Filters

Filters are a critical component of just about every marketing campaign in Cheetah Digital. They're used to build the audience that you want to receive your marketing message, or to define dynamic content, as well as for reporting, data imports, Seed Lists, and calculated data fields.

A Filter is a set of criteria, or rules, that defines what you're looking for. When the platform applies your Filter, it searches the database for records with values and / or activities that match these criteria. A Filter can be a simple one-line rule, such as "all male customers," or it can be very complex, such as "all female customers from Illinois or Wisconsin who purchased brown shoes via the web within the last six months."

Filters are reusable across all the different channels within the platform.

For more information on the platform's Filter capabilities, please see the document: Filter Capabilities.

The Marigold Help Center provides access to a wide range of enablement videos on many Marigold solutions that you can take as needed. Click here to browse to the video on how to use the Filters.  

Import Filter

If you import data into Cheetah Digital through a Manual Import or an FTP Import Template, the system will automatically generate a Filter that selects the records in that import. This system-generated Filter will be named "Import File <Import name>" and will be located within the same folder as the Import. The Filter will consist of a single rule that uses the File Imports Activity type to target the records in that import file.

Load and Send

The Filters screen is also used to manage Filters used for the platform's Load and Send feature. Load and Send allows you to import "campaign-ready" files containing all the information needed to build and deploy the Campaign (such as personalization fields, and contact information like Email Address). Filters that are intended for use in Load and Send Campaigns differ slightly from regular Filters, as follows

  • You can't add fields on joined tables to the Filter logic.

  • You can't use Activities in the Filter logic.

  • Calculated Fields aren't supported.

  • You can't view record details, or export the Filter results.

  • The Quick Calculate feature isn't supported.

Additional Topics

For more information on Filters, please see:

 Working with Filter Logic

 Cross Tab Report

 Calculated Fields Report

 Filters Options for Activities

 Filter Best Practices

Access

The Activity Log screen is accessible by the following method:

  • From the Main menu, select Data > Execution > Filters

Features

Create a New Filter

This topic describes how to create a new Filter through the Filter screen. In addition, Filters can also be created through the New Item screen (see Create a New Item: Filter), or defined though an API request (see Filter API for more details).  

Copy a Filter

To copy an existing item to use as the basis for a new item:

View or Edit a Filter

To view or edit an existing Filter:

Delete a Filter

To delete an item:

Calculate Filter Counts

Cheetah Digital offers two different methods of generating the count of records that match your Filter criteria -- a Standard method and a Quick method. However, please note that the Quick calculation method is an optional feature that must be enabled within your account; please speak to your Client Services Representative for more information.

Export Filter Results

Cheetah Digital allows you to execute a Filter, then export the results of that Filter into a text file (.txt).

View or Edit Filter Results

To verify that your Filter is selecting the desired records, you can view (and optionally edit) the details of the selected records.

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting a Filter

If your Filter won't calculate, the process could be stuck in a queue waiting for processing threads to become available, in which case you'll simply need to wait a bit. Or, it's possible the Filter has surpassed the allowable number of Nested Levels (see Nested Levels in Filters for more details).