Target group definition

When creating a new target group Subset of recipients defined by rules and conditions and a logic relationship between them. For example, all recipients in the United Kingdom., the Target Group Definition area is empty, except for a plus icon +.

1. Click Add + and, in the very left drop-down list, select whether you want to create a negative condition. Select Not if the criteria you define for it is false. To create a positive condition, leave this first drop-down field blank.

   Sometimes you want to formulate rules in a negative fashion. Select the not option from the first drop-down list while creating a rule. For example, to find recipients not from Berlin, the rule would be: not Recipient list field "Location" is equal to "Berlin".

2. In the next drop-down list, select whether you want to create an action-based, campaign-based, recipient list-based, recipient data-based or target group-based condition.

As another option, you can use the parentheses to hierarchically handle more complex definitions. Rules within parentheses are applied first and then the rules in the second level and so on. Use AND or OR logic relations between two conditions. To change the type of relation, click it. Due to correctness and logical unambiguousness, target groups without parentheses can only contain one type of logic relation. Thus, if you click a relation, relations between the rules are changed. If you want to use different types of logic relations, use parentheses as in the following example.

Example

You are looking for recipients located in Berlin or Hamburg and with email accounts at example.com.

(Recipient location equals Berlin OR Recipient location equals Hamburg) AND email address contains @example.com

The parentheses makeOptimizely Campaign select recipients from Berlin or Hamburg first. Then out of this subset, recipients with an example.com email account are selected.

Defining target groups based on recipient data conditions

If you selected Recipient list field in the second drop-down list, the following drop-down list shows fields from your recipient list. Select the field you want to query, such as ZIP code.

Depending on the type of field, in the next step you can select an operator. The operator compares the content of the selected recipient field with a targeted value. The following table shows all available operators. You complete other rules by entering a matching value in the last field.

Operator	Data field type
is equals to	String, numeric field, date field, boolean
is not equal to	String, numeric field, date field, boolean
is greater than	Numeric field, date field
is greater than or equal to	Numeric field, date field
is less than	Numeric field, date field
is less than or equal to	Numeric field, date field
is one of the following values	String, numeric field See Multiple values.
contains	String
begins with	String
ends with	String
empty/unknown	String, numeric field, date field, boolean See Empty fields (NULL values).
is not empty/unknown	String, numeric field, date field, boolean See Empty fields (NULL values).
in exactly X hours	Date field
in exactly X days	Date field
is anniversary	Date field Compares the day and month of the date field entry with the current day and month so you can filter recurring events such as birthdays and anniversaries.
is anniversary in exactly X days	Date field
was exactly X days ago	Date field
was less than X days ago	Date field
is more than X days ago	Date field
was lass than X months ago	Date field
is more than X months ago	Date field
Month is current month	Date field Compares only the month of the date field entry with the current month.
Day is current day	Date field Compares only the day of the date field entry with the current day. However, this does not mean today because all dates that have the same day, will match.

Action-based conditions

If you selected Action in the second drop-down list, you can define the rule through recipient-specific actions or events (such as opens, clicks).

The following actions are available:

Action	Description
generated a hard bounce	Recipients who have generated a hard bounce Hard bounces occur when an email cannot be delivered due to a permanent error (for example because the email address no longer exists).. In the Mailing drop-down list, select either all mailings, mailings of a specific type or specific mailings.
generated a soft bounce	Recipients who have generated a soft bounce Soft bounces occur when emails cannot be delivered due to temporary problems. This can happen, for example, if a recipient's mailbox is full. Mailboxes that reject mailings via soft bounce may be available again at a later date.. In the Mailing drop-down list, select either all mailings, mailings of a specific type or specific mailings.
clicked a link	Recipients who have clicked one or more links. Select a time period, the desired mailings, and the corresponding links. In the drop-down list Count you can define the number of clicks on a link (exact value or minimum number, optionally with upper limit).
clicked links of click profiles	Recipients who have made a certain number of clicks in a selected click profile. Select a time period and the desired mailings. You can select the number of clicks and the desired click profile in the drop-down list Clicks.
received mailing	Recipients to whom a mailing was sent, which means that the subscriber is not unsubscribed, blocked Recipients whose email addresses are on the blocklist will never again receive email from you. This applies even if recipients subscribe to newsletters again later. To reverse this status, remove the recipient from the blocklist., or outbounced. Note that a recipient matching this criterion can still create a hard or soft bounce. To exclude these recipients, create the target group as follows: has received mailing AND has NOT created soft/hard bounce. If you use Mailings Classic, please see the note in the FAQs.
opened mailing	Recipients who have opened mailings one or more times. Select a time period and the desired mailings. In the Count drop-down list you can define the number of openings (exact value or minimum number, optionally with upper limit).
responded	Recipients who have responded to mailings. Select a time period and the required mailings.
created one or more post clicks	Recipients who have created one or more post clicks.

