# Bulk email shots

> Send a template to a mailing list, control the send, and read the statistics afterwards.

Source: https://help.clockworkcrm.com/marketing/bulk-email
Last updated: 2026-10-09

A bulk email shot sends one template to every contact on a mailing list. Shots are managed at
**Marketing → Bulk Email Shots**.

![The bulk email shot list: each shot with its state, progress, opens and clicks](https://clockworkcrm.blob.core.windows.net/public-internal/docs/marketing/bulk-email-list.png?v=51918591)

## Before you start

To create a shot you need:

- a verified sender domain with at least one sending address. An administrator sets these up. See
  [Sender and tracking domains](https://help.clockworkcrm.com/admin/domains)
- a marketing template or email stencil. See [Email templates and merge fields](https://help.clockworkcrm.com/marketing/email-templates)
- a mailing list. See [Mailing lists](https://help.clockworkcrm.com/marketing/mailing-lists)
- email send credits. See [Subscription information](https://help.clockworkcrm.com/admin/subscription)

Bulk email shots cannot be created during a free trial.

## The bulk email shot list

The line under the heading shows how many email send credits you have left, out of your allowance,
with any top-up credits in brackets. Hover over it to see when credits are next added.

| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| **Name** | The shot's name, and the template it was created from |
| **State** | Where the shot is up to. See [States](https://help.clockworkcrm.com/marketing/bulk-email#states). Underneath is when it started, or when it stopped or finished. A shot with a schedule shows **Scheduled**, or **Resume Scheduled**, with the time it starts or resumes underneath |
| **Progress** | A progress bar and **Sent** out of the total number of recipients. While addresses are being checked, it shows **Cleaned** instead |
| **Opens** | How many emails have been opened |
| **Clicks** | How many links have been clicked |

The list updates live while a shot is sending. The search box filters the list. Double-clicking a
row opens its statistics. To delete several shots at once, tick them and select **Bulk Delete**.

You only see the shots you have permission to see.

## Creating a shot

1. Go to **Marketing → Bulk Email Shots** and select **New Bulk Email Shot**.
2. Choose **From Email Stencil** or **From Marketing Template**.
3. Work through the steps below, selecting **Next** after each one.
4. On the **Done** step, check the summary and select **Save**.

| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| **General Details** | Enter a **Name** for the shot, up to 255 characters |
| **Choose your template type** | Choose **Email Stencil** or **Marketing Template** in **Create Bulk email shot from...** |
| **Select your template** | Search for and pick the stencil or template |
| **Select your mailing list** | Search for and pick the mailing list to send to |
| **Choose a sending address** | Pick the address the email is sent from in **Use this sending address...**. Only addresses on verified sender domains are listed |
| **Permissions** | Choose the **Users** and **Teams** who can see and work with the shot. You are always added |
| **When to send** | Leave **Schedule a time to send** off to start the shot yourself. Turn it on and enter a **Date** and **Time** for the shot to start on its own |
| **Done** | Shows a summary of the shot. **Save** creates it |

**Create Campaign** on a marketing template or email stencil starts a shot with the template already
chosen.

A saved shot is created in the **Not Started** state. It does not send until you start it, or until its scheduled time.

### What is fixed when you save

When you save a shot, Clockwork CRM takes a copy of the template and works out the recipients from
the mailing list. Changes made to the template or the mailing list after that do not change the
shot. To send an updated version, create a new shot.

## Sending a shot

The **...** menu on each shot has these actions:

| Action | When it shows | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| **Statistics** | Always | Opens the shot's statistics |
| **Start** | **Not Started** | Starts sending |
| **Pause** | **Running** | Stops sending. Emails already sent are not affected |
| **Resume** | **Paused**, **Process Error** or **Sender Error** | Carries on from where the shot stopped. Recipients who have already been sent the email are not sent it again |
| **Schedule** | **Not Started** | Sets a time for the shot to start on its own. See [Scheduling a shot](https://help.clockworkcrm.com/marketing/bulk-email#scheduling-a-shot) |
| **Schedule Resume** | **Paused**, **Process Error** or **Sender Error** | Sets a time for the shot to resume on its own |
| **Reschedule** | The shot has a schedule | Changes the scheduled time |
| **Remove Schedule** | The shot has a schedule | Removes the schedule. The shot stays as it is and does not send until it is started |
| **Delete** | Any state except **Running** | Deletes the shot |

