SFMC | Audience Targeting | List Inclusions and Exclusions
As part of the email send process, users must select their targeted and excluded audiences.
1 Targeted list
List of recipients for your email send. Sometimes referred to as inclusions.
2 Exclusion list
List of excluded or suppressed contacts you do not wish to receive your email send.
3 Data extension
Data extensions can be used to store sendable subscriber data like lists and may serve other purposes as well, such as storing email engagement data. Some date extensions are automated to update at a regular interval.
4 Filtered data extension
Allows you to take a data extension and segment further on specific criteria. Filtering is performed from within SFMC data.
How do I use targeted and excluded lists for my email sends?
Adding a targeted list to your email send
When sending an email, you will navigate to your unit’s “Targeted” folder, select the data extension(s) that has been created for your target audience, and drag and drop it into the “Targeted” box. Note: When you drag and drop a list into the targeted box, a “Select Publication List” dialogue box will pop up and should default to “All Subscribers” being selected. Click “OK.”
Adding excluded and suppressed lists to your email send
You will also need to add the applicable exclusion lists to the “Excluded and Suppressed” box. Your unit-specific solicit code exclusions are found in your unit’s “Excluded” folder. General, university-level exclusions are founded in the “Excluded” folder within the “UNIV Standards” folder. Additionally, you may use data extensions within your unit’s “Targeted” folder as exclusions to remove certain segments from your targeted audience. For all commercial emails there is a standard exclusion list for email addresses on the university do not contact list.
Let's walk through some scenarios
Example 1:
The College of Arts and Sciences wants to send a virtual events newsletter to their alumni and donors.
Targeted:
- asc_alumni-and-donors_a
Excluded:
- ASC - No Contact - Email
- ASC_VirtualEvents - No Contact - Email
- univ_no-contact-email-standard_a
- UNIV - No Contact - Events - Email
Here, the ASC alumni and donor list is being targeted, but anyone who has opted out of ASC emails, ASC virtual event emails, university emails or university event emails, will be excluded from the send. Although the univ_no-contact-email-standard_a exclusion is applied to all targeted data extensions when they are created, it’s a good practice to add it as an exclusion to every send as a failsafe. This data extension excludes 6 solicit codes considered standard for university emails, as well as anyone in Canada that cannot be emailed for Canada Anti-Spam Law compliance purposes. Both of these conditions are considered standard to exclude from any email sent from the university. Solicit codes that will be excluded are UNIV - No Contact Email, UNIV - No Contact - RULE_FERPA Restriction - All Channels, UNIV - No Contact - RULE_Pelotonia Only - All Channels, UNIV - No Contact-Rule_DENT - All Channels, UNIV - No Contact-Rule_MCSC - All Channels, and UNIV - No Contact-Rule_OPT - All Channels.
Example 2:
The College of Engineering wants to send a newsletter to Ohio alumni outside of Columbus.
Targeted:
- eng_alumni_oh_a
Excluded:
- eng_alumni_cbus_a
- ENG - No Contact - Email
- ENG - No Contact - News
- univ_no-contact-email-standard_a
The engineering Ohio alumni list is being targeted, but the alumni who live in Columbus are being excluded as well as anyone who's opted out of engineering emails, engineering news emails, all university emails, or meets the standard exclusion criteria.
Example 3:
The College of Education and Human Ecology wants to send their Inspire magazine email to their alumni and donors of the last 3 years.
Targeted:
- ehe_alumni_a
- ehe_donors_36mo_a
Excluded:
- EHE - No Contact - Email
- EHE - No Contact - News - Email
- univ_no-contact-email-standard_a
The EHE alumni list is being combined with the EHE donors of the past 3 years list, and anyone who has opted out of EHE emails, EHE news emails, all university emails, or meets the standard exclusion criteria, will be excluded.
Example 4:
University Marketing wants to send their Connect newsletter to alumni and donors, but they only want to send to those contacts who have opened in the past 12 months.
