> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: /help/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Create a campaign > Build the steps your contacts go through. A campaign is a path of steps on a canvas: LinkedIn actions (visit, connect, message...), emails, waits, choices and calls to other apps. ![The campaign builder](https://mintcdn.com/kerux-f37add41/GiekIHZdrt_qu3Js/images/canvas.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=GiekIHZdrt_qu3Js\&q=85\&s=abd9d4b9aa0bcf857673ce94fda17ecd) **1. Start a new campaign** Click **Campaigns**, then **New campaign**, and choose **Build it myself** or **Create with AI** (see below). **Social posts**, below them, opens the [social posts](/help/campaigns/social-planner.md) calendar instead. **Build it myself** offers three ways: **From scratch** (give it a name), **From a template** (click **Browse templates**: they are grouped in sections by goal, **Preview** shows every step and message, and **Use template** creates it), or **From a signal** (people who react to or comment on a post). **2. Add steps** Click any **+** on a link or under a step, or **Add** in the tools row above the canvas. **Add a step** opens on the left with three tabs: **Steps** (LinkedIn, email, AI, timing, team and other steps), **Conditions** (ways to branch) and **Automations** (calls to other apps, like Sendspark). Search looks in all three. See [Steps](/help/campaigns/steps.md) for what each one does. **3. Set up each step** Click a step to open its panel on the right: the message text, which result goes where, and **Wait before this step** (how long to wait before it runs). Messages can use [variables](/help/campaigns/variables.md) like `{{contact.first_name}}`. **4. Check and launch** Your changes save by themselves. If the page reloads while you edit (for example during a Kerux update), your last change is kept. When it's ready, [add contacts and launch](/help/campaigns/launch.md). ## The start box: how contacts get in Every campaign starts with a box in two halves: * **Contacts**: people you add by hand, from a list or a CSV. Click **+ Add contacts** to add them (see [Launch a campaign](/help/campaigns/launch.md)). * **Trigger**: what starts the campaign. Click **+ Add** and a panel opens on the right with every kind: the **Manual trigger** (the contacts you add, when you launch), a signal (people who react to a LinkedIn post), a [Kerux event](/help/campaigns/kerux-triggers.md) (a tag, a field change, a date, a schedule, a link click), or, for workspace owners and admins, a trigger URL, a form, a LinkedIn event or a Facebook / Instagram lead form (trigger URLs, forms and lead forms are part of Pro and Agency, and the free trial). An added trigger shows with **Change** and **Remove** in its **...** menu, and a grayed **Trigger 2** box beside it adds another one. Everything added is listed in the campaign's **Triggers** tab. See [Campaign triggers](/help/campaigns/automations.md). ## Create with AI Tell Kerux what you want and the AI builds the campaign for you to review. Nothing is sent until you publish and add contacts. Create with AI is part of the **Pro** and **Agency** plans (and the free trial); on Starter, build it yourself or start from a template. There are three ways to tell it: * **Tell me what you want**: write it, or click the microphone and say it (Chrome, Edge and Safari; the microphone listens in the app's language). * **Ask me questions**, in two levels: * **Easy**: what you sell and your website (optional). The AI reads your public website and works out who to write to, what to offer and what to ask for. If the site can't be read, it works from what you typed. * **Advanced**: six short questions (who you write to, what you offer, what they should do, how people enter, tone and language, extra steps like a Slack notification). * **Build a lead form** is coming soon: the AI will help you make a form, and whoever fills it in goes straight into the campaign. * **Start from a template**: templates are grouped by goal (Playbooks, Reactivation, Automations, Book meetings, Warm up, Signals, Events, Your network, After a call). Pick one and you see how it runs, step by step: what starts it, each step with its day and its text, and for a branch what it checks (for example **Did they accept the invitation in time?**) with its **If yes** and **If no** steps. Add one line about your business and click **Adapt it with AI**, or **Use it as it is, without AI** to create it straight away. At the end pick a **Selling style** (**Gentle**, **Balanced** or **Direct**; it starts on your [business profile](/help/account/business-profile.md)'s style) and choose **Sequence** (one line of steps over days) or **Automation** (branches, LinkedIn events like "someone views my profile", integrations like Slack). If what you ask needs branches, a trigger or an integration, the AI builds an automation. **Create with AI needs your business profile.