This Help Center is a fantastic resource for learning all things Lob, and we recommend doing your homework. But once you feel ready...get set, and send!

This guide below will walk you through how to launch a campaign from the Lob dashboard, using our Campaigns tool. Here is a preview of the 4-step process:

Before you get started

You'll need three things at the ready to create your Campaign:

1. (including send and delivery strategies)

2. (.csv format)

3. (front & back), as static PDFs or as HTML templates for dynamic creatives. (HTML templates will need to be loaded into the dashboard prior to use in Campaigns).

Send campaigns in the dashboard

First, head over to the in your dashboard, and click the Create Campaign button at the top right. Select One-time to start building your campaign. Any campaign you build in the Live environment will be saved into your Drafts until you place an order.

Step 1: Configure settings

1. *Add campaign name: To begin, give your campaign a unique name and description to reference in the future. Give it a name that is distinguishable and easily identified when you have numerous campaigns in your dashboard.

2. Add billing group: Certain Lob customers can optionally choose a specific billing group to allocate their campaign to on their invoice. You can learn more about this functionality .

3. Select campaign type*: Select what

Step 2: Add audience

1. Upload your target audience*: Select your segment via

2. Map required address fields*: Lob automatically maps and formats your address to meet USPS requirements, but you can review and adjust the mapping if necessary

3. Map optional address fields: These fields will be added to your recipient address block if mapped

Step 3: Choose creative

1. Upload your creative assets* (Example, front and back of postcard)

   • Make sure you are following the specific to your mail format

   • You can utilize or ; learn more about here. (If using HTML, the template will first need to be loaded into the dashboard as a Live

1. Connect your creative to your audience*

• Select your merge variable strictness: Choose whether you'd like your mailpieces to be sent even if it contains

• Map merge variables in your creative: If using an HTML template to build a dynamic creative, if you've named your csv column headers exactly to match the merge variable names in the HTML template, then Lob should automatically map these. For example, if a merge variable in a template is {{promo_code}} and there is a CSV column header titled “promo_code” then Lob auto-maps this for the user.

Step 4: Proof & Review

1. Creative proof: The Creative proof includes merge variables, address block, Lob carbon-neutral logo, and indicia, plus return address and QR codes if included. You can View Mail Proof to see (or share) the PDF, or you can Delete Proof and go back.

1. Campaign settings: Review the campaign send details

2. Audience: Review the target audience list

3. Creative: Preview a mailpiece to ensure the campaign will render correctly

1. Place order! Once your campaign is submitted it will be sent to the printer in the submission window selected before being dropped to USPS for delivery.

You will receive confirmation, then be directed to the detail or status page for the Campaign.

Campaign status

After you place an order you will be directed to that campaign's status or details page. You can also access this at any time by clicking on any individual (Live) Campaign from the Campaigns dashboard.

Here you can Cancel a One-time campaign (if applicable), or Pause/Resume an Automated campaign.

In the kabob menu, you can find the campaign ID, export undeliverables ("Export Failures") and export mailpiece data.

Cancel a campaign

Did you place your order and then suddenly realize there was a mistake or last-minute change? You can cancel a Campaign if you are within the .

1. After placing an order, you will be directed to that campaign's detail page. Alternatively, from the (Live) Campaigns view, click on any campaign to navigate to the campaign's detail page.

2. If applicable, click the Cancel Campaign button.

3. You will be asked to confirm; your Campaign will go back into Draft state.

Campaign Analytics

After you place an order you will be directed to a detailed view of your campaign. You can return here at any time by clicking into any individual campaign from the Campaigns section in the dashboard.

In the section of the dashboard you will find data for all mail you have sent with Lob across any number of campaigns within a time period. But you can click into any Live campaign to see laser-focused insights that are campaign-specific.

Our campaign analytics are designed to help you ensure that every campaign you run is more informed than the last.

Campaign summary: Get the birds-eye view of each campaign with stats including total orders, estimated cost, delivered and undeliverable mailers.

Tracking events for all mail pieces in the campaign provide full visibility as your mailpiece move through the mailstream.

QR code engagement: Understand how recipients interact with your Lob-generated QR codes, including frequency and timing of scans.

Delivery speed: Track how quickly your mail moves from being sent to marked as processed for delivery, pinpointing efficiency and flagging any delays. Reserved for Enterprise users only.

Delivery distribution: Analyze where your mail is going and how fast it gets there with a breakdown of mail pieces by state, helping you optimize your future send strategies. Reserved for Enterprise users only.

Failed mail pieces

After you place your order and it has fully processed, any number of mail pieces that failed rendering (and will not be sent to print) will be shown in red under View Failed Mail Pieces. Read more about and .

Secure Destruction is a free service provided by the United States Postal Service (USPS) that offers a secure method for handling undeliverable First-Class mail. This service is especially beneficial for customers managing sensitive documents, such as those containing Personal Identifiable Information (PII), financial data, or medical information, while also helping reduce costs and environmental impact.