**Start**, **Pause**, **Resume**, **Remove Schedule** and **Delete** ask you to confirm. You, and the user who started or
scheduled the shot if that is someone else, get a notification when the shot starts running, when it is paused, when it
completes, and when it stops with a **Sender Error** or **Process Error**.

### Scheduling a shot

![The When to send step of a new shot, with Schedule a time to send on and a date and time entered](https://clockworkcrm.blob.core.windows.net/public-internal/docs/marketing/bulk-email-schedule.png?v=7d5e2dcb)

**Schedule**, **Schedule Resume** and **Reschedule** ask for a **Date** and **Time**. The time is in your local time and
must be in the future. At that time the shot starts, or resumes from where it stopped.

**Start** or **Resume** on a scheduled shot sends it now and removes the schedule.

### What happens during a send

1. **Starting Up...**: the shot is queued to send.
2. **Cleaning...**: every recipient's email address is checked. Addresses that fail the check are
   added to the blacklist and are not sent to. An address that passed within the last six months is
   not checked again.
3. **Running**: the emails are sent, one per recipient, with the merge fields filled in for each
   one. People are sent to first, then companies, then imported addresses.
4. **Complete**: every recipient has been dealt with.

Each recipient is only sent the email once, even if they appear more than once or share an address
with another recipient.

A recipient is skipped, and counted as undelivered, when:

- they have unsubscribed from every mailing list the shot is sent to
- they have no email address
- their address is on the blacklist

Every email includes an unsubscribe option that email clients can show, and, if the template
contains the **Unsubscribe** module, a link to the recipient's email preferences. See
[Mailing lists](https://help.clockworkcrm.com/marketing/mailing-lists#unsubscribes).

Links in the email are changed so that clicks can be counted, and a tracking image records when the
email is opened. If your sender domain has a verified tracking domain, those links use it. See
[Sender and tracking domains](https://help.clockworkcrm.com/admin/domains).

If the sending address has a reply-to address, replies go there. For an email stencil with
**Include Sender Signature?** turned on, the sending address's signature is added to the end of the
email. The stencil's attachments are sent with every email.

### Credits

Each email sent uses one email send credit. Skipped recipients do not use a credit.

If your credits run out part way through, the shot is paused. If auto top-up is on, a top-up pack is
bought and the shot carries on. Once you have more credits, select **Resume**. See
[Subscription information](https://help.clockworkcrm.com/admin/subscription).

### States

| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| **Not Started** | Saved but not yet started |
| **Starting Up...** | Queued to start sending |
| **Cleaning...** | Checking the recipients' email addresses before sending |
| **Running** | Sending |
| **Paused** | Paused by a user, or because email send credits ran out |
| **Complete** | Finished |
| **Sender Error** | The sending address or its domain no longer exists |
| **Process Error** | Something went wrong while sending |

## Statistics

**Statistics** opens the results for a shot. The refresh button next to the heading reloads the
figures.

![The statistics of a sent newsletter: headline figures, engagement over time, links and devices](https://clockworkcrm.blob.core.windows.net/public-internal/docs/marketing/bulk-email-statistics.png?v=2912ab1b)

### Headline figures

| Figure | What it shows |
|---|---|
| **Status** | The shot's state, and the date it completed |
| **Emails Sent** | Emails sent out of the total number of recipients. Underneath, **undelivered** counts recipients who were not sent the email, split into **failed**, **already unsubscribed** and **no email**. Select it to see the undelivered list. **All delivered** shows when there are none |
| **Bounce Rate** | Bounced emails as a percentage of emails sent. Select the bounce count to see why each email bounced |
| **Open Rate** | Opened emails as a percentage of emails sent, with the number of opens |
| **Click Rate** | Unique link clicks as a percentage of emails sent, with the total number of clicks |
| **Click-to-Open Rate** | Unique link clicks as a percentage of opened emails |
| **Unsubscribe Rate** | Recipients who unsubscribed from this shot, as a percentage of emails sent. A recipient counts when they use the email's one-click unsubscribe, or turn off a mailing list the shot was sent to on the **Email Preferences** page reached from the email |

