Campaign Types & Channels

Every conversation your AI bot handles lives inside a campaign. Think of a campaign as a project: it defines which channels the bot listens on, how it behaves, and what its goal is. The type of campaign you choose determines whether the bot responds to people who message you, reaches out to people on your list, or both.

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The Campaigns Page

The Campaigns page shows all your campaigns in a table. Each row displays:

• Campaign name - the name you gave it.

• Contacts - the number of contacts assigned to the campaign.

• Channel - badges showing which messaging channels are active (for example, WhatsApp, SMS, Instagram).

• AI mode - a sparkles icon indicating whether the AI bot is enabled.

• Status - the current state (Draft, Live, Paused, Completed, etc.).

This gives you a quick overview of all your campaigns at a glance.

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Campaign Types at a Glance

Type	What It Does	Best For
Incoming (from Unknown Contacts)	Responds to people who message you first	Customer support, website chat, general inquiries
Outgoing	Sends messages to contacts on your list	Promotions, re-engagement, event invitations
Combined	Does both incoming and outgoing in one campaign	Sales funnels, all-in-one bots (recommended for most users)

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Incoming Campaigns (from Unknown Contacts)

An incoming campaign handles messages from people who reach out to you first - contacts you may not even know yet.

Imagine this: Someone finds your business on WhatsApp and sends "Hi, do you deliver to my area?" Your AI bot instantly greets them, answers their question, and starts a conversation - all without you lifting a finger.

How it works:

1. A new person messages you on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, or any connected channel

2. DM Champ automatically creates a contact record for them

3. The contact is assigned to your incoming campaign

4. Your AI bot responds based on your campaign settings

Best for:

• General inquiry handling ("Someone messaged us - what do they want?")

• Customer support - answer questions from anyone who reaches out

• Chat widget on your website - handle visitor questions automatically

• Instagram DM automation - respond to people who message your business page

Good to know: DM Champ automatically creates a default incoming campaign for each channel when you connect it. You can customize these or create additional ones.

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Outgoing Campaigns

An outgoing campaign lets you proactively send the first message to contacts on your list. You provide the contacts and the opening message, and the bot handles the rest of the conversation after someone responds.

Imagine this: You have a list of 500 leads from a trade show. Instead of manually messaging each one, you launch an outgoing campaign. Each lead receives a personalized WhatsApp or SMS message, and when they reply, the AI bot takes over the conversation.

How it works:

1. Create a contact list and add your contacts to it

2. Create an outgoing campaign and link it to the list

3. Choose your outgoing channel - WhatsApp or SMS

4. Write an opening message (WhatsApp requires a pre-approved template; SMS does not)

5. Submit for approval if using WhatsApp

6. Schedule or launch the campaign

7. Contacts receive the opening message

8. When they respond, the AI bot continues the conversation

Best for:

• Promotions and announcements to existing contacts

• Re-engagement campaigns for leads who have gone quiet

• Event invitations

• Product launches

• Follow-up sequences after a webinar or event

Why is a template needed for WhatsApp? WhatsApp requires businesses to use pre-approved message templates when starting a conversation. This is WhatsApp's policy to prevent spam. Once the contact replies, the conversation flows freely. SMS does not have this requirement.

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Combined Campaigns (Recommended)

A combined campaign handles both incoming messages and outgoing outreach in a single campaign. This is the most versatile type and is recommended for most use cases.

Imagine this: You set up one campaign for your fitness studio. It sends a welcome offer to your contact list AND responds to anyone who messages you on Instagram. One bot, one set of instructions, all conversations in one place.

How it works:

• You configure the bot once with instructions, FAQs, and company info

• The campaign can receive inbound messages from new contacts

• The campaign can also send outbound messages (via WhatsApp or SMS) to a contact list

• All conversations follow the same bot behavior, whether started by you or the contact

Best for:

• Sales funnels (contact opts in on your website, receives a WhatsApp message, conversation continues)

• Any scenario where the same bot should handle both outreach and replies

• Keeping things simple - one campaign instead of two with duplicate settings

Tip: If you are starting fresh, use a combined campaign. It covers both incoming and outgoing scenarios and saves you from managing separate campaigns.

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Multi-Channel Campaigns

Each campaign can operate on one or more messaging channels at the same time. You choose which channels are active when setting up the campaign.

