Recipients, Targeting, and Segmentation
What you must understand
Targeting is the core skill: building queries, applying filtering dimensions, using target mappings, and refining audiences with segments, lists, and typology rules. Know the difference between a query (dynamic, re-evaluated) and a list (static snapshot). Understand deduplication, exclusions, and control groups as part of targeting.
Traps that appear in questions
- Dynamic vs. static. A query re-runs at execution; a list is frozen. Questions that say "the audience must not change" point to a list.
- Filtering dimension. A query on recipients joined to a custom schema may silently drop records if the dimension is wrong.
- Deduplication key. Default dedup is on the primary key, not email; duplicate emails can survive unless you dedup on email.
- Control group. A control group is excluded from the delivery but tracked for reporting - it is not a suppression list.
Rule of thumb
Ask: does this audience need to be stable at send time? If yes, materialize it as a list or a segment before the delivery.
Worked example
A campaign must exclude customers who received a message in the last 7 days. Build a query on the delivery log joined to the recipient, filter on the send date, and use an exclusion in the targeting workflow - not a manual list - so the rule stays current.