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Select Target Groups of recipients

The Contacts in your account are organized into target groups. Because of this, when you are sending a message, you must select the message recipients by selecting one or more target groups.

The Targeting sub-tab in Message Designer displays all of your target groups in an expandable "tree" structure that is alphabetically sorted so they are easier to locate.

TIP: Use the Search field above the list to locate a target group without having to scroll through a long list. The search is not case sensitive and does not support wild card characters.

To manage a message's targeting:

1. Create or edit a message and navigate to the Targeting sub-tab of the Choose Properties tab.

On the left side of the page, the Targeting panel has a list of folders. The number next to each folder name is the number of active (non-deleted) target groups in that folder.

Any empty (i.e., no target groups) and deleted folders in your account do not display.

2. Click a folder name to expand it and view the target groups it contains.

The number next to a target group is the number of contacts in the group. Each target group has two icons:

• Click a Plus symbol to include that target group's contacts as recipients of the message; the target group displays in the Included column. Repeat this for any other target groups that you want to include.
• Click the No symbol to exclude that target group's contacts from being sent the message; the target group displays in the Excluded column. Repeat this for any other target groups that you want to exclude.

Your message is ready to send to the selected Contacts.

There are a few additional targeting options on the page.

Send to email addresses

In the Email Addresses field, you can specify up to 15 email addresses to which the message will be sent.

NOTE: If any target groups have been selected on this page, you cannot use this option; the field will be grayed out and disabled.

TIP: If target groups have been selected for the message and you want to include individual email addresses, you can add the email addresses to a Test Group and send the message to that group.

Send to a Test Group

You can send the message to a test group of recipients.

• Click the dropdown to select one test group only.

This feature does not have any "exclusivity" or "dependency" considerations. It can be used:

• with and without target groups and
• with and without email addresses.

Advanced targeting

Click Show Advanced Targeting to expand the page and reveal the advanced targeting options.

There are three options that allow you to fine-tune your targeting:

• Exclude those who have been sent this mailing before
• Exclude those in the following Opt-Out Lists - This option expands the page and lets you select any opt-out lists to use as exclusion criteria.
• Exclude the following Email Addresses - Enter any specific email addresses to exclude from your message (up to 100).

Story-level Targeting

When you add a story in Message Designer, you can use Story-Level Targeting (i.e., Dynamic Segmentation) to send stories to a subset of your target group.

Story-level target groups function like a dynamic compound target groups (using "and" logic). Any recipients in a story-level target group would also have to be in the main target group (target group assigned to the message on the Choose Properties tab > Targeting sub-tab). This approach reduces the risk of targeting errors (e.g., recipients in the subset target group only receiving the story-level story).

1. After adding a story on the Design Message tab (or selecting an existing one), click the Targeting tab in the Text Properties panel.
2. Check the Send this story to a subset of the [target groups selected] box to expand the menu and show the targeting options.

3. You can select only one subset target group for the chosen story.

1. Click the plus symbol (+) to select a target group.
2. Click the delete (x) icon next to a selected target group to remove it.

Targeted subject lines

Targeted Subject Lines allow you to set alternative subject lines that display to subscribers in specified target groups. Only subscribers in these groups will see these subject lines, making this a useful tool to help increase your open rate by making customized subject lines that are relevant to each type of recipient.

To add a Targeted Subject Line:

1. In Message Designer, navigate to the Choose Properties tab > Envelope sub-tab.
2. Check the Use Targeted Subjects box.

This expands the page to reveal the Targeted Subject Lines heading.

3. Click Edit to add a target group for your targeted subject line. Click the plus symbol (+) to include the corresponding target group.

NOTE: You can include only one target group at a time. Recipients must be in an included target group and the designated target group.

4. Enter the targeted subject line in the Subject Line field. (You can optionally click the Personalization icon to add personalizations to the subject line.

NOTE: Even though Message Designer adds the personalization to the targeted subject line, it will not appear in the Personalization Test.

5. Click Add Targeted Subject to add another subject line field. (To delete a targeted subject line, click the trash can icon.)
6. Click the Up and Down arrows to rearrange your subject lines. This is important because any recipient that matches multiple targeted subject lines will receive the first match that appears in the list.

NOTE: If recipients don't match any of the targeted subject line criteria, they will receive the default subject line.

Additional details

NOTE: You cannot use targeted subject lines in MD2 messages used in a Campaign or with Landing Pages because messages  from these features are automated (and essentially already targeted), so targeted subject lines would not add any engagement value.

NOTE: Don't panic! You need a target group assigned to each subject line before you can save or send your message. Similarly, each subject line field must contain text. Using targeted subject lines disables A/B testing for subject lines.