Creating Campaign With AI
8 min read
This guide walks you through creating a complete discount campaign with Cycle AI, from the first prompt to launching. Cycle AI is available to all merchants — see What is Cycle AI if you haven’t enabled it yet.
The Creation Flow #
- Open the chat panel (click the sparkle FAB in the bottom-right)
- Pick a suggestion or type a prompt
- Watch the AI think — reasoning streams word-by-word into the chat
- Review the preview card
- Refine with follow-up messages (optional — see Refining with Conversation)
- Click “Review & Launch” to open the campaign in the wizard
- Launch from the wizard’s Review step
Step 1: Open the Panel #
The sparkle FAB is visible in the bottom-right of the dashboard and campaigns pages. Click it to expand the chat panel.
On your very first use, a welcome modal asks for consent (see What is Cycle AI for what gets sent). Click Enable Cycle AI to proceed.
Step 2: Pick a Suggestion or Write a Prompt #
Suggestion cards #
When the panel is empty, Cycle AI shows a handful of suggestion cards tailored to your store — for example:
- “Flash sale — 20% off for 48 hours on bestsellers”
- “Weekend sale — 15% off everything, Friday to Sunday”
- “Clearance — 40% off slow movers for 7 days”
- “BOGO — buy one, get one 50% off on T-shirts”
Click a card to send it as your first prompt. Used suggestions dim so you know which ones you’ve tried.
Writing your own prompt #
Type in the input bar at the bottom of the panel. Limits:
- Maximum 500 characters
- A character counter appears when you’re within 50 characters of the limit
Press Enter or click the send arrow. For tips on what makes a good prompt, see Prompt Writing Tips.
Step 3: Watch the AI Work #
Once you send a prompt, Cycle AI runs through several visible steps:
| Step | What’s happening |
|---|---|
| Gathering store data | Collecting your catalog, categories, segments, and upcoming events |
| Analyzing products | Identifying bestsellers, slow movers, and relevant segments |
| Checking calendar | Surfacing upcoming holidays and events that may influence timing |
| Drafting the campaign | AI reasoning streams word-by-word into the chat — you can read its thinking in real time |
| Preparing for review | Validating IDs exist, clamping values to safe ranges, tracking adjustments |
The reasoning text streams live. Typical latency to first token: about one second. Total time for a complete campaign: usually 10–25 seconds.
Step 4: The Preview Card #
When generation finishes, Cycle AI renders a preview card in the chat area:
Preview contents #
| Field | Shows |
|---|---|
| Campaign name | AI-generated, descriptive |
| Description | One-line summary of what the campaign does |
| Discount type + value | e.g., “25% off” or “Buy 2, get 1 free” |
| Scope label | “All products” / “Category: T-shirts” / “28 specific products” / etc. |
| Duration | Start → end dates with duration in days |
| Storefront mock | Mini product card showing how the discount displays to customers, with before/after price |
| Advanced type summary | For BOGO, tiered, spend threshold, or bundle — an extra line like “Buy 5+ save 10%, Buy 10+ save 20%” |
| Badge | The on-product badge text the AI chose (e.g., “SUMMER”) |
| Reasoning | Collapsible section explaining why the AI made these choices |
| Adjustments | If the validator had to clamp or correct any AI output (e.g., “Discount capped at 90%”), the changes are listed transparently |
Nothing is saved yet. The preview is a proposal — you can refine it, regenerate it, or discard it.
Step 5: Refine or Regenerate #
You have several options at this point:
Refine with a follow-up #
Just type another message: “make it 30% instead”, “add shoes too”, “extend to Friday”. The preview updates with each refinement. See Refining with Conversation.
Try Again #
If the response wasn’t what you wanted, click Try Again. Your original prompt stays pre-filled so you can tweak it and resubmit without retyping.
New Conversation #
Click the New Conversation action to wipe the chat and start from scratch. Suggestion cards reappear.
