This guide walks through building a campaign end to end, from naming it to pressing send. If you've already run a quick start and want more detail on any part, you're in the right place.
Before you start
You'll need contacts in Inrō to send to. A campaign reaches only your Active contacts (people who can currently receive a DM), so build your audience or folders first if you haven't. See How Are Contacts Added to Inrō?.
Your plan also sets how many campaigns you can send each month (the free plan includes 3). If you're near the limit, Subscription & Plans: How Billing Works in Inrō explains what each plan includes.
Step 1: Start a new campaign
Go to Campaigns in the left sidebar and click + New campaign.
Give the campaign a clear, descriptive name (you'll thank yourself when the list gets long), then choose how to start:
From a template: pick one of the ready-made cards, such as a launch announcement, a survey, or an ask-for-follow. A template opens with its steps already filled in.
Empty campaign: start from a blank canvas with no steps.
With AI: describe what you want the campaign to do, and Inrō drafts the message steps from your prompt for you to edit. It's the same AI builder used for scenarios, so Generate Scenarios from a Text Prompt Using AI explains how it works.
You can also browse the full library at inro.social/templates and scroll to "All campaigns library" for ready-to-clone campaigns covering re-engagement, email collection, launches, and more.
Click Create campaign to open the builder.
Step 2: Set your audience
The left panel of the builder controls who receives the campaign. You have two main choices:
All reachable contacts sends to every Active contact in your inbox. The count is live, so anyone who becomes unreachable before the send is skipped automatically.
Specific folder(s) or segment(s) narrows it down. Expand Folders to pick from your folders, or Segments to pick from your saved filters. You can combine both.
Expand Don't send campaign to to set exclusions: folders or segments to skip even if those contacts would otherwise be included.
At the bottom, turn on Exclude contacts who have received a campaign in the last 72 hours to avoid messaging the same people too often. The summary then shows the final contact count. Click View contacts to check the exact list before you build the flow.
Audience targeting has more depth than fits here (segment building, exclusion patterns, and exactly when the list locks). For the full picture, see Audience Selection & Segmentation for Campaigns.
Step 3: Build the message flow
On the right side of the builder, click Add a step. The step picker groups actions into categories:
Messages: text, photo/video, audio, file, post/reel share, message with button.
Conversions: ask a question, conversion link, survey, payment link.
Contacts: update a property, add or remove a folder, collect data.
Logic: wait (delay), conditions, A/B test, wait for reply.
AI: AI Agent auto-DM, AI Agent message, hand over to AI Agent.
Integrations: Calendly link, Shopify link, HTTP request.
For a simple campaign, add a Send message step, type your message, and use the (x) button to insert variables like {{contact.name}} so each DM feels personal.
These are the same actions and the same canvas you'd use in a scenario, so the action references cover the details: Message Actions, Conversion Actions, and Flow Control. To chain several steps and branch on replies, see Multi-Step Campaigns & Branching Logic.
Step 4: Decide what happens when someone replies
Above the canvas, the Interrupt when someone replies toggle controls what happens if a contact responds partway through. When it's on, the campaign stops for that contact the moment they reply, so they don't keep getting later steps.
Turn it on for campaigns meant to start a conversation. Turn it off for delivery-focused sequences (like a multi-day content drip) where every step should go out regardless.
To reuse this campaign later, you can duplicate or share it from the results view after it's sent. See Scheduling, Sending & Managing Campaigns.
Step 5: Test before sending
Click the dropdown arrow next to the blue Send campaign button and choose Send a test. Pick a contact to receive the full campaign right away, exactly as a real contact would.
⚠️ A test really sends the DM to that contact. Test sends stay out of your metrics and don't block a real send, so a test contact who's also in your audience will get the campaign again when you send for real. Exclude them, or test with someone outside your audience.
Step 6: Send or schedule
When the test looks right, choose how it goes out:
Send campaign sends to your full audience now.
Schedule campaign opens a date and time picker. Set when it should start, then confirm.
Save as draft saves everything without sending, so you can come back and edit or send later.
For large audiences, Inrō sends in batches and a big send can take an hour or more. See Scheduling, Sending & Managing Campaigns for timing and what to expect, then read the results in Campaign Metrics & Performance Tracking.
🐾 Netsuke's Tips
Put the date or audience in the campaign name (for example, "Feb launch - warm leads"). Once you have 20+ campaigns, vague names make the list hard to search.
Click View contacts before every send, not only your first. It's the fastest way to catch an accidental audience mismatch before it's too late.
Use the Interrupt when someone replies toggle for any campaign meant to open a conversation. There's no point sending a follow-up step to someone who already replied.
What's next?
Build flows with multiple messages and branching responses in Multi-Step Campaigns & Branching Logic. When the campaign is out, read the results in Campaign Metrics & Performance Tracking.