How to create and send a Smart Blast

Smart Blasts are the new way to reach everyone on your mailing list, optimized with the message most likely to convert. When you launch a Smart Blast, Cortex calculates the likelihood of conversion for the different stages and targets customers with the message most likely to convert. It is the perfect home for your weekly newsletter, giveaways, or promotional emails that are time sensitive but not delivery-critical.

Learn more: Understand the differences between a Smart Blast and a Promo Blast and when to use each.

Create a Smart Blast

1. Click Stages within the Cortex menu on the left.
   
   
   
   
2. Within the "All Stages" section, click the Smart Blast block.
   
   
   
   
3. Click New Email > Create New.
   
   
   
   
4. Enter a name for you email and then click Continue.
   Tip: Utilize distinct and recognizable names to help differentiate experiments from one another. (Example: 20160831 New Product Smart Blast Group A)
   
   
   
   
5. The From name, From email, and Reply-to email address will default to what was entered during onboarding. You can change these fields if you wish. Click "Save Draft" if any changes are made and then click Continue.
   
   
   
   
6. Enter the email's subject lines and optional preview text. Then click Continue.
   
   
   
   
7. On the Settings tab, fill out the optional fields within the General subtab:

   • Incentives - Select the incentives you wish to populate or split test in the email. More info here. 

   • Recommendation Scheme - If you want to select a specific recommendation scheme for your email, choose the scheme from the drop down. More info here. 

   • SendGrid categories - Enter category names, separated by a comma, if applicable.
   
   
   
   
8. Fill out the optional fields within the Advanced subtab: 

   • Segment targeting - Select a segment from the drop down if you want a specific cohort to receive this email.

   • Interests - Select one or more interests from the dropdown to apply to this email.

   • Item targeting - Select a specific category or item type to include or exclude from the product recommendations in this email. 

   
   
   
   
9. Select the email editor type to work with. Then click Continue to Editor.
   
   
   
   
10. Within the editor, build your email. Click Save Draft every once and while to save all your hard work.
11. Once completed, you can preview your email, send a test email, create a plain text version of your email, and more by clicking the drop down menu in the top right hand corner.
    Note: In the Drag and Drop builder only, you can export the HTML for your own purposes.
    
    
    
    
12. Click Continue to Summary to proceed to the final Summary screen.
    
    
    
    
13. Confirm all your settings and proceed to activate your email:
    • Send ASAP - will start sending the email as soon as all the data is processed. This will typically take less than 15-30 minutes, but can take longer for larger sites with a lot of users.
    • Continue to scheduling - will prompt you with a scheduling option.
    
    
    
    
    
14. Fill out the schedule fields, and then click Schedule.
    Tip: Set your Smart Blast to run for 2 days. Number of Days is most commonly set to 1 day - this means the email will be sent over the course of a 24 hour period. Giving Cortex two or three days to send the message allows it reach more users, who received other messaging on the first day.
    
    
    
    
15. Review the confirmation message, and then click Yes.
    
    
    
    
16. Click OK.
    
    
    
    

After clicking OK, you'll see the email listed in the Emails page with a status of "scheduled".