Step 6: Review & Launch #
When you’re happy with the preview, click Review & Launch. This:
- Saves the campaign draft into the wizard session
- Redirects you to the Campaign Wizard’s Step 5 (Review & Launch)
At that point the campaign is a regular draft — identical to one you might create manually. You can:
- Navigate back through steps 1–4 to tweak any field
- See the Campaign Intelligence verdict
- Review the Configuration Summary card on the Review step — it surfaces every constraint the AI configured (Schedule, Free Shipping, User Roles, Location), plus the detailed sections show Selected Categories, Selected Tags, and the full Discount Rules / Badge / Schedule breakdown
- Launch immediately, or save as a plain draft to come back to later (set draft mode in the AI prompt with “save as draft”, or change it on the Review step)
The “Created with Cycle AI” banner #
Wizard steps for an AI-created campaign show a banner with:
- A sparkle icon and “Created with Cycle AI” label
- The original prompt that generated the campaign
- A Regenerate Same button — runs the same prompt again (useful if you want a different take)
- An Edit & Regenerate button — opens an inline textarea to modify the prompt before regenerating
If the AI response included adjustments (clamped values, field corrections), they’re listed so you can see exactly what changed between what the AI returned and what got saved.
What Cycle AI Chooses For You #
From a single prompt, Cycle AI picks:
| Decision | How it decides |
|---|---|
| Product scope | All products, a category, multiple categories, tags (alone or combined with categories), specific product IDs, random N products, or a smart pick (best sellers, featured, low stock, new arrivals) |
| Discount type | Percentage, fixed, BOGO, tiered, spend threshold, or bundle — whichever best fits your description (Pro-only types are suggested with an upgrade link if you’re on Free) |
| Discount value | A specific percentage or amount sized to your catalog’s pricing and your ask |
| User-role targeting | Include or exclude specific roles when you mention them (“wholesale customers”, “logged-in only”, “guests”, “VIP”) — picks from the actual roles registered on your store |
| Country targeting | Include or exclude countries by ISO code, with billing or shipping address as the source (“only in Germany”, “exclude US shoppers”, “DE/AT/CH on shipping address”) |
| Start date + duration | Based on your wording (“next weekend”, “for two weeks”, “until April 20”) or calendar context (upcoming holidays). Honors explicit end dates exactly. |
| Time-of-day windows | Start and end times in 24-hour HH:MM (“6pm to midnight”, “9–5”, “happy hour 17:00–19:00”) |
| Recurring schedules | Daily / weekly / monthly with day-of-week (“every Monday”, “weekends”) and end conditions (“for the next 4 weeks”, “until December 31”) |
| Product rotation | Rotates the product set every N hours within a campaign (“rotate products every 12 hours”) |
| Free shipping toggle | Adds a free-shipping reward alongside the discount when you ask for it (“free shipping ON”, “include free delivery”) |
| Timezone override | IANA timezone when you specify one different from your store (“in Europe/Berlin time”); otherwise uses your store timezone |
| Campaign name + description | Short, descriptive, store-appropriate |
| Badge customization | On-product badge with text (“SUMMER”, “HOT DEAL”, “25% OFF”), color (“green badge”), and position (top-left/top-right/bottom-left/bottom-right). Defaults to red top-right with auto-generated text. |
| Launch option | Defaults to launching immediately on save. Saves as draft when you say “save as draft” or “don’t publish yet”. |
You always have the final say. Refine by chat, edit in the wizard, or discard and start over.
Pro-only settings get a clear upsell instead of being silently dropped #
If you’re on the Free plan and ask for a Pro-only setting (usage limits like “limit to 100 uses”, minimum order amounts, stacking with other campaigns, blocking coupons, advanced product filters, subscription discount controls, etc.), Cycle AI will name the specific Pro feature, include a direct upgrade link, and offer to build a simpler version of the campaign you can use today. Free-plan campaigns never silently lose features you asked for.
Quota Awareness #
Each conversation counts as 1 daily use — no matter how many refinement turns you take. A conversation starts with your first prompt and ends when you click “Review & Launch” or close the panel.
When your remaining daily quota drops below 5, the response includes a quota indicator. See Rate Limits and Troubleshooting.
Tips for First-Time Users #
- Start with a suggestion card to see what a well-formed prompt looks like.
- Be specific about scope — “all T-shirts” works better than “some products”.
- Include timing — “next weekend”, “for 7 days”, “until Friday” all work.
- Refine, don’t rewrite — if the discount is wrong, say “make it 25%” instead of retyping the whole prompt.
- Expand the reasoning on the preview to learn what the AI was thinking — it helps you craft better prompts next time.
- Use the wizard for fine-tuning — Cycle AI gets you 90% there; the wizard is for the last 10%.
