Create Standard Rule

Standard Segmentation allows you to easily create a rule to search for contacts based on one or more conditions, matching all or any of the defined conditions. It supports fields of type Number, Float, Date, and Text. Conditions using Number, Float, and Text fields require three settings: Field, Operator, and Value. Date Fields have an additional sub-type to help segment based on parts of a date (Day, Month, Year) or anniversaries. 

This updated version of Standard Segmentation was introduced in v9.8.0.

To add a Standard Segmentation Rule

1. Go to SEGMENTATION > SEGMENTATION RULES, then click Add Rule.  Alternately, you can click the arrow next to Add Rule, and select Add Standard Rule.

2. Enter a Name.

3. Drag a Field from the Fields navigation on the left onto the workspace where the Add Conditions box is displayed.

4. Select an Operator from the listbox.

5. Enter a Value in the value textbox.

6. Repeat steps 3 through 5, dropping the new conditions below the existing when prompted to 'Drop Condition Here', or nesting the rule in another rule when prompted to 'Nest Condition'.

7. Select a Condition Type (AND, OR, NOT) when multiple conditions are connected.

8. Click SAVE to save the new rule and remain on the page.  Click CANCEL to return to the Segmentation Rules page without creating the new rule. Alternately, click the down arrow next to Save and choose one of the following options:

   • Save and Test - Select a List from the List to Test Against listbox, then select SAVE AND TEST to save the rule and determine the number of contacts the rule will find when run against the selected list.

   • Save and Close - Save the rule and close the editing page to return to the list of Segmentation Rules.

   • Revert - Undo all changes made since the last save.

   • Delete - Delete the rule (if it has already been saved.)

Advanced Settings

To edit advanced settings for the rule, click the gear icon next to the Name field. In the Rule Properties dialog, you can edit the name, enter a Description, and set the Folder for organizing your rules.  Click SAVE to save your changes, or click the X to close the dialog without saving.

Parts of a Condition

A segmentation rule condition is composed of at least one field and operator and can also include one or more values.

Condition Types

Standard rules support three types of conditions:

Fields

The Fields navigation allows you to drag any available field into the workspace to create rules.  The Contact Data fields are displayed by default.  To select from a different field group, click the down arrow next to the Fields label.  The fields groups include:  

• Contacts - Contact Data Fields

• Subscriptions - Contact Subscription details

• Custom - Contact Custom Data Fields

• Tracking - Tracking Data

• Browser Opens - Browser details for Open tracking events

• Browser Clicks - Browser details for Click Through tracking events

• Relational - Relational Data Fields for active tables (Only available if enabled for Realm)

In the Field selector, the fields are sorted by Name. To search for a field, click the Fields label and enter a search string in the Filter box.  To close the filter, click the X next to the textbox.

The following Fields are available for segmentation:

*Browser Tracking in 8.4 and up.  NOTE: In some realms, tracking browser information may not be permitted in order to honor privacy requirements in certain areas.  Please contact your Account Manager if you have questions.

**Conversion Tracking in 8.7 and up

***Zip Code Range in 11.2 and up

Comparison Operators

A comparison operator is the test to perform against the selected field and the value you provide. Not all operators work with every field type. The 'LIKE' and 'NOT LIKE' operators compare a Text field to a text string. These operators require a string value that includes a percent symbol ( % ) to act as a wild card for searching.

The following table defines each operator and the supported field types:

Matching Empty or Non-Existent Fields

Standard Segmentation Rules can match both empty (blank) or non-existent (NULL) custom fields. This is done using the "Equals/Not Equals" operators for blank fields, and "Null/Not Null" operators for non-existent fields. For example, to find contacts that have no data stored in the field "weekly", define the command:

custom_weekly Is Null OR custom_weekly Equals _____ (blank value)

This checks if the field does not exist or, if it does exist, is empty.