Selecting a mailing

From the Mailing drop-down list, select one or multiple mailings for the target group definition.

• All mailings. All sent mailings.
• Mailings of type. All sent mailings of a specific type:
  • Regular. Optimized mailings of an A/B test (Smart Campaigns) and mailings from Mailings Classics (deprecated).
  • Special. Transactional mails.
  • Transactional message. Split mailing of a transactional mail. See A/B test for transactional mails.
  • Confirmation email. Confirmations.
  • Split. Split mailings from Mailings Classics (deprecated).
  • Campaign. Mailings and split mailings of a Smart Campaign (without optimized mailings).

  To select all mailings of an A/B test in a Smart Campaign, select both options Regular (to select the optimized mailing) and Campaign (to select the split mailings).

• The following mailings. Select one or multiple mailings from the list.

Post click conditions

If post-click tracking Tracking method that measures and analyzes the click path that site users follow after clicking a link in an email. is configured for your client The working environment of Optimizely Campaign. A client is a stand-alone and closed system that serves to organize your mailings. Campaign users can use one or more clients for your scenario., actions that a recipient does on your website are tracked. You can create target groups using the post-click data, for example, from select recipients who have bought a certain item in your web shop.

You can track post-click data using the proprietary Optimizely Campaign post-click tracking or a full-featured web analytics software. Optimizely maintains partnerships with several vendors, for example, Adobe, Webtrekk, Econda, Google Analytics and eTracker. If you are interested in this option, contact your Optimizely account manager.

To create a target group with post-click data, perform the following steps:

1. In the second drop-down list, select Action and in the following drop-down list, select has created one or more post clicks. The input mask changes according to the post-click setup of your client.
2. If you use more than one post-click or web analytics service, select the one you want to use from the Service drop-down list.

   The internal Optimizely Campaign post-click tracking is called default. If you use only one service, this drop-down list will not appear when creating the target group. The service is displayed, though when you save the target group condition.

3. In the Mailing list, you can select post clicks that are created through a designated mailing. If you leave this selection empty, any mailing, or no mailing at all, respectively, is taken into account.

   Post-click data that were not created through a mailing can be processed only if they carry a user ID identical to the recipient ID within Optimizely Campaign. Therefore, the ID your customers use when logging in to your web shop should be the same as the recipient ID used in Optimizely Campaign. Usually, the email address is used as recipient ID. New customers and customers that do not want to receive promotional emails can also receive system emails (such as order confirmations) via Optimizely Campaign. If customers register for your newsletter, their post-click data is completely available.

4. To delimit post clicks to a period or date, select a type in the Period field and enter a date or a number of days in the calendar interface. The following scenarios are available:
   • No restrictions. Post-clicks are not delimited by time.
   • From ... until .... Post-clicks must be created in the designated period.
   • On .... Post-clicks must be created on a designated date.
   • Not on .... This scenario excludes the selected date.
   • After or on .... Post-clicks must be created on the selected date or later.
   • Before or on .... Post-clicks must be created on the selected date or earlier.
   • Older than ... days. Post-clicks must be created X days ago or earlier.
     • In regular mailings, the time range is calculated from the sending date.
     • In system mailings, the time range is actualized every day.
   • Exactly ... days ago. Post-clicks must be created exactly X days ago.
     • In regular mailings, the date is calculated from the sending date.
     • In system mailings, the date is actualized every day.
   • Within the last ... days. Post-clicks must be created within the last X days.
   • Within the last ... months. Post-clicks must be created within the last X months.
   • Today. Post-clicks must be created on the current day.
     • In regular mailings, this day is the sending date.
     • In system mailings, an actualization is made every day.
   • Current month. Post-clicks must be created in the current month.
     • In regular mailings, this is month in which the mailing is sent.
     • In system mailings, an actualization is made every day.
5. Select a category.

