Dynamic Lists

A dynamic list allows you to generate a subset of contacts created from a rules-based filter logic.  The list will continually update with contacts that meet the filter criteria upon refresh or when sending to a specific dynamic list.

How to Create a Dynamic List

  1. Navigate to Contacts, then Lists.
  2. Enter your list name in the Create New List text area.
  3. Select Dynamic List for the content type and click Create.
  4. Enter an optional description for your list.
  5. Select the folder location to store your list if you desire a different location than your default folder.
  6. Refresh List on Sending will be enabled by default. This option will refresh the list at the time of send, guaranteeing the most recent subset of contacts.  If you do not wish to refresh your list upon send, simply uncheck this option.
  7. Click Continue to save the dynamic list and move to the filter step.
Filters

Allows you to select the list(s) that the filter logic will run against in order to populate your list.  The All Contacts list is used by default.  To select a source list, follow the steps below:

  1. Click into the list selector box.
  2. Search for lists using the Search box or locate the list(s) that will be the source for your filter.
  3. Select the list(s) by clicking them with the mouse.  Selected lists will be highlighted.
  4. Click Select when your lists have been chosen.

Source Addresses

Allows you to select the list(s) that the filter logic will run against in order to populate your list.  The All Contacts list is used by default.  To select a source list, follow the steps below:

  1. Click into the list selector box.
  2. Search for lists using the Search box or locate the list(s) that will be the source for your filter.
  3. Select the list(s) by clicking them with the mouse.  Selected lists will be highlighted.
  4. Click Select when your lists have been chosen.

Selection Criteria

Selection Criteria allow you to build out the rule set that will be used to populate the dynamic list.  The left hand side consists of the source fields that will be used to create your dynamic list.  They consist of fields within System Tables. The right-hand side is where you build the filter by dragging an element from the Attribute section into the Define Filter section.  From there, you are able to configure the operators and logic for your filter.

Attributes

The Attribute section of the Filter area is where you would locate data fields to be used when building your filter.  The data fields available include a predefined set of System tables, as well as any Custom Data Table within your account.

System Data Tables

The System Data Tables is a set of predefined system tables that can be used when defining your filter criteria.

  • Demographics is a system table that provides any data fields that are part of the All Contacts list.  The primary field used within Demographics is Email Address. 
  • Behaviors consist of several different System Tables that allow you to filter based on actions contacts have taken on an email send.
    • Sent allows you to filter based on emails that have been sent to a contact.
    • Opens allows you to filter based on if a contact has opened or not opened an email.
    • Clicks allows you to filter based on if a contact has clicked or not clicked an email.
    • Bounces allows you to filter based on the bounce status of a contact.
  • Membership Status allows you to filter on the Global Optin/Out status or List Membership Status for contacts.
  • Other allows you to filter on Domains, Categories, or Platforms used by contacts to view an email.

Select Saved Filters

Select Saved Filters allow you to select a filter that has already been created.  If a saved filter is selected, the filter criteria will populate on the Define Filter area.  You can then edit the filter criteria as needed.  To select a saved filter, follow the steps below.

  1. Click on the Select Saved Filters button.
  2. The Select Saved Filter page allows you to locate the filter you will be using.
    • The most recently created filters are located in the top section.  If you are using one of these, simply click the box next to the filter’s name.
    • The search option will allow you to search through all saved filters.
    • All saved filters will populate the bottom section of the page. If searching for a filter, your search results will appear in the bottom section.  Click on the name of the filter in order to create it.
  3. Click Done.

Once the filter is selected, the filter criteria will be within the Defined Filter area.

Suppression Criteria

Suppression Criteria allows you to build out filter logic that will be used to suppress contacts from your list.  The process to build out Suppression Criteria is that same as building out filters but the contacts who meet the filter logics will be excluded.  To build out Suppression Criteria, please follow the steps below.

  1. Within the Suppression Criteria section, check the box for Suppress Address by Profile.
  2. Once selected, the Define Filter section will open.
  3. Build out the filter logics by dragging data fields from the Attributes section to the Define Filter area.

Seed Addresses

Seed Addresses are lists of contacts that should be included in the list regardless of the filter criteria or the suppression criteria.  The Seed Addresses will be merged into the dynamic list when the list of contacts is generated.  To include Seed Addresses, follow the steps below.

  1. Click into the Browse List box.
  2. Search for lists using the Search box or locate the list(s) that will be the source for your filter.
  3. Select the list(s) by clicking them with the mouse.  Selected lists will be highlighted.
  4. Click Select when your lists have been selected.

Remove Global Opt Out

The Remove Global Opt Out option will exclude those contacts who have been globally opted out from your list.  Click on the Remove Global Opt Out box to enable this option.

Creating Filter Criteria

To create filter criteria, drag a data field from the Attribute options and drop it onto the Define Filter area. Once the data field is dropped, you can then select the operator and define the value for that field that you want to filter. 

You can combine the different filter conditions together with AND/OR logic operators.  By default, the logic operator will be an OR. The AND/OR logic operators are located on a button on the far-right side of the Define Filter area. To change the logic operator, click on the button.

Filter conditions can also be combined in order to define a hierarchy of the conditions.  Follow the steps below to create a group filter condition.

  1. To set up Group filter conditions, a minimum of three data fields must be present in the Define Filter Area.
  2. Place your mouse at the end of the grouping before the AND/OR logic operator button, until a gray button appears.
  3. Click on the gray button to create a grouping. 
  4. Once a grouping is created, an additional AND/OR logic operator option will appear.  This can be changed as needed to meet the filter conditions.

