How to Configure Delivery Templates in Adobe Campaign Classic

Most delivery mistakes I have cleaned up were not made in the delivery. They came from a template. A wrong reply-to address, a missing typology or a validity period of five days on a time-sensitive offer gets copied into every send created from it. Getting Adobe Campaign delivery templates right is the cheapest quality control on the platform.

Here I write about what a template is in Campaign Classic v7, which settings I put in templates and which I leave to each delivery, how I organise them, and a worked example of a newsletter template built from scratch.

What delivery templates are in Adobe Campaign Classic

A delivery template is a delivery that is never sent. It holds the properties, content and settings that a new delivery copies when it is created from the template. Templates live under Resources > Templates > Delivery templates, and Campaign ships with standard templates per channel, such as the email delivery template.

When you create a delivery in the console, or when a delivery activity runs in a workflow, it starts from a template. Changing a template affects deliveries created from it afterwards, not deliveries already created. That is the behaviour you want, but it means a fixed template does not fix last week’s drafts.

Adobe’s own example of creating delivery templates starts by duplicating the standard email template, and that is always my first step too. I never edit the standard templates directly. They are the reference you fall back to, and a build upgrade or package can expect them to be in their original state.

What belongs in Adobe Campaign delivery templates

I sort settings into three groups.

Always in the template. Settings that should be the same for every send of that type, and that a marketer should not have to think about:

• Routing, the external account used to send.
• Sender name and address, and the reply-to address.
• Typology, which applies the business rules checked during analysis.
• Validity: delivery duration and resource validity.
• Retry settings, where your sending setup uses them.
• Tracking options, so links are tracked consistently.
• Proof target or seed list.
• Shared content blocks, such as the header, footer, legal text and unsubscribe link.

Sometimes in the template. Settings that are usually the same but may vary, such as the subject line pattern or a default target mapping. I set a sensible default and let the delivery override it.

Never in the template. The specific target population for one send, the specific offer and the scheduled date. These belong to each delivery or to the workflow that creates it.

Routing, sender and reply-to

The routing is the external account that sends the messages. On most instances there is one for bulk email, and sometimes others, for example for mid-sourcing or a separate IP range. Choose it in the template so nobody has to know which one to pick.

The sender name and address affect deliverability and recognition. Use a domain set up for sending, and keep it consistent per brand. The reply-to should go to a mailbox someone reads, or at least one that processes replies, because replies to marketing emails often contain unsubscribe requests written in plain words.

Typology

The typology is a set of rules checked during delivery analysis, such as control rules that catch a missing unsubscribe link and filtering rules that exclude certain recipients. A delivery references one typology, and the apply rules documentation notes that the typology can be set in the template so every delivery created from it inherits it.

I always set it in the template. A delivery created without the right typology skips the checks you rely on, and nobody notices until something gets through. I cover typologies properly in my post on typology rules.

Validity and retries

On the Validity tab, the Delivery duration sets how long Campaign keeps trying to deliver messages that failed temporarily. The sending settings documentation describes the default retry pattern on the Campaign MTA: five retries on the first day at least an hour apart, then one a day until the delivery duration ends.

The right duration depends on the message. A weekly newsletter can tolerate a few days. A flash sale ending tonight should not arrive on Thursday. I make separate templates for time-sensitive messages with a short duration, rather than relying on marketers to remember to change it.

The Validity limit for resources controls how long the mirror page and uploaded images stay available. Set it long enough that people opening an older email still see the images.

Tracking

Tracking is configured on the instance first, as described in the message tracking documentation, and then applied per delivery. In the template, I make sure links are tracked by default, and that any links that should not be tracked, such as a link to the privacy policy, are handled consistently in the shared footer. A template that tracks everything except the footer is easier to report on than one where each delivery does its own thing.

Shared content with personalisation blocks

I never paste content that appears in every email of a type into each template. Personalisation blocks hold reusable content and are included by name, so you change the block once and every template that includes it updates.

A footer block I might create, named footerLegalBrandA, could contain the address, legal text and unsubscribe link. The template’s HTML includes it like this:

<table width="600" align="center">
  <tr><td>
    <p>Hello <%= recipient.firstName %>,</p>
    <!-- newsletter body goes here -->
  </td></tr>
  <tr><td>
    <%@ include view='footerLegalBrandA' %>
  </td></tr>
</table>

Personalisation fields use the <%= %> syntax against the target schema. For a missing value, I prefer a condition rather than a greeting that reads “Hello ,”:

<% if (recipient.firstName) { %>
  <p>Hello <%= recipient.firstName %>,</p>
<% } else { %>
  <p>Hello,</p>
<% } %>

I keep conditions like this in the template, so every newsletter handles missing names the same way.

