◔Getting started

Aurora Hive Sales records whom you deal with and helps you keep in touch: maintaining addresses, making calls, sending mass emails in several stages, matching replies, setting follow-ups. Everything in one place instead of in five spreadsheets.

The core is always the same cycle: contacts come in (from Excel, by hand or from research), are classified (category, tag, location), get a campaign in up to three stages, and whatever comes back lands in the Inbox — automatically matched to the right contact.

Everything else consists of modules built on this core: Opportunities, Contracts, Websites, Visibility. Which of them you see depends on what has been activated for your instance.

They are three independent programs that can be used separately or together.

• Aurora Hive Sales looks after people and cases: contacts, campaigns, tasks, contracts. That is the CRM.
• Aurora Hive Sites looks after your website: building pages from blocks, designing, translating, publishing. That is the content management system.
• Aurora Hive Live is the small editor directly on the finished website: click a text, change it, save — without having to learn a content management system.

There are two points of contact: Aurora Hive Sales can generate a website using the website wizard and hand it over to Aurora Hive Sites (after that, Aurora Hive Sites takes the lead; Aurora Hive Sales keeps no copy of its own but continues working on the same website), and Aurora Hive Live is supplied by Aurora Hive Sites on the published site.

In exactly this order — each step requires the previous one:

1. Store the sender mailbox. Without a mailbox, Aurora Hive Sales cannot send any email. You only enter your email address; Aurora Hive Sales works out the rest by itself.
2. Bring in contacts. From Excel or CSV. You map the columns once and see beforehand what will arrive.
3. Classify. Categories and tags later decide whom a campaign writes to.
4. Write templates. One per stage: first mail, 1st follow-up, 2nd follow-up.
5. Create a campaign, choose the audience, assign the template, limit the scope.
6. Test mail to yourself, proofread once.
7. Go live.

On the overview, the setup card takes you through the same list. Your progress comes from the actual state of your system — you do not have to tick anything off, and as soon as everything is done, the card disappears by itself.

Because without a mailbox nothing goes out — neither a test mail nor a campaign, neither a contract for signature nor a report. Aurora Hive Sales does not send via an anonymous shared address, but always via a mailbox that belongs to you. That is why replies reach you and not somewhere else.

You enter your email address; Aurora Hive Sales recognises the provider and suggests the route. With Microsoft 365 and Google, you confirm once with the provider itself — Aurora Hive Sales never gets to see your password in the process.

A first, real campaign to a small list — if you stick to this breakdown:

1. 5 minutes: enter the sender mailbox and confirm the test mail.
2. 10 minutes: import an Excel list with 20 to 50 contacts. The dry run shows beforehand what will happen.
3. 10 minutes: write a template for the first mail. Keep it short; the subject line has more influence on whether it is opened than the text below it.
4. 5 minutes: create the campaign, choose the audience, test mail to yourself, proofread, go live.

What you should not do in this half hour: set the three DNS records for deliverability. That needs access to your domain management and some waiting time — but it later decides whether your emails land in the inbox or in the spam folder. Plan it for the same day.

Yes, and there are two kinds.

The tour shows you the real interface: a veil lies over the page, a hole reveals the button being explained, a pointer demonstrates the action, and only then does it move on. Every area has its own. You start it with the button at the top right — that is where the compass symbol 🧭 is.

The demo films are short animated sequences you can watch without touching anything. They play at the ⓘ next to page headings, are collected under “Tutorials” in the menu, and are here in the help centre.

Working along instead of just watching: the Owner tour (“Setup” box on the overview) does not lock the page. The field being explained gets a glowing frame, the card sits next to it — and you enter right away what the step explains. The card shows the measured status (“1 of 2 done”); as soon as the step really is done, the tour moves on by itself. You do not have to tick anything off, and in this mode the keyboard belongs entirely to the form.

With the other tours, there is still a veil over the page. If you want to enter something there, press “⏸ Pause to fill in”; the header then shows “⏸ Continue tour (3/11)” — this survives changing pages and reloading. Clicking next to the target also only pauses the tour instead of ending it.

