# Campaign basics

In Pushwoosh you build campaigns in **Customer Journey Builder**. Most setups use one of three entry patterns:

* **Audience-based (segmented):** you pick a segment and send now or on a schedule. Typical for promotions, seasonal offers, and reactivation.
* **Trigger-based:** a journey starts when a user event fires in the app or on the site. Typical for welcome flows, abandoned cart, and reminders.
* **API-based:** your backend starts the journey with an API call when something happens in your systems. Typical for transactional messages such as order confirmations, shipping updates, or password resets.

You can also schedule delivery for a chosen time and run A/B/n tests on message, timing, or channel inside a journey. Use the table below to compare segmented and triggered campaigns, then open a guide for the flow you need.

## Choosing the right campaign type for your goals

|  | Segmented campaign | Triggered campaign |
| :---- | :---- | :---- |
| How it works | Sent to a user segment right away or as scheduled. | Sent to individual users as soon as a specific event occurs. |
| Where the data comes from | User attributes (tags), user events, and data synced from third-party tools (e.g., Amplitude, Piano). | User behavior is collected and stored in Pushwoosh. |
| How it starts | Audience-based entry: targets a specific user segment. | Trigger-based entry: activated by a user event, or API-based entry: activated by an API call from your backend. |
| Preparation  | Define user segment, create content, and launch the campaign. | Create content and schedule a campaign before an event occurs. |
| How it ends | Users exit the campaign (user journey) after all messages are sent, including follow-ups. | Users exit the campaign (user journey) one by one, depending on their behavior. |
| How the data is calculated | As soon as all users from a segment exit the campaign, you can access opens, clicks, and other metrics. | Metrics are updated in real time, displaying user behavior. |
| Use case scenarios | Marketing promotions & seasonal campaigns, reactivation, and retention campaigns for inactive users. | Welcome campaigns (event: user registration), abandoned cart (event: item added to cart), upselling campaigns (event: didn’t buy), reminders (event: made an appointment). |

## Pick a guide

Open the guide for the campaign you want to send.

<CardGrid>
  <LinkCard title="Send a segmented campaign" href="how-to-send-a-segmented-campaign" />
  <LinkCard title="Send transactional messages" href="how-to-send-transactional-messages" />
  <LinkCard title="Schedule a message" href="how-to-schedule-a-message" />
  <LinkCard title="Run A/B/n tests in journeys" href="how-to-abn-test-customer-journeys" />
</CardGrid>