Each rate is shown in green or red:

| Figure | Green | Red |
|---|---|---|
| **Bounce Rate** | 0.5% or less | Over 0.5% |
| **Open Rate** | 17% or more | Under 17% |
| **Click Rate** | 4% or more | Under 4% |
| **Click-to-Open Rate** | 10% or more | Under 10% |
| **Unsubscribe Rate** | 0.5% or less | Over 0.5% |

A unique click counts one click per recipient per link, however many times they click it.

### Filtering the statistics

Selecting a bar, point, slice or link adds a filter to the whole page:

- **Opened** or **Unopened** on **Total Email Interactions**
- a day's opens bar or clicks point on **Engagement**
- a slice on **Device Breakdown**, **Operating System Breakdown** or **Browser Breakdown**
- a row in **Link statistics**

The filter applies to the headline figures, every chart, **Bounce Information**, the **Email
Statistics** table and its export. Each active filter shows as a tag at the top of the page. Select
the **×** on a tag to remove it. With more than one filter on, **Clear all** removes them all. Selecting the same bar,
slice or link again also removes its filter.

While a filter is on, **Emails Sent** shows how many emails match the filters instead of the
undelivered count.

### Charts and tables

| Section | What it shows |
|---|---|
| **Engagement** | Opens and clicks by day |
| **Total Email Interactions** | The split between opened and unopened emails |
| **Link statistics** | Each link in the email, with **Clicks** (unique) and **Total Clicks** |
| **Device Breakdown** | The type of device recipients read the email on, such as desktop or mobile |
| **Operating System Breakdown** | The operating system recipients read the email on |
| **Browser Breakdown** | The browser or email program recipients read the email on |

### Email Statistics

**Email Statistics** lists every email sent, with the sending address above the table.

| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| **Recipient** | The recipient's name and address |
| **Sent** | When the email was sent |
| **Opened** | When the email was first opened |
| **Links Clicked** | The number of link clicks |

**Search recipients...** searches on a recipient's name or address. Select a column heading to sort
by it. The table shows 25, 50, 100 or 200 emails per page.

**Filter by** shows **All** emails, or only those **Opened**, **Unopened** or **Clicked**. It sets the
same filter as **Total Email Interactions**. **Export** downloads the list with the search and filters
applied. The export is prepared in the background and you are notified when it
is ready.

A row is highlighted when the address failed the address check. Hover over it to see why.

The **...** menu on each row has:

- **Further statistics**: the sent date, whether and when the email was opened, the total link
  clicks, the browser, and each link with whether it was clicked
- **Go to person record** or **Go to company record**: opens the contact's **Emails** tab

### Undelivered and bounced emails

**View Undelivered Emails** lists the recipients who were not sent the email, in separate tables for
companies, people and non-contacts, with the reason for each. **Export Failures** downloads the
list.

A recipient whose address is on the blacklist shows **Blacklisted: Undeliverable since** the date it
was added, followed by why it was added when that is known.

**Bounce Information** lists each bounced email with the reason the recipient's email provider
gave, such as the address not existing, a full inbox, or the message being too large. An email that
permanently bounces adds the address to the blacklist.

## Related

- [Mailing lists](https://help.clockworkcrm.com/marketing/mailing-lists), the recipients of a shot
- [Email templates and merge fields](https://help.clockworkcrm.com/marketing/email-templates), what a shot sends
- [Email sequencing](https://help.clockworkcrm.com/marketing/sequences), sending over time rather than in one shot
- [Subscription information](https://help.clockworkcrm.com/admin/subscription), email send credits