Audiences and segments
An audience is who you are talking to. A segment is a rule for finding them. Getting the distinction right is the difference between a list you trust and one you argue about.
Import once, carefully
Almost every messy database starts with a rushed first import. Before you upload anything:
- One row per person. Merge duplicates in the spreadsheet, where it is cheap.
- One consistent phone format. Pick one and convert everything to it.
- A source column. Where did this record come from – a petition, an event, a purchased list, a previous campaign? You will want this constantly and you can never reconstruct it later.
- A consent column, if you have one. See Compliance and opt-outs.
After import, check three things: the row count matches what you uploaded, ten random records look right, and the duplicates you expected to merge did merge.
Build the two segments you will use, not the twenty you can imagine
New accounts sprout segments. Six months later nobody knows which of "Supporters", "Supporters v2" and "Supporters (real)" is current, and every send starts with an argument.
Start with two:
- People who have said yes to something – signed, attended, volunteered, or scored as support at a door.
- People in the area you are working.
Add a third only when you have a message that goes to it and nothing else.
Name segments so they explain themselves
A good segment name says what is in it and when it was decided.
strong-support-northcote-2026Segment 4Let the field data flow back in
The scoring your volunteers do at the doors is the most valuable targeting data you have, because you gathered it yourself and it is about this campaign. Roll it into audiences:
- Strong supporters – the people you want at an event, and the ones to call on election day.
- Persuadables – the ones who deserve another conversation, and the only group where persuasion messaging is worth the spend.
- Opposers – the ones to stop spending volunteer hours on. Recording this is not pessimism; it is what frees your team to work the doors that can move.
See Reading your results for how dispositions roll up onto the five-point scale.
Static or dynamic – know which you have
A rule-based segment recalculates. That is what you want for ongoing programs, and exactly what you do not want on election day, where you need a frozen list you can reconcile against at the end of the day.
When it matters, snapshot it. A list that changed under you mid-operation is a list you cannot report on.
Suppression is part of targeting
Opt-outs are handled for you and applied across the account – that is a floor, not a targeting strategy. You will usually also want to exclude:
- People contacted in the last N days, so you are not the campaign that texts twice a week.
- People already at the event you are recruiting for.
- Anyone in an active conversation in the shared inbox.
Review the list quarterly
Lists decay. Numbers change hands, people move electorates, and a record from three campaigns ago is a stranger. Once a quarter, look at how much of the list has never responded to anything and decide honestly whether it is an audience or a number that makes you feel better.