black Friday"	Automated, all confirmed subscribers (One-time segment built on Thursday)	By hand on Friday 08:00, with "Execute campaign for existing subscribers in segment" on	Top 6 products on sale. Condition "Opened" within 24 hours. IF: tag "bf-opened", exit. ELSE: a second email with a new subject on Saturday
"Cyber Monday"	Regular, tag "bf-opened"	Start delay: Monday 09:00	Last day, free shipping above a threshold

The main email is Automated because only Automated campaigns have conditions; Start delay exists only for Regular ones, so you launch it yourself. The second email reaches only those who did not open the first, and the "bf-opened" tag gives you an exact segment for Monday.

Important: prepare and test all three as drafts a week ahead. A started campaign cannot be edited, so a wrong price or code can only be fixed with a copy.

How to see who opened your email: the statistics

You see who opened your email in the campaign statistics: click the Statistics icon, then the row of the step. The log shows for each recipient whether the email was delivered, opened, clicked or bounced, updated every hour.

Number	Calculated as	What it tells you
Reached subscribers	Delivered emails	Your real list size
Clicked	Clicked ÷ delivered	Whether the offer and button work
Conversion rate	Orders ÷ delivered	How much the email sells
Revenue	Orders attributed to the campaign	Click it to see the orders

An order is attributed to the last campaign clicked in the same session. Treat opens with care: privacy features in some email apps preload messages and inflate the count. If clicks are good but orders are few, the problem is after the click: the page, shipping or payment.

Which email marketing metrics to track: the Marketing Suite dashboard

The key email marketing metrics for a store are click rate, conversion rate and marketing sales, while open rate and bounces protect the channel. All sit in Marketing → Marketing suite, compared with the previous period or the same period last year.

Metric	Calculated as	When to worry
Open rate	Opened ÷ sent	Below 5%: the channel is suspended after the first 500 emails
Click rate	Clicks ÷ opened emails	Falling campaign after campaign
Conversion rate	Campaign orders ÷ sent	Low while clicks are good
Marketing sales	Revenue from campaign orders	Compare with total store revenue
Accepting marketing	Subscribers with marketing consent	Not growing: the form is not collecting
Bounces and spam	Campaign statistics, channel Reputation	Above 5% bounces or 0.5% spam: suspension

Marketing sales are usually a small part of revenue, which is normal. Overall numbers refresh every 5 minutes and campaign results every hour. A weekly check: "last 7 days" against the previous period, marketing sales and conversion rate first.

What happens to people who unsubscribe

An unsubscribed subscriber receives no more marketing emails on that channel. They leave every campaign they are in, and later sends skip them automatically, as they do bounced addresses and people without marketing consent.

• The unsubscribe link is mandatory. Put {$unsubscribe_url} in every marketing email.
• Consent is explicit. Under the EU ePrivacy Directive, marketing email needs prior consent, with an exception for your own customers and similar products if they can object easily in every message (Directive 2002/58/EC, Article 13). Bulgaria applies it through the Electronic Commerce Act (in Bulgarian), and consent follows the GDPR. A CloudCart form with the marketing policy checkbox keeps the date, IP address and accepted text.
• An opt-out covers every channel. If the customer agrees again later, each channel is re-enabled separately.
• Do not import unsubscribed people back. Remove them and bounced addresses from any import file, or they bring complaints and hurt your domain.

More in the guide to GDPR, cookies and legal pages for an online store.

How often to send a newsletter

One or two newsletters a month is a good starting point, adjusted by your opens and unsubscribes. The CloudCart email channel is suspended automatically if, after 500 emails, opens fall below 5%, bounces exceed 5% or spam complaints exceed 0.5%, so fewer emails to precise segments protect both sales and the channel.

Why a campaign does not start: causes and fixes

A campaign that does not start has a red mark by its name; hover over it to see the reason.

Cause	Fix
Channel not set up or domain not verified	Marketing → Channels → Email: finish the DNS records
Channel suspended for opens, bounces or spam	Clean the list, write to support@cloudcart.com
No SMS or Viber messages left	Buy a package on the usage screen
Segment inactive (a deleted product or category)	Pick another segment in a copy of the campaign
A step without a message	Open the draft and set the message

The plan's campaign limit counts archived campaigns too; delete old ones from the Archive tab to make room.

Email campaign with an AI assistant: what Claude or ChatGPT takes over

An AI assistant (Claude Code, ChatGPT/Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor) connected with a PAT token prepares the campaign from sentences: it works with orders, subscribers, tags and discount codes. The launch stays in the admin, with you.

1. Finding people. "Find subscribers who bought coffee beans in the last 60 days with no order in 30": it tags them "beans-60" and reports the count.
2. The segment. You create one Automated segment on "tag = beans-60" in the admin; the assistant refills it on each request.
3. Codes and copy. It creates the discount codes and writes three subject and body versions from what the group buys.
4. The report. "How many orders used the code and for what total?" It counts them from the orders, and can list subscribers inactive for 90 days before they drag the open rate down.

Give a read-only PAT token for reports and full access only for tagging or codes, and ask "show me first" before any change.

7 mistakes in a first email campaign

1. A newsletter to the whole list instead of separate buyer and subscriber segments with different offers.
2. Launching without a test email. Broken links and empty variables show only there.
3. A code variable without a linked discount, so the email will not save.
4. An old list sent with unverified addresses switched on. Bounces suspend the channel.
5. A One-time segment for a series, so new people never enter.
6. Trying to fix a started campaign. Copy, fix the draft, stop the old one.
7. Judging by opens instead of clicks, orders and revenue per recipient.

Next, the guide on how to increase online sales ranks 25 changes by impact.

Frequently asked questions

Send your first campaign this week, with Black Friday inside your first three months. Create a store for €1. Questions about the setup: support@cloudcart.com.