Creating Campaigns

This guide walks you through creating a dunning campaign from scratch using the campaign builder. If you want to start faster, LostChurn also provides pre-built templates during Quick Setup that you can customize later.

Opening the Campaign Builder

Navigate to Campaigns > New Campaign in the dashboard. The campaign builder opens with three sections: trigger configuration, step editor, and stop conditions.

Step 1: Name and Trigger

Start by giving your campaign a descriptive name (e.g., "Standard Dunning - Email + SMS" or "High-Value Recovery"). Then select a trigger type that determines when customers are enrolled.

Audience Filters

Optionally, narrow the audience using filters. Filters are defined as a JSON condition set and can target:

• Decline category — Only enroll customers with specific decline classifications
• Amount threshold — Minimum or maximum payment amount
• Subscription metadata — Custom fields from your payment processor
• Customer locale — Target by language or region

Step 2: Add Campaign Steps

Click Add Step to create your first outreach message. Each step requires:

Delay

Set the time delay before this step executes. The delay is measured from the previous step's execution (or from enrollment for the first step).

Common delay patterns:

• Step 1: 0-24 hours (immediate or next day)
• Step 2: 48-72 hours after Step 1
• Step 3: 5-7 days after Step 2
• Final step: 10-14 days after Step 3

Channel

Choose the delivery channel for this step:

• Email — Best for detailed messages with payment update links. See Email Campaigns.
• SMS — Best for short, urgent reminders. See SMS Campaigns.
• Push — Best for in-app engagement. See Push Notifications.
• WhatsApp — Best for high-engagement markets. See WhatsApp Campaigns.

Template

Select an existing template or create a new one inline. Templates support personalization variables and can include HTML (for email) or plain text. See the channel-specific guides for template details.

A/B Variants (Optional)

Add alternative templates to split-test different messages. Each variant is assigned a traffic weight (the weights across all variants must sum to 100). See A/B Testing for configuration details.

Step 3: Configure Stop Conditions

Stop conditions tell LostChurn when to end the campaign for a given customer. Configure:

With "Stop on recovery" enabled, a customer whose payment is recovered after Step 1 will never receive Step 2 — even if it is already scheduled.

Step 4: Set Quiet Hours

Configure quiet hours to prevent messages from being sent during inconvenient times. Specify:

• Start hour — When quiet hours begin (0-23, in 24-hour format)
• End hour — When quiet hours end (0-23)
• Timezone — The timezone to apply (e.g., US/Eastern, Europe/London)

Messages scheduled during quiet hours are queued and delivered as soon as the window reopens.

Step 5: Review and Activate

Before activating, the builder shows a summary of your campaign:

• Trigger type and audience filters
• Number of steps with delays and channels
• Stop conditions
• Quiet hours configuration

Click Save as Draft to save without activating, or Activate to start enrolling customers immediately. You can pause or deactivate a campaign at any time from the campaign list.

Managing Campaigns

Pausing a Campaign

Pausing a campaign stops new enrollments but allows in-progress enrollments to complete their current step. No new steps will be scheduled for paused campaigns.

Deactivating a Campaign

Deactivating a campaign stops all activity immediately. In-progress enrollments are cancelled and no further messages are sent.

Editing a Live Campaign

You can edit a live campaign's name, quiet hours, and stop conditions without pausing it. To change steps or triggers, pause the campaign first, make your changes, then reactivate.

Pre-Built Templates

LostChurn includes 5 pre-built campaign templates to get you started quickly. Each can be customized after creation:

To use a template, click New Campaign > Start from Template and select one. You can modify steps, delays, channels, and stop conditions before activating.

What's Next

• Email Campaigns — Template editor, personalization, and deliverability tips
• SMS Campaigns — Character limits, compliance, and costs
• A/B Testing — Optimize your campaigns with split tests