Create campaigns with Active Intelligence

With Active Intelligence, you can create campaigns from a single text prompt. The Active Intelligence-generated campaign includes a subject line, preheader, layout, images, content, and call to action.

Active Intelligence campaign creation helps you create quick campaigns, refine and finalize your content, start from a campaign template or past campaigns, incorporate brand kit information, and provide campaign inspiration.

In this article, you’ll learn the basics of creating campaigns with Active Intelligence.

Take note

• Set up your Brand Kit before creating campaigns with Active Intelligence to help keep your campaigns consistent
• Active Intelligence campaign creation only supports the Standard campaign type created with the Email Designer
• Test emails do not require you to set up your sending domain.
• Active Intelligence-generated campaigns will be tagged with the AI sparkle icon on the Email Campaigns Overview page

How to create campaigns with Active Intelligence

There are three ways to create campaigns with Active Intelligence:

Option 1: Active Intelligence homepage or sidebar page

1. Access the Active Intelligence homepage by logging in (it will be the first page) or by clicking the ActiveCampaign logo in the top menu if already logged in. To open the Active Intelligence sidebar, click the Active Intelligence icon from any page except the homepage.
2. From Active Intelligence, you can either:
   • Type in a prompt to create a campaign. For example: 
     • “Write a product launch email that builds excitement with compelling benefits, addresses how it solves customer problems, and drives action with a clear call-to-action”
     • “Create a monthly newsletter email with diverse content including industry updates, company news, customer spotlight, and actionable tips that keep subscribers engaged and informed”
     • (Optional) Reference a campaign in your prompt by typing @ and selecting a specific campaign. This lets Active Intelligence reference an exact asset in your ActiveCampaign account. Learn more about referencing assets in Active Intelligence.
     • (Optional) Upload a file (PDF or Docx) or provide a valid URL to provide context and extract text for your email body. Learn more about uploading files to Active Intelligence.
     • If you are in Active Intelligence homepage, click one of the campaign-related idea cards under the prompt field
3. Active Intelligence will create the campaign. 
4. Review and edit the Active Intelligence-generated campaign.
5. Click the “Send test” button to send a test campaign to the email associated with your ActiveCampaign user to review your campaign. Test emails do not require you to set up your sending domain.
6. When you are done creating the campaign, click the “Review and send” button. 
7. Complete the information on the Campaign Summary page.
8. Once you have completed the information on the Campaign Summary page, send your email. 

Option 2: Email Campaigns Overview page

1. Click Email on the left menu.
2. In the “Generate a campaign in seconds” field at the top of the page, type a detailed prompt describing your desired email campaign, including subject, colors, themes, and patterns.
3. (Optional) Use your campaign templates or past campaigns with Active Intelligence. This option allows Active Intelligence to generate your campaign using a campaign template or past campaigns that you have created and approved. To do so:
   • While typing your prompt in the prompt field, click the "@ Add context" button.
   • Click "My templates" or "Past Campaigns" in the dropdown.
   • Hover over the template you want to use:
     • Click “Select” to choose the template in your prompt
     • Click “Preview” to view the template before choosing
4. (Optional) Upload a file (PDF or Docx) or provide a valid URL to provide context and extract text for your email body. Learn more about uploading files to Active Intelligence.
5. Click the arrow button in the prompt field or hit “Enter” on your keyboard. 
6. Active Intelligence will open and create the campaign. 
7. Review and edit the Active Intelligence-generated campaign.
8. Click the “Send test” button to send a test campaign to the email associated with your ActiveCampaign user to review your campaign. Test emails do not require you to set up your sending domain.
9. When you are done creating the campaign, click the “Review and send” button. 
10. Complete the information on the Campaign Summary page.
11. Once you have completed the information on the Campaign Summary page, send your email. 

Option 3: Create an HTML campaign with Active Intelligence

You can use Active Intelligence to create a campaign from existing HTML code. This is useful when you have a coded email template you want to use as the basis for a new campaign.

1. Access the Active Intelligence homepage by logging in (it will be the first page) or by clicking the ActiveCampaign logo in the top menu if already logged in. To open the Active Intelligence sidebar, click the Active Intelligence icon from any page except the homepage.
2. In the prompt field, type "Create an email from HTML" and paste your HTML code directly into the prompt.
3. Click the arrow button or press Enter on your keyboard. Active Intelligence will generate the campaign using your HTML code.
4. Review and edit the Active Intelligence-generated campaign.
5. Click the “Send test” button to send a test campaign to the email associated with your ActiveCampaign user to review your campaign. Test emails do not require you to set up your sending domain.
6. Complete the information on the Campaign Summary page.
7. Once you have completed the information on the Campaign Summary page, send your email. 

