Approval Workflows lets you submit an email campaign for sign-off before it sends. This article covers how to submit an email for approval, what your approver sees, and how to send it once approved.
Prerequisites
- The Approval Workflows feature is available on Grow and Enterprise 2.0 plans.
- Approvals are available in the ContactMonkey Web App + SendGrid sending.
- The Outlook Web Add-In is not supported.
- Your approver does not need a ContactMonkey license. You can send an approval request to any email address, including external reviewers like legal counsel or agency partners.
Submit an email for approval
- Create your email as usual in Compose & Send, including recipients, subject line, from address, and send details (Send now or a scheduled send time).
- Click "Send for approval" in the top right.
- Choose one approver by entering a teammate's email address or an external email address.
- Click Send for approval.
Your email moves to Pending and appears in the In Review tab of your dashboard. Sending is blocked until your approver responds.
Note: Once submitted, your sending details are locked. You cannot edit recipients, send date, from address, subject line, or attachments while the email is Pending. To make changes, withdraw the request first (see below).
What your approver sees
Your approver receives an email with a Review button. The button opens an approval page where they review the full rendered email — no ContactMonkey login required.
From the approval page, the approver can:
- Approve the email, with an optional comment
- Reject the email, with an optional comment explaining why
Approver comments appear alongside the email in your In Review tab.
Note: An approver's decision is final once submitted. If your approver needs to change their response, withdraw the request and resubmit.
Send your approved email
What happens after approval depends on the send option you chose when submitting:
If you chose Send now, Approval does not send your email automatically. Once your approver approves:
- You receive an email notification that your email has been approved.
- Return to the Web App and open the email from the In Review tab.
- Review the read-only summary of your sending details.
- Click Send now.
If you scheduled the email: The email sends automatically at the scheduled time, as long as your approver approves before that time. If the email is not approved before the scheduled send time, it will not send.
Withdraw a pending request
To edit an email that is waiting for approval:
- Open the email in the In Review tab.
- Click Withdraw.
The request shows as Withdrawn in the In Review tab. The email cannot be edited or sent — you'll need to create a new send with your updated content and submit that for approval instead.
Track approval statuses
The In Review tab shows every email in the approval flow with one of these statuses: In Review, Approved, Rejected, or Withdrawn.
Troubleshooting
Problem: A rejected email appears in both the In Review and Sent tabs.
Solution: This is expected. Rejected emails show as Rejected in the In Review tab and as a canceled email in the Sent tab. The email was never sent to recipients — the canceled record reflects the termination of the send.
Problem: The approver wants to suggest edits to the email content.
Solution: Approval Workflows is a sign-off gate, not a content editor. Approvers can leave a comment when rejecting, but cannot edit the email. To collaborate on content before submitting, see How to Share Email Drafts for Feedback.
Problem: The approver never received the approval request email.
Solution: Ask the approver to check their spam or junk folder. If the request still cannot be found, withdraw the request and resubmit to send a fresh approval email.
Related Articles
- How to Share Email Drafts for Feedback - For collaborating on email content before submitting for approval
- How to Send an Email from the Dashboard - The standard Compose & Send flow this feature builds on
- How to Schedule an Email - Scheduling options after your email is approved