To find all non-empty fields, define the command:

custom_weekly Is Not Null AND custom_weekly Not Equals _____ (blank value)

This checks if the field exists and, if it does exist, is not empty.

This is an important difference between the prior and new Standard segmentation, due primarily to improvements in data storage.  When you add or import contacts, custom data fields are not always filled or created if the data is blank or empty.  For instance, if a field is blank in your import file and you import with the SmartSubscribe option, a blank custom field is added.  However, if you do not use SmartSubscribe, the custom field is not created.  If a field is not filled on import or save, then it essentially does not exist.  When you search for contacts, you must take into account fields where data exists vs. fields that don't exist at all. 

For example, if you want to search for contacts who do not want to receive the monthly version of your email (custom_monthly != 1), in Standard segmentation, your rule would look like:

custom_monthly != 1 or custom_monthly Is Null

The operator 'Is Null' finds all contacts that have never had data stored for the field, and '!= 1' finds all contacts that have data stored, but it is not the number 1, meaning it could be blank, or 0, or a string like NO.

As of Version 16.00 (January 14, 2021), customers using new custom fields in segmentation rules where the Operator is Not Equal, Not Like or Not In, will experience a change in how we calculate the results of the rule. This will have no effect on old Custom fields. Currently, if a rule has a “Not” operator, it will specifically calculate everyone who meets the criteria but wouldn’t calculate anyone with a null value. As an example, if you have the following segment rule: 

State “Not equal” to New Jersey

The rule would calculate everyone where the State equals any of the other states but would ignore anyone with a blank State value. With this change, we will now also calculate Null values as part of the segmentation rule. Users who decide that they do not want this change in how their segmentation rule is calculated, will need to add an additional criterium to not include Null Values. Using the example above, they would add the following:  

State “Not equal” to New Jersey 
        AND 
State “IS NOT NULL”. 

Values

A Value is required for all conditions except those using the 'IS NULL' or 'IS NOT NULL' operators. If a value is missing or incorrectly formatted, the field will appear with a red outline. Mouse over or click in the field to display a tool tip with information on how to correct the issue. If you attempt to save with invalid settings, an error will occur and allow you to make corrections before saving.

Each field type expects a value to match that type. Dates also require sub-types and a matching value pair.

List of Values

Most Operators allow only one Value per condition. With the 'IN' and 'NOT IN' operators, you can enter a list of possible values, including a blank value. These operators act as a group of OR conditions in a single definition.

For example, to find all contacts who live in Washington OR Oregon OR Idaho OR California, use the following:

state IN WA,OR,ID,CA

To define the list of Values, select a Field and then the 'IN' and 'NOT IN' operator. Click to select the Value field and enter each value separated by a comma (WA,OR,ID,CA).

Range***

Zip Code Range field allows you to query for contacts within a mile range of a specific zip code.  Drag the Zip Code Range field to the workspace, then select a Mile range from 5 to 100 miles (in 5 mile increments).  Enter a single 5-digit Zip Code in the Value field.  

To search within a range of multiple zip codes, use the OR condition type and group the Zip Code Range queries together.  

***Zip Code Range in 11.2 and up

Predefined Values

While most fields require you to enter a value, the Date: Month of, Subscription Format, and Tracking Event Type fields provide a list of options based on the values allowed for the default fields.

Subscription Format

Plain Auto is the default format when you import contacts to a list and do not define the contact selected format. It acts the same as Plain Text when sending a campaign, but is used to differentiate between contacts that have chosen to receive Plain Text versus contacts who have not selected a preferred format. When segmenting based on Format, if you want to find all contacts who will receive Plain Text messages, create a condition that checks for Subscription Format IN Plain Auto, Plain Text.

Subscription Format options include:

Tracking Event Type

Tracking Event Type options include:

**Note: Tracking_Event_Type Not Equals will return 0 results.  To search for contacts who have NOT performed an event, use Advanced Segmentation.

*Preference site tracking available in 11.5 and up