You can stop at any time with “End tour”. The next time you start, the tour asks whether it should carry on where you left off. Some pages do not have a tour of their own yet — the card then says so in the first step and shows the general overview instead.

That is the explanation on the spot. A click — or Tab and Enter if you work with the keyboard — opens a bubble with one to three sentences about exactly this field, plus a small diagram of the gesture meant.

At the page title, the ⓘ shows something else: there, the demo film of the whole area plays. It is the short version of the tour, without starting it.

The bubble closes with Escape or a click next to it.

With the search in the header. It searches not only contacts but also companies, opportunities and the areas themselves — anyone who types “Templates” lands on the templates without searching through the menu.

On the keyboard, it opens without using the mouse; the shortcut is shown in the settings under “Keyboard” and can be changed there too.

The program itself shows you the complete, current list — it depends on which modules have been activated for you. In the Settings there is a separate “Keyboard” section for this; all shortcuts are listed there and can be reassigned individually.

Reliable everywhere: Escape closes dialogues and bubbles, Enter in an input field for a new task creates it, Ctrl+F is the browser’s search on the current page.

No. The programs are built so that the explanation is where the question arises: the ⓘ at the field, the tour in the area, the demo film at the title.

It still makes sense to agree a few things in the team before the first hundred contacts come in: which categories do we use? Who creates contacts? What do we mean by “customer” and what by “prospect”? These questions cost ten minutes at the start and days later on.

As few as possible, and each with a clear purpose. The question a category has to answer is: whom will I want to write to together one day?

This split has proved itself:

• Category = the role in the business (customer, prospect, supplier, partner). One per contact.
• Tag = everything else that may apply (industry, trade fair, origin of the address). Several per contact.

A warning from practice: in older versions, a campaign with an empty category selection does not mean “nobody” but “everyone”. Before every go-live, check the number of recipients shown — it is in the confirmation prompt.

Every campaign can be sent to an address of your choice before sending. There is a separate field for this on the campaign’s detail page; the real recipient list remains untouched.

Really read the test mail, and on a mobile phone: most business emails are opened there first. Look out for three things — whether the salutation is right (an empty placeholder stands out immediately), whether the subject line is cut off, and whether the unsubscribe link is there.

That takes two minutes and saves embarrassing mass emails.

Then your instance is running in protected sending mode. Everything works as usual — campaigns run, logs fill up, counters go up — only at the end the messages are discarded instead of delivered.

That is the usual setting for test and acceptance systems and for the first days of a new instance. You recognise it by the notice in the header.

If you are expecting real emails and see this notice, that is the explanation. It is not changed in the program but in the configuration of your instance.

With the “Report a problem” button, which can be reached on every page of the program. The report automatically includes where you were, which browser you are using and when it happened — exactly the details that would otherwise have to be asked for.

A description following this pattern helps most: I wanted to … · I clicked on … · I expected … · What happened was …

The same applies to this help centre: if an answer is missing or wrong, report it the same way.

You will get on fastest in this order:

1. The ⓘ at the field — answers most questions in one sentence.
2. This help centre — the search searches all answers at once, including error messages word for word.
3. The tour in the area — when the question is “where is that”.
4. “Report a problem” in the program — when something does not work as it should.

For faults that affect everyone (nothing loads, sign-in fails), it is worth first looking at Something is stuck: the most common causes can be checked yourself in a minute.

The three things that cannot be undone are expressly marked and ask for confirmation first:

• A real sending. The confirmation prompt states the number of recipients and says clearly that it cannot be undone.
• Putting something online (signatures, one-pagers, published websites). That is publicly visible immediately.
• Something that costs money — AI evaluations and research queries show an upper limit before you click.

Everything else is forgiving: contacts can be merged instead of staying duplicated, imports have a dry run, deletions in most areas move things to the trash, and the access log shows who changed what and when.

Yes. Each person signs in with their own account; tasks, follow-ups and campaigns record who created them. Who may see and do what depends on the role.

Two things are good to know: changes do not appear for the others in real time, but the next time the page loads. And if two people edit the same record at the same time, the later save wins — that is why the access log is the place to look when something looks different from what you expected.