Supported Channels

Channel	What It Is	Incoming	Outgoing	Good For
WhatsApp Business	Messages via the official WhatsApp Business API. Supports template messages, images, videos, and full automation.	Yes	Yes	Most businesses worldwide, especially in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia
WhatsApp Web	Messages via a WhatsApp Web connection. No template approval needed for messages within 24 hours.	Yes	Yes	Smaller-scale operations, quick setup
SMS	Text messages via Twilio.	Yes	Yes	North America, regions where WhatsApp is less common
Instagram DMs	Direct messages on Instagram. Also supports monitoring comments.	Yes	No	E-commerce, brands with a strong Instagram presence
Facebook Messenger	Messages through your Facebook Page.	Yes	No	Businesses with active Facebook Pages
Chat Widget	A chat box you can embed on your website. Visitors chat directly from your site.	Yes	No	Capturing leads from your website, real-time visitor support
Custom Channel	Connect any messaging platform for full flexibility.	Yes	No	Telegram, Slack, or any other platform

You can enable multiple channels on the same campaign. The bot behaves consistently across all of them.

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How to Choose the Right Campaign Type

Your Goal	Recommended Type
Handle messages from anyone who contacts you	Incoming (from Unknown Contacts)
Send a promotional blast to your contact list	Outgoing
Sales funnel (opt-in + automated follow-up)	Combined
Re-engage leads who have gone quiet	Outgoing
Website chat support	Incoming (from Unknown Contacts)
All-in-one bot for a single product or service	Combined

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Campaign Status: What Each Stage Means

Every campaign goes through a series of stages from creation to completion:

Status	What It Means
Draft	You are still setting up the campaign. Nothing is live yet. Edit freely.
Pending Approval	Your WhatsApp template message has been submitted and is waiting for WhatsApp's approval.
Scheduled	The template is approved and the campaign is waiting for its scheduled launch date.
Live	The campaign is active. The bot is responding to messages and/or sending outgoing messages.
Paused	The campaign is on hold. No messages are sent or responded to. You can resume at any time.
Completed	The outgoing messages have all been sent. The bot still handles incoming replies.
Completed with errors	The campaign finished but some messages failed to deliver. Check the error details.
Sent	All outgoing messages have been delivered successfully.
Failed	Something went wrong (for example, the template was rejected). Check the error message for details.

Typical Status Flow

• Incoming campaigns: Draft -> Live -> Paused (optional) -> Live

• Outgoing campaigns: Draft -> Pending Approval -> Scheduled -> Live -> Completed/Sent

• Combined campaigns: Draft -> Pending Approval -> Scheduled -> Live -> Completed (outgoing part finishes) while still handling incoming messages

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AI Mode

Every campaign has an AI Mode toggle:

• AI Mode ON: The bot automatically handles conversations based on your settings.

• AI Mode OFF: Messages are received and stored, but the bot does not reply. You handle all conversations manually.

Tip: Start with AI Mode enabled and monitor the conversations. If the bot handles most situations well, leave it on. You can always pause the bot for a specific contact by using the "Alert Human" feature.

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AI-Powered Template Generation

When setting up outgoing or combined campaigns, you need an opening message (a WhatsApp template or SMS message) to send to your contacts. Instead of writing these yourself, DM Champ can generate them for you using AI.

Generating an Opening Message

1. Open your campaign and go to the Template or Opening Message section.

2. Click Generate with AI.

3. The AI creates a message based on your campaign instructions, company info, and target audience.

4. Review and edit the generated message as needed.

5. Submit for approval (required for WhatsApp templates).

Generating Follow-Up Messages

If your campaign uses automated follow-ups, the AI can generate the entire follow-up sequence:

1. Go to the Follow-Ups section of your campaign.

2. Click Generate All Follow-Ups (or similar).

3. The AI creates a series of follow-up messages designed to re-engage contacts who have not responded.

4. Review each message and adjust timing, tone, or content.

AI-generated templates use credits. You will see the estimated cost before confirming.

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Campaign Cost Estimation

Before launching an outgoing campaign, DM Champ shows you a cost estimate so there are no surprises. The estimate breaks down what you will spend based on your contact list and chosen channel.

How It Works

1. After setting up your campaign and selecting your contact list, look for the Estimate Cost option.

2. DM Champ calculates the cost by analyzing:

   • Number of contacts in your list

   • Countries where your contacts are located (messaging costs vary by country)

   • Channel (WhatsApp template fees differ from SMS per-segment fees)

   • Message length (for SMS, longer messages are split into segments which cost more)

3. You see a breakdown showing the total estimated cost before you launch.

WhatsApp Campaign Costs

WhatsApp template messages are priced by Meta based on:

• The country of the recipient

• The template category (marketing, utility, or authentication)

DM Champ groups your contacts by country and calculates the cost for each group, then shows you the total.

SMS Campaign Costs

SMS costs depend on:

• The country of the recipient

• The message length (each SMS segment is 160 characters; longer messages use multiple segments)

• Your Twilio rates

The cost estimator queries real-time pricing from your SMS provider so the estimate is accurate.

Tip: Keep SMS messages under 160 characters when possible to avoid multi-segment charges. DM Champ automatically optimizes your text for SMS encoding to minimize segments.