Campaign Troubleshooting: Common Issues and How to Fix Them

If you're having trouble setting up or running a ContactOut campaign, use this guide to identify common issues and find the appropriate next step.

1. I Can't Start My Campaign

Possible cause: The campaign doesn't meet the requirements for launch.

How to fix it:

1. Open the campaign and select the Overview tab.
2. Check that the campaign contains at least one Send email step.
3. Open the Recipients tab and confirm that you've added recipients.
4. Review your campaign steps and their configuration.
5. Try selecting Start Campaign again.

Important: A campaign must contain at least one email step before it can be started. A campaign containing only SMS or manual tasks cannot be launched.

2. My Campaign Has No Recipients or the Wrong Recipients

Possible cause: Recipients haven't been added, or the intended contacts weren't included.

How to fix it:

1. Open the campaign and select Recipients.
2. Review the recipient table.
3. If recipients are missing, use the appropriate option in the Recipients tab to add them.
4. Check the available contact fields to confirm that the intended people are included.

You can add recipients using the supported options, including Import from CSV, Import from saved lists, Import from saved profiles, and Enter manually.

If you're importing a CSV file, make sure you're using the ContactOut CSV template.

3. An Email Step Isn't Sending as Expected

Possible causes: The sending mailbox may not be connected correctly, or the campaign's scheduling settings may affect when the email is due to run.

How to fix it:

1. Open Settings and review the email connection settings. Confirm the exact section name in the current UI.
2. Confirm that the mailbox you selected in the email step is connected and active.
3. Open the campaign's Overview tab and check the email step's displayed schedule.
4. Review Settings → Email scheduling to check the sending speed, selected days, sending hours, and recipient time zone settings.
5. Open the email step and confirm that the sender, subject, and message content are configured as intended.

If the email still doesn't behave as expected, note the affected campaign, step, and mailbox details before contacting support.

4. An SMS Step Isn't Working as Expected

Possible causes: The sender and recipient phone numbers may have different country codes, or the account may need additional calling credits.

How to fix it:

1. Open the campaign's Overview tab.
2. Open the relevant Send SMS step.
3. Check the From phone number field.
4. Confirm that the recipient's phone number has the same country code as the sender's number.
5. Check that you have sufficient calling credits.
6. Review the message and make sure it doesn't exceed the 300-character limit.

The SMS editor indicates that SMS can only be sent to phone numbers with the same country code as the sender.

5. A Recipient Hasn't Progressed Past a Manual Task

Possible cause: The manual task hasn't been marked complete for that recipient.

How to fix it:

1. Open the relevant campaign.
2. Select the Tasks tab, or open Tasks from the main navigation.
3. Find the task associated with the recipient.
4. Perform the activity described by the task.
5. Select Mark complete for that recipient.

Manual tasks, including LinkedIn task and Other task, require you to perform the activity yourself and record its completion in ContactOut.

Important: A recipient cannot progress past a manual task until you mark it complete for them. Completing the task for one recipient doesn't automatically complete it for other recipients.

6. I Can't Find a Manual Task

Possible cause: You're looking in a different view from where the task is listed.

How to fix it:

• To view tasks for one campaign: Open the campaign and select Tasks.
• To view tasks across campaigns: Open Tasks from the main navigation.

The main Tasks page includes Today, Upcoming, Overdue, and Completed summaries. It can also show the associated recipient and campaign name.

7. A Step Doesn't Run at the Expected Time

Possible cause: The step's schedule, campaign sending hours, selected sending days, or recipient time zone settings may affect its timing.

How to fix it:

1. Open the campaign's Overview tab.
2. Locate the affected step and review its displayed schedule.
3. Open the step editor, where applicable, and check its follow-up timing.
4. Open Settings → Email scheduling.
5. Review the selected sending days and hours.
6. Check the Recipient timezone setting and any manually set time zone values.

Remember that automatic time zone detection only affects new recipients, according to the setting's description. Manually set time zone values still apply.

Review both campaign-level scheduling settings and the individual step's schedule when investigating a timing issue.

8. My Campaign Is Paused

Possible cause: The campaign was paused intentionally or through its status control.

How to fix it:

1. Open the campaign from the Campaigns list.
2. Check the campaign's status.
3. If it's paused, use the available status control to resume it.

You can manage the campaign from either the campaign details page or the main Campaigns list. Inside the campaign, the running state is controlled through the button in the upper-right corner; the list page uses a status toggle.

9. My Campaign Metrics Aren't What I Expected

Possible cause: Different step types display different metrics, and available results depend on the activity recorded for the campaign.

How to fix it:

1. Open the campaign's Overview tab.
2. Locate the relevant step.
3. Check which metrics are available for that step type.

Email steps can display:

• Open rate.
• Reply rate.
• Click-through rate.
• Delivered count.

SMS and manual task steps display completed and skipped counts.

The main Campaigns list displays open rate and reply rate. ContactOut currently provides these monitoring views rather than a separate broad campaign analytics dashboard.

10. I Can't Find a Setting or Option Mentioned in a Guide

Possible cause: The option may be located in a different part of ContactOut, or the available controls may differ by step type.

How to fix it:

1. Check whether you're on the correct tab, such as Overview, Recipients, or Tasks.
2. Open the relevant step editor to review its available controls.
3. For campaign-wide email scheduling settings, open Settings → Email scheduling.
4. Make sure you're checking the settings for the correct channel, such as email, SMS, LinkedIn task, or Other task.

If the option is still missing, contact support and include a screenshot of the page you're viewing.

Before Contacting Support

If you've tried the relevant troubleshooting steps and the issue persists, collect the following information to help explain the problem:

• Campaign name.
• Affected step and channel.
• Recipient details relevant to the issue.
• What you expected to happen.
• What actually happened.
• Any visible error message.
• A screenshot of the relevant page or step editor.

Avoid including passwords or other sensitive account information in your support request.

Summary

When troubleshooting a ContactOut campaign, start by checking the campaign's Overview, Recipients, and Tasks views. Then review the relevant channel settings, scheduling configuration, mailbox connection, or task status.

If the issue persists after these checks, gather the campaign and step details and contact ContactOut support for further assistance.