A custom template is a saved message you can reuse as the opening step of a campaign, so every prospect approved into it gets the same fixed first message — with a few details swapped in per prospect — instead of a different AI-tailored message for each one.
How to create a template
Tell your agent directly in chat — for example, "create custom template."
The agent will ask what to name it and what message it should contain. Answer with the name and the text you want to reuse.
You can embed any of these placeholders — Spear renders them per prospect at send time:
{first_name},{last_name},{company_name},{job_title},{calendar_link}.
How to apply it to a campaign
Open the campaign's sequence.
The first step can be Profile actions (a warming step — view/follow the prospect) or Connection request. A Follow up message or Event invite step only becomes available once a Connection request already exists earlier in the sequence.
On the message step you want the template on (usually the Connection request), switch it from Trigger-based to Custom.
Paste your template's message into the Message box exactly as written.
If you want a template on a follow-up message too, add a Follow up message step after the connection request and repeat steps 2-3 on it.
Save and activate the campaign.
Once a step's message is fixed text — not {tailored_message} — every prospect approved into the campaign, including via bulk approve, receives that same message, with only the placeholders swapped for their own info. As the app notes on this screen: "Custom messages skip triggers and go to everyone in the campaign."
Pro-Tip: A fixed template and AI-tailored messaging are mutually exclusive per step. If you'd rather have Spear's AI write a unique first message per prospect based on their trigger, leave that step on Trigger-based instead — you can't combine both in the same step.