We have implemented Filters to help our members limit results so they can locate important contacts and companies.

The first thing you want to become familiar with is the difference between Criteria and Filters. Criteria is a list-building component found in our Segment Builder that will narrow your results. This means if you are looking to change the results of your list you will want to do this within the criteria of the list by editing your Segment.

A Filter is a tool used in the List Editing process to refine and make the selection process quicker. Criteria will remove contacts and companies from your segment, whereas Filters will only hide results temporarily. A Filter will never remove contacts or companies from the segment or list.

To demonstrate, let's use the most common example. Everybody knows the Art Producer is the most influential title in the Agency world when hiring an artist for assignment work. When building a list, we recommend selecting all the Art Producers first as they are the gatekeepers.

If you were building a list for an email promotion you would select Art Producers as a Filter, which would filter out all contacts and companies that don't have an Art Producer, leaving you with only the contacts and companies that do. From there, you can easily make selections on companies, knowing it includes the Art Producer title you want first.

Another handy use of Filters is to limit entire lists (all segments) by only the companies you selected. Using Filters in this way is helpful when you have multiple page results across all segments and want to see only the companies you have chosen. In this example, let's say we're sending a printed mailer and have 1,200 postcards printed. If your list had 1,406 contacts across 31 pages of results, it might be challenging to navigate and remove the 206 contacts needed to get 1,200.

Using the "Selection" filter and checking off "Show only selected companies," your page results will drop to four pages. You can now refine your list down to 1,200 much faster than if you had to skim through 31 pages of results.

Individually selecting contacts while using filters is another excellent way to refine your list. After you have your filters in place, you can review the contacts within a company and select the contacts you feel are most relevant.

Another way to refine your list is by researching the company before you add it to your list. Hover over the company name and click; this will open up the "Company Detail" modal. Within this modal, you can view the company info, contacts, brands they are advertising for, and what areas they specialize in.