How to edit Active Intelligence-generated campaigns

Once you create your Active Intelligence-generated campaign, you can edit it in Active Intelligence.

You can edit your Active Intelligence-generated campaign with the following options: 

Adjust content using feedback

You can give feedback and change the content in your Active Intelligence-generated campaign by typing into the prompt field and hitting enter on your keyboard. Context is remembered within each chat tab.

Active Intelligence regenerates the preview on the right. The regenerated content considers the original prompt, original brand kit (if you used one), and feedback provided.

You can also manually adjust the text in the preview on the right using the directions in the next section.

Version history

Active Intelligence saves your progress as you make edits to an Active Intelligence-generated campaign. You can go back to an earlier version at any time.

To do so:

1. While editing an Active Intelligence-generated campaign in Active Intelligence, click the version history icon. A panel will open showing your saved versions, with the most recent at the top.
   
   
    
2. Click the version you want to restore. Active Intelligence will reload that campaign version.

Adjust images

When creating a campaign, Active Intelligence picks images from your Content Manager based on your prompt. For example, if you create a birthday campaign, it searches for images with matching names, keywords, or alt text. If no matching images are found, Active Intelligence uses stock images instead.

There are a few ways you can update images in your Active Intelligence generated campaign:

Edit with prompt

“Edit with prompt” lets you adjust images to meet your specific needs using Active Intelligence. The “Edit with prompt” tool can be used on any image in a campaign. To use this method:

1. Click on the image you would like to update.
2. A menu of options will appear. Select the “Edit with Prompt” option.
3. The menu will be replaced by a prompt box. Click in the prompt box and create a prompt that describes the changes you would like to be made to the image.
4. Click the “Edit image” button. Active Intelligence will generate an update to the image. If you need to continue editing the image, you can update the prompt in the prompt box to specify the changes. 
5. To save the updated image, click the “Accept image” button.
6. To stop Active Intelligence from updating the image, click the “Cancel” button, or click outside of the image.

Once you accept the edits, Active Intelligence saves a copy of the new image to your Content Manager.

Change image

When you click on the “Change image” button, a “Swap Image” modal appears. From this modal you can choose from the following options to replace a specific image:

• “Your Library” - Search and your Content Manager library for a replacement image
• “Stock” - Choose from a selection of stock images
• Import from URL - Fetch images from a specific URL. Then select one to replace your current image
• Upload - Select a specific image from your computer

Selected images (from stock, URL import, or upload) are saved to your Content Manager. 

Edit alt text

Alt text is a brief description of your image that appears in your email if a subscriber has images blocked. With the “Edit alt text” feature you can add or update alt text of the selected image. Any updates to the alt text are visible in your Content Manager.

Prompt Active Intelligence to use a specific image

For best results, request images from your content manager when you first generate the campaign. After the email is generated, it is best practice to manually change the image with the instructions above.

Email structure

When creating and editing a campaign in Active Intelligence, you can switch to a different email structure by selecting from My templates, Classic templates, or AI Made for You at the bottom of the editor. When you switch layouts, your existing content, CTA links, and images are preserved.

Here is a list of layouts available under “AI Made for You”:

• Simple
• Callouts 
• Image Grid
• Sale
• Asymmetrical Grid 
• Editorial 
• 3 Column
• Double Header
• Rounded Borders
• Bold Header 
• 2 Columns 
• Central Focus
• Countdown 
• Countdown Hero

Edit using the preview

You can manually adjust the text (subject, preheader, and body), images, and links by clicking and editing them in the preview.

Links

It is best practice to make sure your links are correct before sending. Active Intelligence-generated campaigns allow you to insert links in two ways: manually or by prompt. 

Manually link a URL in the campaign button

1. Click the call-to-action button in the campaign preview.
2. Paste the link into the “Insert link” field.
3. Click “Save.”

Prompt Active Intelligence to link a URL in a button

You can also type a prompt in the feedback field to tell Active Intelligence which URL to link in a button. For example:

"Use URL [URL name: https://activecampaign.com] in the Call to Action button of this email campaign."

Active Intelligence will update the campaign preview with the URL you specified.

Additional edits in the Email Designer

To make additional layout or design changes, open the full Email Designer.

There are two options to get to the email designer from the Active Intelligence Campaign Builder:

1. Click “Edit in campaign designer” at the bottom of the preview in Active Intelligence.
   
   OR
    
2. Click the “Review and send” button at the top of the campaign preview in Active Intelligence to get to the Campaign Summary page, then click the “Edit design” button.