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Dan_Stevens_
Dan_Stevens_
New Participant
March 11, 2017
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Sanity check: activity and inactivity filters

  • March 11, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 4628 views

Looking for confirmation on our understanding of activity and inactivity filters:

  • Using an ACTIVITY filter like "Was Sent Email" and listed are 5 emails, leads would qualify if they were sent either of the 5 emails (doesn't have to be all 5) - essentially, "OR" logic is used here.

  • Using an INACTIVITY filter like "Not Clicked Link in Email" and listed are those same 5 emails, leads would only qualify if they didn't click on ANY of the emails in the entire set.  So if a lead clicked a link in one of the 5 emails (and didn't click a link in the other 4), they would not qualify.  Again, "OR" logic is used among the 5 emails (but when used with a "NOT"/inactivity filter, it works more like an "AND" operator).
    • I think what gets confusing here with these inactivity filters is when you look at it the opposite way (which is the wrong way): using the "OR" operator again, all it takes is one email of the five where the lead didn't click, you could say that the lead WOULD qualify.  But again, we shouldn't be looking at this way.

Do we have this right?

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    Best answer by Grégoire_Miche2

    HI Dan

    Always remember: Not (A OR B) = not(A) and not(B).

    So indeed, I would expect that the people would qualify only if they have not clicked in any of the 5 emails. For me the "Not clicked link in email" should in fact read not(clicked link in email).

    And therefore, not clicked link in email (A or B) = not(clicked link in email (A or B)) = not(clicked link in email(A) or clicked link in email(B)) = not(clicked link in email(A)) and not(clicked link in email(B))

    -Greg

    2 replies

    Grégoire_Miche2
    Grégoire_Miche2Accepted solution
    New Participant
    March 12, 2017

    HI Dan

    Always remember: Not (A OR B) = not(A) and not(B).

    So indeed, I would expect that the people would qualify only if they have not clicked in any of the 5 emails. For me the "Not clicked link in email" should in fact read not(clicked link in email).

    And therefore, not clicked link in email (A or B) = not(clicked link in email (A or B)) = not(clicked link in email(A) or clicked link in email(B)) = not(clicked link in email(A)) and not(clicked link in email(B))

    -Greg

    Dan_Stevens_
    Dan_Stevens_Author
    New Participant
    March 12, 2017

    Thanks Greg - that sums it up perfectly!

    Josh_Hill13
    Josh_Hill13
    New Participant
    March 11, 2017
    1. Yes.
    2. It would look at all the Leads who never clicked in each of the 5 emails, with an OR between the email list. I'm pretty sure it would say
      1. Find everyone who never clicked in Email 1
      2. Find everyone who never clicked in Email 2...
      3. then display all of those people.
        1. so if the lead clicked Email 3, it would still show that lead because it never clicked in Emails 1,2,4,5

    Not sure why you think Not Clicked Link in Email would exclude based on ANY within the filter. It surely would if you used 5 filters, one email per Filter and used AND between filters. In that case it would exclude any lead who clicked on at least one of the emails. But within the filter, it would use OR.

    Dan_Stevens_
    Dan_Stevens_Author
    New Participant
    March 11, 2017

    @Josh​, that's not what's happening in our tests we did today.  Let me put some more context around this.  This relates to this thread: Re: Looking for enhanced Engagement Program logic to weed out non-engagers.  And specifically this smart list (where there are 12 emails that are being evaluated) - where we want to pause any person who has been sent any of the 12 emails over the past three months (and has received at least 5 emails) but hasn't engaged (clicked) on ANY of them:

    Basically, it's not qualifying anyone that has clicked a link in either of the emails.  So all it takes is someone clicking on one of the 12 emails, and they don't qualify.  And that's what we want.  But based on what you stated above, if someone did click on one of those emails, they would qualify.

    Josh_Hill13
    Josh_Hill13
    New Participant
    March 11, 2017

    Well yes, if you clicked at least one of those emails in Not Clicked Link In Email, you won't qualify for the smart list you displayed. That's what you say you want too.

    I agree that's not the behavior I would have expected with the internal OR inside the filter. But I see it may be thinking Do Not include people who clicked in ANY of these emails. Slightly different logical constraint than the Positive Version in Was Sent Email - because you asked it to return anyone who Was Sent ANY of the 12 emails. Just one email can be returned.

    But the negative first says Return only people who were never Sent an Email. When we add the ANY, it treats it sort of like an AND when it's a NOT overall.

    Have you tested it by using IS and selecting the emails directly?

    Let's break this down:

    • Member of Engagement NOT IN Stream 99 - so everyone else. If there are 100 people in Program and 10 are in Stream 99, then I should get 90 in Filter 1.
      • Was Sent one of 12 emails in Past 90 days, At Least 5x or More. Let's say 50 people meet this criteria. This can bring back someone who got Email 1 5 times or Emails 1-5+ or Emails 1-12.
        • Not Clicked Link in ANY of 12 Emails IN PAST 90 Days. That logic says it should look at the set of people who never clicked a link in any of these emails...which implies ALL of those emails when you say it out loud.
          • First, this filter alone will bring back every lead who never clicked, including people who weren't in the Program.
          • Second, it then looks at the 50 people who did get a Sent email.
            • 10 clicked Email 1
            • 5 clicked Email 2
            • 2 clicked Email 12
            • so it should say - DO NOT include these 17 people and Return 33 people.
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