Getting Started

Set up your waveMail account and send your first campaign in under 30 minutes.

1. Log In to Your Account

After your waveMail account has been provisioned, you'll receive a welcome email with your login credentials.

  1. Navigate to app.wavemail.com.au
  2. Enter your email address and password
  3. Click Sign In

[Screenshot: Login screen]

2. Complete Your Profile

Before you can send emails, you need to fill in your company details. These are required by anti-spam legislation (such as the Australian Spam Act 2003 and CAN-SPAM) and will appear in the footer of every email you send.

  1. Click your name in the top-right corner and select Account
  2. Go to the Company tab
  3. Fill in your company name, physical address, city, state, postcode, and country
  4. Add your website URL and phone number (optional)
  5. Click Save

[Screenshot: Company profile settings]

[Screenshot: Business profile settings]

3. Set Up Your Sending Domain

Authenticating your sending domain dramatically improves email deliverability and ensures your emails don't land in spam. This involves adding DNS records to your domain.

  1. Navigate to Domains in the left sidebar
  2. Click Add New Domain
  3. Enter your domain name (e.g. yourbusiness.com.au)
  4. waveMail will generate the required DNS records: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
  5. Log in to your domain registrar or DNS provider and add these records
  6. Return to waveMail and click Verify — DNS changes can take up to 24-48 hours to propagate

[Screenshot: Domain verification]

4. Verify Your Sender Address

Authenticating your domain isn't quite the last step — you also need to verify the specific From email address you'll send from. waveMail only lets you send campaigns from verified senders.

  1. Open Sending Emails and add the address you want to send from (for example [email protected]).
  2. Complete verification so the address shows as Verified.
  3. When you build a campaign, only verified addresses appear in the From email picker.

See Sending Emails for the full walkthrough.

[Screenshot: Email verification]

For detailed instructions, see Domain Management.

5. Create Your First List

Lists are the foundation of your email marketing. Each list holds a group of subscribers and has its own settings, custom fields, and opt-in rules.

  1. Go to Lists in the left sidebar
  2. Click Create New List
  3. Enter a name and description (e.g. "Newsletter Subscribers")
  4. Set the default from name, from email, and reply-to email
  5. Choose your opt-in method: Single Opt-in (subscribers are added immediately) or Double Opt-in (subscribers must confirm via email — recommended for compliance)
  6. Configure notification preferences (optional)
  7. Click Save

[Screenshot : New list creation form]

[Screenshot: List overview]

6. Import Subscribers

You can add subscribers to your list in several ways:

  • CSV Import — Upload a CSV file with email addresses and optional fields (name, company, etc.)
  • Manual Entry — Add individual subscribers one at a time
  • Copy/Paste — Paste a list of email addresses directly
  • Subscription Form — Embed a signup form on your website (waveMail generates the form code for you)

To import from CSV:

  1. Open your list and click the Subscribers tab
  2. Click Import
  3. Upload your CSV file (first row should be column headers)
  4. Map your CSV columns to waveMail fields (Email, First Name, Last Name, etc.)
  5. Click Import and wait for processing to complete

[Screenshot: List CSV import]

[Screenshot: CSV import progress]

6. Create an Email Template

waveMail offers two ways to create email templates:

  • Template Gallery — Browse professionally designed templates and customise them to match your brand
  • Email Builder — Build from scratch using our visual drag-and-drop editor with blocks for text, images, buttons, social links, and more

Using the Email Builder:

  1. Go to Templates in the sidebar
  2. Click Create New Template
  3. Choose a starting layout or start blank
  4. Drag content blocks from the left panel onto your design
  5. Click any block to edit its content, colours, fonts, and spacing
  6. Use merge tags like [FNAME] and [LNAME] to personalise emails
  7. Click Save when you're done

[Screenshot: Drag-and-drop email builder]

For full details, see Email Templates.

7. Send Your First Campaign

With your list and template ready, it's time to send!

  1. Go to Campaigns in the sidebar
  2. Click Create New Campaign
  3. Choose Regular Campaign
  4. Enter the campaign name, subject line, from name, and from email
  5. Select your target list (and optionally a segment)
  6. Choose your email template or compose inline
  7. Review the campaign summary and click Send (or Schedule for later)

[Screenshot: Campaign setup step-1]

[Screenshot: Campaign setup step-2]

[Screenshot: Campaign setup step-3]

[Screenshot: Campaign setup step-4]

Next Steps