** If it's empty, **First, your business** opens instead: paste your website and click **Research my business** (Kerux reads it and searches the web to write what you sell, who to reach and your competitors), or write it yourself in the topic cards (**What we sell**, **Who buys it**...), then **Save**. The builder opens right after. Only owners and admins can fill it; others see a note asking them to. **Build it myself** (from scratch, a template or a signal) doesn't need it. See [Business profile](/help/account/business-profile.md). ### What the AI adds by itself Unless your description says otherwise, an outreach campaign built with AI gets the parts a good campaign needs, even when you only listed the steps: * **A path for people who don't accept** (in an automation; a sequence has no branches): after 14 days without an answer the invitation is withdrawn, then a follow, a few days and a like, and their path ends (never a second invitation). Write "keep it simple" to leave it out. * **The reply box**: when they reply at any step, they leave the campaign and **Reply with AI** drafts an answer for you to approve in the inbox, in your style's tone. It answers by itself only if your description asks for it ("reply automatically"), and then only for clear replies (yes, a meeting, not now, someone else), after the reply delay. Write "no AI replies" to leave it out. * **Warm-up and timing for the style**: a profile visit before the invitation (and a like for Gentle), and the days between messages from the style's table. Exact days in your description are kept. * **At most 3 messages to a contact** on any path, and at most 3 emails: extra ones are left out. * A personal first line from **Research with AI online** when you ask for personalization, a Sendspark video when you name Sendspark or a personalized video (with a plain message if the video isn't ready in time), and a voice note when you ask for one (you record it in the step). The notes on the campaign list what was added under **Added by good practice**. The AI never stops halfway: it builds every step it can and opens the campaign with a small notes panel on the left of the builder (**Minimize** folds it into an **AI notes** button) that says: * if the AI couldn't answer at that moment, that the campaign was built from the words in your description (check each step and its texts); * how many steps it built, and under **What it couldn't do**, anything from your description it couldn't turn into a step; * under **Added by good practice**, what it added or adjusted for you (see above); * **Before you continue, connect Slack** (or another service) when a step needs a connection you don't have yet, with a button to connect it; after connecting you come back to the campaign; * **Finish the Slack step** when the step needs something the AI didn't know (like who to send it to): **Finish setting it up** opens the step's panel on the right, with what the AI wrote already filled in; once it's filled in, it leaves the notes; * how people enter. A LinkedIn event (someone views your profile, a new connection, a new follower...) is added as the campaign's trigger right away, for all your LinkedIn accounts: it shows on the start box. A Kerux event (a tag added, a date like a birthday, a schedule...) is added the same way when your description says enough; if it's missing something, the notes say what (**Still needed:** which tag, which field or the link's address) with **Set it up in Triggers**. A trigger URL or a form has a link to set it up in **Triggers**. Click **Dismiss** (the x) to close the notes. When nothing is left to do, they close for good on their own, so they don't come back when you open the campaign again. ## Playbooks The **Playbooks** section of the template library has eight ready automations, adapted from the most used outreach workflows. **Facebook contact: video, WhatsApp and LinkedIn in minutes** is marked **Coming soon** and can't be used yet. Every text is a starting point you can edit; none sends more than 3 messages to a contact, and every wait is in days, within your LinkedIn accounts' limits. Each card says what it **Needs** before it can run: | Playbook | What it does | Needs | | - | - | - | | **Engagers to meetings** | People who react to or comment on a post or company page you watch enter. Ask AI scores their intent; good fits get a visit, an invitation and two messages; the others are tagged `low-intent` and stop. | A post or page to watch (the campaign opens with its signal panel) | | **Research before the first message** | Research with AI online looks up each person and company, Ask AI checks the fit (low fits are tagged `nurture`), and the first message opens with something specific from the research. | AI credits for research | | **Video after they accept** | A day after they accept, a personalized Sendspark video in the first message; a plain message if the video isn't ready in time; one follow-up. | Sendspark (pick your dynamic video campaign in the step) | | **Voice note follow-up** | A short first message after they accept, then a voice note as the second touch. | A voice note you record once in the Message step | | **LinkedIn, then email** | Two LinkedIn messages, then for everyone who hasn't replied (accepted or not) a search for a work email they published; if one is found, two emails from your inbox. | An email inbox, AI credits for research | | **Event follow-up** | Your event tool sends attendees (webhook). Ask AI sets a priority from their role: priority people get a Slack alert to you, a visit, an invitation and a message once they accept; the others get a thank-you email and never an invitation. Everyone is tagged `event`. | Your tool's webhook, Slack, an email inbox | | **Reply-aware nurture** | Up to three messages after they accept. When they reply at any step, they leave the sequence, Reply with AI drafts an answer for you to approve, you get a Slack message and they are tagged `replied`. | Slack | | **Facebook contact: video, WhatsApp and LinkedIn in minutes** | Someone fills in your Facebook or Instagram lead ad form: a personalized Sendspark video goes out by WhatsApp