Campaign Best Practices Growth+This feature requires the Growth+ plan or higher
A good campaign brings customers back, fills empty slots, and pays for itself many times over. Here's what tends to work.
Writing Subject Lines
The subject line decides whether anything else gets read.
- Keep it short. 40–50 characters. Anything longer gets cut off on a phone.
- Be specific. "20% off midweek bookings this month" beats "Special offer inside!".
- Use urgency only when it's real. "Last 3 spots on Saturday" works because it's true; fake deadlines train people to ignore you.
- Skip the spam triggers. "FREE!!!", "ACT NOW", and rows of exclamation marks send you straight to the junk folder.
Writing the Message
One message, one ask
Every campaign should have a single purpose and a single next step. Ask yourself what one thing you want the reader to do, then build the email around it and put it on a button.
Use their name and your details
Click Personalize in the toolbar to drop in a tag. Each is replaced per customer when the email goes out:
{customer_name}— the customer's name{supplier_name}— your business name{promo_code}and{promo_discount}— the code you attached and its discount{survey_link}— a link to the survey linked on the campaign's Details tab
Structure it for skimming
Most people skim. A campaign that reads well is usually:
- An opening line that gets to the point.
- The offer or news, in a sentence or two.
- A button with the one action you want.
- Any conditions — expiry date, minimum spend — last and small.
Let Dash start you off
The Create with Dash AI panel on the first step of a new campaign turns a sentence about what you want to say into a drafted campaign. Use it when you're staring at a blank page — then edit it into your own voice. See Create with Dash.
Choosing the Audience
Sending the right message to the right people beats sending everything to everyone.
| What you want | Who to send it to | How |
|---|---|---|
| Fill quiet weekdays | Customers near you | Locals |
| Bring back last season's customers | People who booked during that season | Customers from a season |
| Reach people who've gone quiet | Nobody who has booked recently | Custom filter → only people who haven't booked since… |
| Promote a specific item | People who've booked something similar | Custom filter → Products / Experiences |
| Thank your best customers | A hand-picked few | Selected customers |
| A big announcement | Everyone | All customers |
See Choosing Who Gets It for the details.
Timing
- Midweek, mid-morning works well for most small businesses — Tuesday to Thursday, 9–11am.
- Avoid weekends unless your customers are unusually active then.
- Send seasonal offers early. People need time to plan; a summer offer lands better in spring than the week before.
- Schedule it. Write the campaign when you have time, and use Schedule so it arrives when your customers are reading.
Using Promo Codes
A code gives customers a reason to act now instead of later.
- Keep it easy to type. SUMMER20 beats XJ8K2PLM.
- Attach it to the campaign so
{promo_code}and{promo_discount}fill themselves in, and so you can see what the code brought in afterwards. - Give it a deadline. "Book by the 30th" creates a reason to move and gives you a clean end point.
- Match the offer to the price. A percentage suits higher-value bookings; a flat amount suits smaller ones.
Common Mistakes
| Mistake | Why it hurts | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Sending everything to everyone | Unsubscribes go up, results go down | Target a specific group |
| No clear next step | People don't know what to do | One button, one action |
| Too much text | People stop reading | Short and skimmable |
| No reason to act now | Nothing happens | Attach a code with a deadline |
| Sending too often | People tune out and opt out | Two to four a month at most |
| Never looking at the results | You never learn what works | Check the Analytics tab on every send |
How Often to Send
| Your business | A reasonable rhythm |
|---|---|
| Seasonal rental shops | 2–3 a month in season, 1 a month out of season |
| Year-round operators | 2–4 a month |
| Multiple locations | 1–2 a month per location, targeted by city |
Start conservative and let the results tell you whether to send more.