   You can define categories individually and contain a string (such as product name) or a float value (such as revenue). You can combine several categories in one target group condition and therefore select recipients who have bought product A and B or have bought products from group X for more than 500 dollars. By combining several post-click categories you may create recipient segments for discounts, cross- and up-selling offers, and so on.

6. If the selected category is a string, you can select one of the following operators from the list:
   • equals
   • does not equal
   • contains
   • is empty/unknown
   • is not empty/unknown
   • starts with
   • ends with
7. Enter the identifier in the field next to the operator.

   The automatic completion function helps you to exactly match the name you are looking for. By default, the automatic completion shows the first ten or fewer matches.

8. If the selected category is a float value (for example, a product price), you can select one of the following operators from the drop-down list:
   • equals
   • does not equal
   • is greater than
   • is less than
   • is less than or equals
   • is greater than or equals

   Optional: To aggregate post-click values, select one of the following operators from the drop-down list that appears to the left:

   • one occurence in
   • sum of
   • average of
   • number of
9. In the field next to the operator, enter a value.

   When the selected operator is equals, the entered value must match exactly the value given by the system, including decimal places. Follow the instructions for entering multiple values.

10. Click Apply.

Recipient list-based conditions

If you selected Recipient list in the second drop-down list, the system checks whether recipients are contained in a recipient list. Perform the following steps:

1. In the Recipient list, click a recipient list.
2. To add the condition to your target group, click Apply .

Campaign-based conditions

If you selected MA campaign in the second drop-down list, the system checks whether recipients are currently passing through or have already passed through a specific Marketing Automation campaign. You can select multiple campaigns for this condition also:

1. In the drop-down list, select has passed through MA campaign X or is currently passing through MA campaign X.
2. In the following drop-down list, select one or more campaigns.
3. To add the condition to your target group, click Apply .

Target group-based conditions

If you selected Target group in the second drop-down list, the system checks whether recipients are contained in a target group. Perform the following steps:

1. In the drop-down list, select Recipient matches target group X.
2. In the following drop-down list, select the desired target group.
3. To add the condition to your target group, click Apply .

Use this condition to add target groups that are used many times (such as Men, Women, ...) as a component to other, more complex target groups. Thus, you only have to define these component target groups once and can reuse them whenever they are needed.

Selecting multiple values

If you select is one of the following values, you can enter multiple values in one text box. For example, if you want to copy values from a CSV Stands for "comma-separated values"; tabular data in a plain text file separated by the comma character. file:

1. Select the operator is one of the following values.
2. Enter the values, for example, comma-separated.
3. Open the drop-down list, click the scissors symbol (Separate multiple values) and in the box, enter the used delimiter symbol.
4. Click Apply. The entered values are now handled as single values.

Managing empty fields

There are generally three types of fields.

• Fields which contain a value (Place of residence = "Berlin")
• Fields which contain no value and are empty (Place of residence = "")
• Fields which are unknown (Place of residence = unknown)

For example, if you acquired additional newsletter subscribers through an external action (such as a sweepstakes) and imported these into your recipient list, some will not contain information for Place of residence. If you want to select recipients in your target group who do not live in Berlin, the condition would be as follows:

With this, recipients are selected who have entered a place of residence other than Berlin (such as Boston). However, the rule does not consider null values (unknown or no place of residence) because the Optimizely Campaign logic assumes that it cannot be determined whether the recipient resides in Berlin or not.

However, with another rule, you can modify the target group so that recipients whose places of residence are unknown are also selected. To do this, add the rule .Recipient list field "City" is empty/unknown and link both rules with or:

Thus, you include recipients without an explicit place of residence by using the query is empty/unknown.