and email within minutes (a short WhatsApp and email without it if the video isn't ready in time); the next day a visit and a LinkedIn invitation, and a message once they accept. People who don't accept get a follow and a like. Add a LinkedIn profile question to your form: a contact without one stops before the LinkedIn steps, with the reason in **Home > Tasks**. | A Facebook or Instagram lead form, Sendspark, a [WhatsApp number](/help/getting-started/connect-whatsapp.md) and an email inbox | **Video after they accept**, **LinkedIn, then email**, **Event follow-up**, **Reply-aware nurture** and **Facebook contact: video, WhatsApp and LinkedIn in minutes** use steps that are part of Pro and Agency (Sendspark, email, webhooks, Slack). On Starter you can open and edit them, but turning them on says **This is part of Pro** with an **Upgrade to Pro** button. See [Plans and billing](/help/account/billing.md). In every playbook, whether you use it as it is or adapt it with AI, people who don't accept the invitation within 14 days get a follow, a few days and a like, never a message or a second invitation. Then their path ends, except in **LinkedIn, then email**, where they go on to the email part. In **Event follow-up** only priority people get an invitation. Each card says this under its description, and so do the notes on a campaign you create from it as it is. After **Use template**, the notes on the left say what's left: **Before you continue, connect Sendspark**, **Finish the Sendspark step**, **Record your voice note before you launch** (open the Message step that mentions it and click **Record a voice note**) or **Pick the post or company page whose engagers enter this campaign** (with a **Pick the signal** button). ## Reactivation The **Reactivation** section wakes up people you already know: | Template | What it does | How people enter | | - | - | - | | **Re-engage contacts silent for 90 days** | A short, low-pressure message, and one follow-up a week later if they don't answer. | You add them, ideally **From a segment** like **No activity for 90 days** (see [Smart segments](/help/leads/segments.md)) | | **Past customers: check in after 90 days** | 90 days after a contact is tagged `customer`, a short check-in; they are tagged `checked-in`. | **Tag added**: `customer` (added for you) | | **Event follow-up for tagged attendees** | A visit, an invitation with a short note, and a thank-you once they accept; not accepted: a follow and a like. | **Tag added**: `event` (added for you) | | **Birthday wishes** | A short happy birthday message on LinkedIn, every year. | **Date reminder** on a **Birthday** date field, at 9:00 (add the custom field first, see [Kerux events](/help/campaigns/kerux-triggers.md#dates-and-birthdays)) | LinkedIn messages only reach your 1st-degree connections. To send one message to many people at once, use a [broadcast](/help/campaigns/broadcasts.md). ## Useful tools in the builder * The tools row above the canvas: **Search steps**, **Undo** and **Redo**, **Copy** and **Paste** of steps (also between campaigns), **Delete**, **Show all steps** and **Test** (try the launched campaign on one contact, see [Test with one contact](/help/campaigns/launch.md#test-with-one-contact)). * To remove a link between two steps, click the line first, then click **Remove this link**. **Undo** brings it back. * Click a step to open its panel on the right, with the step's mark and name on top. It reads top to bottom in numbered sections: the step's own settings (for a Slack step: the **Account**, or **Connect Slack** when none is connected, then **Send to** and **Message**), **Handle missing data** (what to write when a contact has no value for a variable; left empty, a contact field uses your workspace's default, for example "there" for a first name, see [Variables](/help/campaigns/variables.md)), **Wait before this step** and **Test and run** (**Test this step** or **Test from here**). Below them, **Contacts on this step** (closed until you click it) shows who is there right now. * In a step that sends a message (LinkedIn message, invitation note, InMail, email, WhatsApp, SMS), the **Message** is open and first (for an email: **Send from** and **Subject** come before it). Every other section is one line with what it's set to and a mark: a green check when it's complete, a red mark when something it needs is missing (for example no inbox connected). Click a line to open it. The (i) next to **Message** explains what Kerux checks before sending (consent, unsubscribe link, hours). **Preview** shows the message for one of your contacts, with empty variables in red. Clicking the wait on a step's card opens the step on its **Wait before this step**. * **Step key and all settings (JSON)** (closed until you click it) holds the less common settings: the step's key, its JSON and, for steps with several results (for example **Connect**: accepted / not accepted), **Continue to the same next step whatever happens**. At the very bottom, **Comment** is a note for your team, shown on the step, never sent to contacts. * **Duplicate** a whole campaign from the **...** menu in the campaigns list. * In the campaigns list, the **Created by** column shows who made each campaign, with their photo. Use the **Created by** filter to see **Everyone**, **Me** or one teammate. ## Common problems > [accordion] A step shows a red problem > > The step is missing something (for example, an empty message). Click it: the panel says what to fix. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.