Tags and segments

A tag is a label on a donor record. A segment is a saved set of rules that picks out donors. The donors in a segment always reflect your data as it is now, so the segment stays up to date as donors join, give and change. You can choose a segment as the recipients of an email. See Emails.

Tagging donors

Tags are created when you import donors. Each import creates one tag, named "Import" followed by the import's ID, and adds it to every donor in the file. See Importing donors. You can't create a tag anywhere else in the admin.

To add or remove a donor's tags:

1. Open the donor's profile from Contacts.
2. In the Tags panel, click Edit.
3. Tick or untick tags from your organisation's existing tags.
4. Click Save changes.

The Tags panel shows "No tags to show." when the donor has none.

To list the donors with a tag, use the Tag filter on Contacts. See Donors and the donor profile.

The segments list

Click Contacts in the sidebar, then Segments under it.

The Segments screen lists your segments with these columns:

Creating a segment

Click New segment. Create a new segment takes you through three steps: Name, Scope and Criteria. The first screen also lists a fourth step, Grouping, which does not appear once you continue.

1. Name

1. Enter a Name ("A short, descriptive name for this contact segment"). It is required.
2. Optionally, enter a Description ("Help your colleagues better understand what this contact segment is for").
3. Click Continue.

2. Scope

Under "Would you like this to be a segment of all organisation contacts or of specific clubs?", choose:

• All organisation contacts: the segment starts from every donor in your organisation.
• Contacts from specific clubs: the segment starts from donors who have a membership in any of the clubs you tick. Tick at least one club.

Click Continue.

3. Criteria

Add one or more filters. Each filter is a rule a donor must meet.

1. Click Add filter.
2. Choose a type from "Select a criterion type" and click Next.
3. In Edit filter, choose an operator ("Select an operator") and a value.
4. Click Save.

The filter is added to the list with a number: 1 for the first, 2 for the second, and so on. Click a filter to change it. In Edit filter, click Delete and then Delete again, under "Are you sure?", to remove it.

Under the filters, a line shows how many donors match right now. It reads "Counting contacts..." while it works, and "No contacts" if none match.

Under "How should these filters be applied?", click the current choice to change how the filters combine. See Combining filters.

Click Finish. You need at least one filter. Without one, you'll see "Add at least one filter".

To stop creating a segment, click Cancel. The segment is deleted.

The filters

There are seven types of filter.

How each filter matches

These rules decide who is in a segment, so check them before you send to one.

• Club filters look at every club. Club join date, Club membership status and Club membership type check all of a donor's memberships, in any of your clubs, not only the clubs chosen under Scope. A donor matches if any one of their memberships meets the rule.
• "is not" on a club filter matches a donor who has at least one membership that is different. For example, Club membership type is not Ambassador matches every donor with at least one supporter membership, even if they are also an ambassador somewhere.
• Dormant is the status of an ambassador who has been made inactive.
• Club join date compares against the very start of the day you choose. So "is after" includes donors who joined on that day, "is on or before" does not, and "is" matches almost no one. To find donors who joined on or before 31 March, choose "is before" 1 April.
• Last donation date looks at the donor's most recent donation of any status, including failed and abandoned ones. It uses the day the donation was first created. For a donation you recorded by hand, that is the day you recorded it, not the Date you entered.
• Tags: do not include matches donors who have at least one tag other than the one you choose. A donor with no tags at all does not match. A donor with the chosen tag and another tag does match.
• Country and Contact birth date with "is not" don't match donors who have no country or no birth date.

Combining filters

Under "How should these filters be applied?", click the current choice, pick one, and click Save:

• Match all criteria (AND): a donor must meet every filter. New segments start with this choice.
• Match any criteria (OR): a donor must meet at least one filter.
• Use a custom expression: write a rule using the filter numbers, for example 1 OR 2 AND (3 OR 4). Use AND, OR and brackets. AND is applied before OR, so 1 OR 2 AND 3 means 1, or both 2 and 3. Use brackets to change that.

Your expression is checked when you click Save. If it is empty and the segment has at least one filter, you'll see "Expression can't be blank". If it can't be read, or names a filter number higher than the number of filters, you'll see "Expression is invalid" and it isn't saved. The number 0 is not refused: it is read as your last filter. Until a custom expression is saved, the count line says "Enter a valid expression to see how many contacts match".

Viewing a segment

Click a segment's name on Segments. The segment page lists the donors who match now, with First name, Last name and Email. Click a column heading to sort, or type into "Search contacts" to search. Click a name to open that donor's profile.

If no donor matches, it says "No contacts in this segment."

Changing a segment

1. Open the segment and click Edit.
2. Edit segment takes you through Name, Scope and Criteria again.
3. Click Finish.

Each change is saved as you make it: a step when you click Continue, and a filter or the way filters combine when you click Save. They apply to the segment straight away, even before you click Finish.

Deleting a segment

1. Open the segment and click Delete.
2. Under Delete segment, "Are you sure you want to delete this segment?", click Continue.

You go back to the segments list.