Creating a Group of Contacts (Targeting Criteria)

The creation of groups allows you to group contacts according to specific criteria. These groups can then be used to send targeted messages or to create statistics. A criterion includes variables, which, when met, automatically include the corresponding contact in the group, or in the opposite case, exclude the contact. 

In this article, you will first learn to create a group, then to add criteria for this group. To know what are the available criteria types, consult the list. 

Create a group

Then, fill in the information about the group: Define the Name of the group for every language of the project. Select a Category if needed.  Add a Tag if needed. Check Test group or Seed list group if it applies to your group (learn more by reading this article).

Once the group is created, the next step is to specify the criteria that will be used to include contacts. 

Add Criteria

Criteria are required conditions for a contact to be included in the group. For every AND type criterion (required criterion), you can add an OR type sub-criterion (alternative criterion). 

AND type cumulative Criteria (required)

Every criterion has an AND type and represents a required condition for a contact to be included in the group. Every AND criterion needs to be met. The first criterion must be met AND the second AND the third AND the others if there are more. If one of the criteria is not met, the contact is not included in the group.  

In the left pannel, drag and drop the criteria that apply to your group: 

In the criterion window, specify the required conditions. The procedure is different depending on the criterion chosen. To understand criteria options, consult the criteria list. 

OR type sub-criteria (alternative)

For each AND criteria, you can add sub-criteria of type OR. Adding an OR sub-criterion creates an alternative clause to an exisiting criterion.  

In this example, if the city in the contact's profile equals to Sherbrooke OR Montreal, the contact will be added to the group:  

The sub-criterion must be the same type as its parent and be related to the same module. 

If you want additional options for criterion, you can toggle to Advanced mode. Be aware that if you save a criterion in advanced mode, you will not be able to come back to simple mode (the mode previously described).   

Add Criteria (advanced mode)

You can toggle to advanced mode if the criteria in simple mode do not suit your needs or if you prefer the interface of the advanced mode. 

To toggle to advanced mode, click on the Advanced edit button:

As you would do in simple mode, you can add AND criteria as well as OR criteria:

In the criterion edit window, required information differ depending on the modules and features activated in your project. This example shows a Contact type criterion. This window will be different depending on the criterion you choose. See the list the list of criteria.   Information to fill in Choose if the criteria is used to include or exclude contacts. Choose a criterion type. Define the including or excluding conditions. Depending on the criterion type you choose, the options will be different.  Specify the period (for some criterion types you have this possibility. By specifying the period, you avoid including all contacts from the begining.

Results

In simple mode, as you add criteria, the number of eligible contacts is displayed in the top of the page. To see the list of all targeted contacts by the group, click on the icon. You will get the full list of contacts included in the group, and at the bottom of the list, the option to export it as an Excel file.When you click on Eligible, if your project contains a consent center, you can filter the list with All Eligible to or By opt-ins. To see the contacts associated to a category, click on the name of the category in the tooltip.

In advanced mode, the results appear in the top right. If you do not see them, you might have to click on Calculate. Normally, the data is calculated dynamically, but to make sure you get updated results, click on the icon.