Build an advanced filter
The same builder used for saved views, exports and campaign audiences. Learn it once and it pays off in four places.
One filter builder serves four purposes: filtering the grid, saving a view, scoping an export and defining a campaign audience. So the twenty minutes spent learning it properly pays back four times.
The habit that separates a reliable filter from a plausible one is checking records rather than counts. A count tells you the filter matched something. Opening three of the matches tells you whether it matched the right thing.
Before you start
- A question you are trying to answer, written as a sentence.
- Typed attributes where possible — free text filters approximately.
Steps
Start from the segment chips for the common cases
All, To call, New, Contacted, Qualified, Won, Lost, DND / invalid are already there. If one of those is what you want, do not build a filter.
Open the filter builder for anything else
The Filter button in the toolbar. The same builder used for exports and campaign audiences.
Filter on typed attributes wherever possible
A dropdown or date attribute filters exactly. Free text filters approximately, and approximate segments are how campaigns end up calling the wrong people.
Add one condition at a time and watch the count
A count that jumps from 4,000 to 3 means a rule does not mean what you think. Catching that at the second condition is much easier than debugging it at the fifth.
Exclude terminal stages for anything outbound
DND, Not interested and Wrong number should never appear in a calling audience. Filtering on open stages does this automatically.
Open three of the matches
Counts lie; records do not. Open three of the matched contacts and confirm each one genuinely belongs in this segment.
A filter that returns a plausible number and the wrong people is the most expensive kind, because nothing about the count tells you it is wrong.
Save it if you will use it again
A saved view keeps the definition rather than the result, so it stays current.
Check it worked
Before using a filter as a campaign audience, sort it by last touch and read the oldest and newest records. Those two extremes usually reveal whether the rule is doing what you intended.
The parts people get wrong
- Advanced filters and saved views are on every plan.
- A campaign built on a dynamic filter keeps picking up new matches while it runs. That is the feature and the risk.
The ones people actually ask
The count jumped from four thousand to three.
A rule does not mean what you think. Add one condition at a time and watch the count after each — catching that at the second condition is much easier than debugging it at the fifth.
The count looks plausible but is it right?
Open three of the matched contacts. Counts lie; records do not. A filter that returns a plausible number and the wrong people is the most expensive kind, because nothing about the count tells you it is wrong.
Do I always need to build a filter?
No — check the segment chips first. All, To call, New, Contacted, Qualified, Won, Lost and DND are already there. Build a filter only for something they do not cover, and prefer typed attributes, because free text filters approximately and approximate segments are how campaigns call the wrong people.