A current one: Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari in a version from the last two years. All three programs are ordinary web applications — nothing has to be installed.

Two restrictions matter in practice: telephony in the browser needs a secure connection (https) and permission for the microphone; it does not work via an unencrypted address. And anyone using browser extensions that block scripts should exempt the address of your instance there — otherwise individual views stay empty.

Yes, the interface adapts to small screens, and for the common tasks on the move — looking up a contact, calling, ticking off a task, reading a reply — that works well.

For work where you need to see a lot side by side, a large screen is clearly better: mapping the columns during an import, the template editor, the website workspace.

No, and that is intentional. All three programs run in the browser; there is no installation, and you receive updates without doing anything.

If you would like an icon on the home screen, that is still possible: in the phone’s browser, via the share menu “Add to Home Screen”. The result opens without an address bar and feels like an app.

The vast majority of actions cost nothing. Money is only spent on things that trigger something outside your system: AI evaluations (generating texts, rating profiles, translation suggestions) and research queries that query a paid search engine.

These places are marked: before the click it says what it can cost at most, and the overview keeps a running total of what has been spent this month. Where a budget is stored, the run stops before it is exceeded.

Yes. Aurora Hive Sales, Sites and Live are available in German and English. You switch at the top right of the header with the DE ↔ EN button.

The choice applies to your account, not to the whole business: each person sets their own language, and it stays saved — on another computer too. Along with the interface, the tours, the demo films, the system messages and the emails that Aurora Hive sends itself (such as invitations or password resets) switch as well.

This is different from the content: your email templates, contacts and websites stay as you wrote them. A website built with Aurora Hive Sites can have any number of languages — you set that up there, not with the button.

This help centre is available in German too: hilfe.aurora-hive.de.

Yes. Contacts, companies and opportunities can be downloaded as CSV, reports and contracts as PDF, a website’s media library as files. There is no lock that keeps your own data in.

Independently of this, a daily backup of the whole instance runs. If you need a complete copy — for example for a move — that is an agreed process and not self-service, because credentials and logs would come along with it.

The trial lasts 14 days and is a complete instance — not a cut-down demo account. So you work with the same functions you will pay for later, and with your own data.

If the time runs out without a licence being stored, your data remains fully readable; sending and AI are paused. Nothing is deleted without it having been discussed.

A plan that has proved itself:

• Day 1: connect the mailbox, test mail, adjust the settings to suit you (tidy up the menu, font size).
• Day 2: import a small address list, check a sample, classify.
• Day 3: commission the DNS records — that takes time externally, so get it started early.
• Day 4: write templates, check the preview with real contacts.
• Day 5: first small campaign, test mail, go live. Then keep an eye on the inbox.

Everything else — tasks, calendar, reports — is learnt along the way once the core is running.

Five that happen to almost everyone:

1. Too large a first campaign. Fifty recipients are enough to learn everything.
2. DNS records put off. They take time externally and decide about the spam folder.
3. Test mail not read. That is the only place you see the wrong salutation.
4. Categories only thought about after the import. After that it is manual work.
5. Not looking at the number of recipients in the confirmation prompt. That is the last check before a sending nobody can recall.

All five cost nothing if you know about them — and a day’s work if you do not.

Three roles are enough, even if the same person fills several:

• Whoever maintains the data. Decides how company names are written and which categories exist. This person decides more about the benefit than anyone else.
• Whoever writes. Maintains the templates and reads the test mails.
• Whoever administers. Mailboxes, user accounts, legal matters, deliverability — that is the admin role.

What you do not need is a person who “looks after the system”. If Aurora Hive Sales needs someone to look after it, something is wrong.

In four steps, and the first is the most important:

1. Tidy up before you import. Duplicate rows, dead addresses, columns nobody understands any more — otherwise all of that comes along.
2. Name the columns so that the detection can map them: one column per detail, postcode separate from town.
3. Dry run, and check the figures.
4. Import, check a sample, classify — on the same day, while undoing is still possible.

And afterwards: do not keep maintaining the Excel file. Two versions of the truth side by side are worse than one incomplete one.