Proof targets

Set the proof target in the template so proofs always go to the right reviewers. I use a seed list or a defined set of test addresses per brand, and I describe the approach in my post on seed addresses and proofs. A template with no proof target encourages people to type their own address each time, and then the brand manager never sees the proof.

Campaign delivery templates for workflows and recurring sends

Templates matter even more when workflows create the deliveries rather than people. A Delivery activity in a workflow creates its delivery from the template you select, so every setting in that template is applied without anyone opening a form.

For recurring workflow sends, such as a weekly newsletter generated by a scheduled workflow, I create a dedicated template rather than reusing the manual one. The differences are small but important:

• The target mapping matches what the workflow passes in, usually recipients specified by the inbound transition.
• The label pattern includes something that changes each run, so the delivery list stays readable.
• The proof target is the same, because the workflow can be set to prepare the delivery and stop, leaving someone to send proofs and approve.

The other advantage is control. If a marketer can only change content in the delivery, and the workflow uses a template the platform team owns, then routing, typology and validity cannot drift. I explain the workflow side in my workflow tutorial.

How I organise Adobe Campaign delivery templates

The structure that has worked best for me is one folder per brand, with templates named by brand and message type:

Resources > Templates > Delivery templates
  Brand A
    TPL - Brand A - Newsletter
    TPL - Brand A - Promotion (short validity)
    TPL - Brand A - Service message
  Brand B
    ...

A small number of well-maintained templates is better than many slightly different ones. When people ask for a new template, I first check whether a setting on an existing template would do.

Folder permissions matter here too. Marketers need to read templates, but only a few people should be able to change them.

Worked example: a newsletter template for one brand

Here is a hypothetical brief. A homeware brand sends a weekly newsletter and occasional promotions. Today each marketer duplicates last week’s delivery, which is how an old discount code once ended up in a new email. They want a proper template.

My build:

1. Duplicate the standard email delivery template into the Brand A folder and name it TPL - Brand A - Newsletter.
2. Routing: the bulk email account.
3. Sender: brand name and the newsletter sending address. Reply-to: the customer service mailbox.
4. Typology: the brand’s typology with the standard control rules and a filtering rule excluding staff test accounts.
5. Validity: a few days for delivery duration, and a longer resource validity so images stay up.
6. Tracking: links tracked by default, with the footer block handling its own links.
7. Content: a layout with a header block, a body area marked for editing, and the footerLegalBrandA block. Greeting condition as above.
8. Proof target: the brand seed list, including the brand manager and two inbox test addresses.
9. Permissions: the marketing team can use the template, two people can edit it.

Then I test it. I create a delivery from the template, choose a small test target, run the analysis and check that the typology rules run and the personalisation renders for recipients with and without a first name. I send a proof and check the reply-to by replying to it. Only after that do I tell the team to use it.

For promotions, I duplicate the newsletter template and change only the validity and subject pattern. Two templates, clearly named, cover what used to be dozens of copied deliveries.

Mistakes I see most often in Campaign delivery templates

• Editing the standard template. Duplicate it instead.
• Creating deliveries by duplicating old deliveries. Old content, codes and dates come with them. Use the template.
• No typology on the template. Deliveries skip the checks.
• One validity for everything. Time-sensitive messages need their own template.

Frequently asked questions

Does changing a template update existing deliveries?

No. Deliveries copy the template’s settings at the moment you create them. Existing deliveries keep what they had, so check drafts and recurring deliveries after a template change.

Can a workflow use Adobe Campaign delivery templates?

Yes. A Delivery activity in a workflow builds its delivery from a template, so select yours in the activity. This is the best way to make recurring workflow deliveries consistent.

How many Campaign delivery templates should a team have?

As few as cover genuinely different needs. In my experience, a template per brand per message type, with clear names, is enough for most teams.

Where should shared legal text live?

In a personalisation block included by the templates. When the legal text changes, you change one block.

With a solid template in place, sending becomes much more predictable. My next post walks through sending an email delivery from target to monitoring, using a template like this one.

Last updated on 26 October 2026