Targeted:
- umar_donors_connect-alumni-and-donors_a
Excluded:
- UNIV - All - 12month-non-openers
- UNIV - No Contact - Connect Newsletter - Email
- univ_no-contact-email-standard_a
The Connect alumni and donor list is being targeted, but the 12month-non-openers list is being used as an exclusion to make sure only those who've opened an email in the past 12 months are sent the email. Those who've opted out of all university emails, Connect newsletter emails, or meets the standard exclusion criteria will also be excluded.
Other tidbits
Question What does the "_a" at the end of a data extension name signify?
Answer
This classifies the data extension as being an automated data extension. This means that there is a process running in the background to refresh the data populating the data extension on a regular basis. When you submit a query request via the Workfront form, there is a question that asks if this list is for one-time use or for ongoing email sends. If "Ongoing (dynamic)" is selected, the data extension will be automated for you. The default cadence for the refresh is weekly.
Question How do I know which exclusions apply to my email send?
Answer
Think of it as a funnel. At the very top level, every email sent should exclude contacts who have opted out of all university email (univ_no-contact-email-standard_a). From there, work your way down the audience and message type. If it's a solicitation email (directly asking for a donation), it should always include UNIV - No Solicit - Email. Survey emails should always include UNIV - No Contact - Surveys - Email. All three of these high-level exclusions are found in the Colleges and Units > UNIV Standards > Excluded folder. For any email coming from a college or unit, that college or unit's no contact email exclusion should always be added as an exclusion. If it's an event email, the college or unit event no contact email exclusion should be used in addition to those previously mentioned. If the email is coming from a specific division, department or organization within the college or unit and there is a division/department/organization-level exclusion, that should also be applied, and so on. The more specific the sender and message type, the more exclusions you'll likely need to apply.
Question Should I use the UNIV - All - 12month-non-openers exclusion list?
Answer
Yes!* It is a best practice to only email those contacts who've engaged with at least 1 email from the university within the past year. The more engaged our audiences are, the better our sender reputation and deliverability (likelihood we make it into the inbox as opposed to the spam folder or getting blocked altogether). By avoiding sending to unengaged contacts, we have a better chance of keeping our email engagement high. To attempt to re-engage those contacts who do not open emails, we run what we call “hygiene” programs on a regular cadence. We send two re-engagement emails to those who haven't opened an email in 18+ months over a period of 2 weeks (anyone who opens the first doesn't receive the second), and opt them out if they still don't open within 2 weeks of receiving the final email.
*In September 2021 Apple launched iOS15, and with it, its new Mail Privacy Policy. MPP disables open tracking which means our opens are artificially inflated. ~32% of all email "opens" are actually generated from pixel fires from Apple's proxy server. So, some of the contacts who should be in our 12 month non-opener exclusion list are not getting pulled into it even if they didn't truly open (they just appear to have opened). That said, the 12 month non-opener exclusion list still does contain the majority of our non-openers and may still be used.
Question Can I "stack" lists?
Answer
Yes! If you have multiple lists you need to combine to create your audience, you can add them all to your "Targeted" box when you're ready to send. It's not recommended to add more than 10 as that can be taxing on the system. Also, make sure the "De-duplicate subscribers" box remains checked (it should be checked by default) so that contacts who are in more than one of the lists you're targeting will only receive one email.
Exception: Filtered data extensions cannot be stacked — only one may be used as your targeted list.
Question Is the Total Excluded number in my Excluded box the number of people who will be removed from my send?
Answer
No. The "Total Targeted" and "Total Excluded" counts shown in the respective boxes are just that; the total counts in the list or lists you've drag and dropped into those boxes. The Total Excluded count is not how many people will be removed upon send. Only contacts that appear in both the Targeted and the Excluded areas are excluded from the send. For example, if your Total Targeted count is 10,000 and your Total Excluded count is 800, but only 200 people in your exclusion list(s) are also on your targeted list(s), your final send count will be 9,800.