Three things that are regularly underestimated when moving:

• The history does not come across. Contacts, companies and opportunities can be imported; the history from the old system generally cannot. Consider what you really need from it, and if necessary export it as a PDF archive.
• The classification does not fit one to one. Use the move to redraw your categories instead of dragging an overgrown scheme along.
• The cut-off date. Decide from when work is only done in the new system, and stick to it.

In this order — each point brings more than everything below it:

1. A connected mailbox with replies being fetched. That closes the cycle.
2. Clean classification of contacts. Without it, every campaign is manual work.
3. The three DNS records. One-off work, lasting effect.
4. A good first mail. Better one decent one than three mediocre ones.

Everything else is convenience. These four are the difference between “we have a CRM” and “it achieves something”.

In three places:

• At the ⓘ next to a page heading, the film for that area plays.
• Under “Tutorials” in the menu, they are collected as a gallery.
• In tours, they appear at the steps where they help.

The same films play here in the help centre — with a search function and links to the matching questions.

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Via the bell in the header: the notes about new versions appear there, with what has changed.

You set what appears there and what does not in the settings under Notifications.

If a new feature affects you, it is worth looking in this help centre: the answers here are updated along with the program.

The places people look for at the beginning:

• New campaign — not in the campaign list but under Sending centre.
• Importing data — not on an import page but above the list the data is meant to go into.
• Company file — not a menu item; via the company name in the contact list.
• Create a follow-up — on the contact, not in the follow-up list.
• Keyboard shortcuts — everywhere with “?”.
• Demo films — at the ⓘ at the page title and under “Tutorials”.

Four of these are the most common searches in the first week.

Six things, all of which have a harmless explanation:

1. The campaign does not go out — creating and releasing are two steps.
2. Fewer recipients than expected — unsubscribed contacts, contacts without an email address and those in running campaigns are deducted.
3. “There is no template for this stage” — the stage is selected at the top of the templates before creating one.
4. Nothing changes on the website — in Aurora Hive Sites everything remains a draft until you publish.
5. An area is empty — in Aurora Hive Sites, almost always the wrong site selected at the top.
6. A figure is wrong — usually the period at the top of the page.

None of these is a fault.

Three steps, in this order:

1. Hard reload — Ctrl+Shift+R.
2. Check whether it affects only one place or everywhere.
3. Private window — if it works there, an extension is the cause.

If it persists: “Report a problem” in the program. The report automatically includes the page, browser and time.

If nobody can get in any more, a phone call is the quicker route — a report requires the program to be reachable.

Six, and all of them ask for confirmation first:

• A real sending — campaign, report, contract, application.
• Putting something online — signature profile, one-pager, published website.
• Permanently deleting an attachment, a contact, an appointment.
• Adopting a marketplace template (Aurora Hive Sites).
• A data import after 24 hours — before that it can be undone.
• Overwriting an environment in System control.

Everything else is forgiving.

Then the route goes via Aurora Hive Sites:

1. Create a website using the wizard — six questions, and the framework is in place.
2. Replace the texts with your own, starting with the home page.
3. Fill in the “Legal” area completely — this is required, and gaps stay visibly empty.
4. Check the preview, on a mobile phone too.
5. Publish.

Step 3 before step 5. A commercial website without a complete legal notice (Impressum) can attract a formal legal warning (Abmahnung).

With the search — it searches all answers at once, including synonyms and error messages word for word. You can leave out umlauts.

Two keyboard shortcuts: / or Ctrl+K open the search from any page.

If you do not know what to search for: Easily confused answers the most common “What is the difference between …?” questions, and the demo films show processes in motion.

In the glossary — every term is explained there in one sentence, in such a way that it is then clear what happens if you misunderstand it.

For pairs of terms that get confused — category and tag, task and follow-up, saved and published — Easily confused is the right place.

The shortest version fits on six lines:

1. Connect the mailbox.
2. Import contacts, check a sample, classify.
3. Commission the DNS records — takes time externally.
4. Write a template, check the preview.
5. Create a campaign, read the test mail.
6. Check the number of recipients in the confirmation prompt, then release.

This page can be printed in full with the browser’s print function — collapsed answers are included in the document too.