Campaign Monitor is built for teams and agencies that care a lot about email design. It has one of the better template editors in the industry and a clean interface that makes it easy to manage multiple sender profiles. This guide walks you through the full setup.
Total setup time: 1-2 hours. Difficulty: Easy. You do not need any technical background to follow this guide.
Campaign Monitor at a glance
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Starting price | $11/mo (Basic, 500 contacts) |
| Free plan | No |
| Free trial | Free trial (send to 5 contacts) |
| Setup time | 1-2 hours |
| Difficulty | Easy |
| Best for | Agencies and teams that prioritize beautiful email design |
How to set up Campaign Monitor in 6 steps
Go to campaignmonitor.com and sign up. The free trial lets you test the platform, but you can only send to five contacts until you upgrade. Enter your company details and complete the account setup wizard. If you are setting up Campaign Monitor for a client as an agency, you will create a client account within your main agency account.
Go to Account Settings > Verified Sending Domains and add your domain. Campaign Monitor will give you DKIM records to add to your DNS. Add these as TXT records at your domain registrar. Once verified, any from address at that domain will be cleared for sending.
Go to Lists & Subscribers > Create a new list. Name it and choose your unsubscribe settings. Then import your contacts: go to the list, click Import, and upload your CSV. Map the columns to Campaign Monitor fields. You can create custom fields during this step if your data has extra columns.
Go to Lists & Subscribers, select your list, and click Signup Forms. Campaign Monitor will generate a hosted form URL and embed code. Customize the form fields and design, then add the embed code to your website or link to the hosted URL.
Go to Journeys > Create a Journey. Select 'When someone subscribes to a list' as the entry trigger. Add an email action, then a delay, then another email. Campaign Monitor's Journey builder is visual and clean. You can add conditions to create different paths based on subscriber behavior.
Go to Campaigns > Create a campaign. Pick a template from the library -- Campaign Monitor's templates are well-designed and a good starting point. Customize it with the drag-and-drop editor, write your subject line and preview text, select your list, and send a test. When ready, schedule or send immediately.
Tips before you start
- Campaign Monitor's template library is one of the best in the industry -- worth browsing before building your own.
- Use custom fields to store extra data about subscribers and segment your list more precisely.
- If you are an agency, the client management features let you set separate billing and permissions per client.
Next steps
Once your account is set up, focus on building your first automation before sending any broadcast campaigns. A working welcome sequence ensures every new subscriber gets a consistent first experience. After that, review your migration guide if you are moving contacts from another platform, and use the recommendations quiz to confirm Campaign Monitor is the right long-term fit.