What is Secure Destruction?

Secure Destruction ensures that any undeliverable First-Class mail is securely destroyed at USPS facilities. Rather than being returned to the sender, mail is processed and eliminated under strict security protocols, preventing any potential unauthorized access.

Lob provides this service at no cost to customers who send First-Class mail, and it can be easily integrated into existing workflows for organizations that regularly deal with undeliverable mail.

Why Use Secure Destruction?

1. Enhanced Customer Security Secure Destruction offers a significant value-add for organizations that handle sensitive customer data, such as PII, financial records, or medical information. By ensuring that undeliverable mail is destroyed securely, companies can maintain compliance with data protection regulations, reduce the risk of breaches, and improve customer trust.

2. Cost Savings Secure Destruction helps customers avoid the financial burden of handling undeliverable mail. For example, companies that do not use this service may need to contract with third-party vendors or allocate in-house resources to manage the destruction of returned mail.

3. Reduce Environmental Footprint Secure Destruction also offers environmental benefits by eliminating the reverse logistics of returning mailpieces to senders. By preventing the need for transportation and manual disposal, carbon emissions are reduced. This aligns with Lob's sustainability mission to minimize the environmental impact of mail processing.

How Secure Destruction Works

Secure Destruction is available exclusively for First-Class letters and snap packs. If your organization sends these types of mail, you can easily enable Secure Destruction through your account page. Once activated, any undeliverable First-Class mail will be securely destroyed at USPS facilities, ensuring your sensitive documents are handled with the highest level of security.

Who Benefits from Secure Destruction?

Secure Destruction is ideal for First-Class mailers, particularly those who manage sensitive information or face significant logistical challenges in processing undeliverable mail. This includes:

• Financial institutions

• Health care providers

• Insurance providers

• Public and private education institutions

Once your organization opts into Secure Destruction, Lob will track your undeliverable mailpieces via USPS scanning events. You will be able to confirm that the mail has been destroyed through these tracking events, offering you peace of mind that your sensitive documents have been successfully processed by USPS.

Use our Campaigns API to send your large-scale direct mail campaign sends more programmatically.

When creating campaigns, you’ll interact with 3 main models: campaigns, creatives, and uploads.

• The campaigns model is used to set up high-level information about your campaign

• The creatives model is used for uploading artwork and artwork settings for your campaign

• The uploads model is used to build your audience and configure any recipient-level details for your campaign

Follow the steps below to create your first campaign in the API.

Step 1: Create your campaign

Endpoint: POST api.lob.com/v1/campaigns Documentation:

First, create your campaign. At a minimum, your campaign needs a name and a schedule_type and a use_type if one has not been declared at the account level. It is highly recommended that a cancel_window_campaign_minutes is provided given it will allow you to cancel the campaign within the specified window if needed.

Step 2: Add creative

Endpoint: POST api.lob.com/v1/creatives Documentation:

The next step is to create your creative object that will be associated with the campaign. You can only associate a single creative with a campaign. You are required to add a campaign_id, resource_type, and any requirements for your selected resource_type. This payload is subject to change depending on your form factor. See examples below.

Step 3: Map columns from your data file to specified fields

Endpoint: POST api.lob.com/v1/uploads Documentation:

Uploading your audience data file is the next step. Step 3 can be done prior to Step 2 as well. For more information on how to best structure your upload for Steps 3 and 4, visit our .

If using optionalAddressColumnMapping, all fields must be specified (which means unused fields must be declared with a null value). If you're using an HTML template, double check that you have provided all keys and values for mergeVariableColumnMapping, if not all merge variables are mapped, your campaign will not be executable when it comes time to send.

Step 4: Upload your file

Endpoint: POST api.lob.com/v1/uploads/{{upload_id}}/file Documentation:

After creating your upload object, you can now upload your file as a byte stream (binary file).

Step 5: Execute your campaign

Endpoint: POST api.lob.com/v1/campaigns/{{campaign_id}}/send Documentation:

Finally, you can execute your campaign! To see the status of your mail pieces as they are created, use the GET api.lob.com/v1/uploads/{{upload_id}} endpoint.

Step 6: Get failed addresses

Endpoint: POST api.lob.com/v1/uploads/{{upload_id}}/exports Documentation:

First, let us know that you would like to create a failure export. Your response will include an export ID, which will be used to retrieve the export URL in the next step.

Endpoint: GET api.lob.com/v1/uploads/{{upload_id}}/exports/{{export_id}} Documentation:

You can then retrieve the S3 URL of the export from the GET response above. Your export will include row-level details on why each record failed.

Step 7: Cancel your campaign

Endpoint: DELETE api.lob.com/v1/campaigns Documentation:

As long as your campaign cancellation window has not passed, you can your campaign using our DELETE route on the campaigns endpoint.

And that's it! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to your Customer Success Manager, or to .