You are also able to save your filter to use again, by checking the Save filter As option and providing a name for the filter. The saved filters can be found in the Saved Filters option under Contacts.

Once your filter criteria has been built, you can click Add Members to generate the list.  The contacts that meet your filter criteria will populate the Member Lists page.

Members List

The Members List is where you can access the contacts associated with the list as well as different list functionality.  On this page, you will see the contacts and any attributes associated with the contact.  To see details on a specific contact, click on the email address for the client and it will open a new window with that contact’s information.

  • On the Member Information tab, you can edit any of the attribute information for that contact.
  • On the List Membership tab, you can see all the lists associated with the contact.  You also have the option to add the contact to a new list, remove the contact from a current list, or to change the list membership status.
  • On the Custom Table Membership tab, you can see any data table associated with the contact.
  • On the History tab, you can see the email history for the contact.  The email history consists of emails that have been sent to the contact and any other previous actions.
List Functionality

Within a static list, there are various functions available to you that will allow you to manipulate the data within the list.  These functions are icons located on the left hand side above the contact information.

Split Lists

Split allows you to split a current list into multiple lists. To split a list, follow the steps below.


  1. Click on the Split icon.
  2. On the Split List page, select the number of branches you would like the list to be split. The default number of branches is 2 .
    1. Select the methodology you would like to use in order to divide the contacts into the new branches.
    2. Numbers allows you to split the list by a specific quantity per branch.
  3. Percentage allows you to split the list by a percentage per branch.
  4. In order to distribute the contacts into the new branches, slide the blue circle for each branch until the correct quantity or percentage is reached.
  5. Select if you would like to remove the contacts from the current list after splitting the list.
  6. Select if you would like carry over the list level opt-in/out status to the split lists.
  7. Enter the naming convention for the new list names if you have a specific naming convention. This field is optional and if nothing is entered, the default naming convention uses the name of the current list and appends an A, B, C, etc. and a date/time stamp to denote the splits.

Dynamically Add Members

Dynamically Add Members allow you to access the filter criteria for this list.  It also allows you to make any edits to the filter criteria once the list is populated.

Refresh No. of Members

Refresh No. of Members will refresh your list to reflect the most current contact list.

Count Members from List

Count Members from List will provide you with a count of the dynamic list.  It also provides you with information from the properties page.

Object
Description
List Name The name of your static list.
Description
The description given to your static list. This can be defined during the list creation process or updated any time after the list is created.
List Type The type of list.
Total Members The total number of members associated with the list.
Last Modified The last date the list was modified.

Search allows you to search for a contact.  To search for a contact, please follow the steps below.

  • Click on the Search icon.
  • On the Search Members page, select the attributes you would like to search. This field is populated with Email Address by default.
  • Enter the text you would like to search.
  • Search for changed addresses allows you to search on those addresses that have recently been changed via the native subscription center.
  • Perform fuzzy matching allows you to search on a partial value contained within a field.
  • Search through all contacts will perform the search on all contacts that reside on a list, including the All Contacts list, within your account.
  • Click on Search to complete your search.

Once your search is completed, the results of the search will appear on the Search Members list.  To view the details for a specific contact, click on the contact’s email address.

Export

Export allows you to export the current list.  To export a list, follow the steps below.

  1. Click on the Export icon.
  2. On the Export List page, select the export type.
    • Download List and Contact Data will download all contacts in your list regardless of bounce status.
    • Download Bounced Contacts will only download those contacts with a bounce status.
  3. Choose if you would like to include opted out contacts in your export.  By default, this option is checked.
  4. Select any additional attributes you would like exported with the contact email addresses.
  5. Select if you would like any Subscription Status field exported.
  6. Select any Subscription Topics you would like exported.
  7. Select the File Options.
    • Including column headers as the first line will output a header on the exported file.
    • TSV file format will export the file as a tab separated delimiter which will open in excel for an easier visual review of the file.
    • CSV file format will export the file with a comma separated delimiter which will open in a .txt file.
  8. Click Export after your selections are completed.
  9. The Send a Data Export Summary Report To field will default with your email address.  This can be change to another email address if needed.
  10. Click Done to finish the list export.

Once the export is available, you will receive an email with with the name of the list and folder that it housed in on your FTP site.

List - Stats

List – Stats provide contact metrics for the specific list.

  • Active is the total number of contacts that are available receive mail.
  • Bounces is the total number of contacts that have bounced.
  • Unsubscribes is the total number of contacts that have opt-out globally and from the specific list.
  • Complaints is the total number of contacts that have reported an email as spam to their ISP for that list.

Schedule & Send

The Schedule & Send button allows you to configure an email send from the list.  When scheduling an email from a list, the list information is defaulted on Step 2 of the email configuration page.

Modifying a List

To modify a list once it has been created, simply click on the name of the list to access the list details or the contacts for that list.

Properties

The Properties page provides the information entered at the time the list was created.

Object
Description
Name
The name of your dynamic list.
Description The description given to your dynamic list. This can be defined during the list creation process or updated any time after the list is created.
Folder Location The folder name of where the list resides.
Refresh List on Sending This allows you to decide if you would like to have the list refreshed at the time of send.  If you do not wish to have the list refreshed, uncheck this option.
Content Type The defined list type.
Created Date The date the list was created.
Created By The user who created the list.
Modified Date The date the list was last modified.
Modified By The user who last modified the list.
Last Use The date the list was last used in an email send.
Total Members The total contact count for the list.
View History A history of the list, including when it was used in email sends.