Lists

Lists contain a group of your contacts for a particular campaign launch, or as a data source for automation programs. But they do not contain any data, instead they refer to the contact data you hold in your Core Table. This means that your contacts can be on several lists at once, as well as added or removed from them when necessary.

Lists are accessed by going to the 'Data' area of the platform and to the lists tab.

On this page:

List Types

There are four different types of list available on the platform. They all act for the main purpose of referencing contact data for campaign launches or automation programs but have varying functionality.

  • Regular List: A basic list of contact data, to which filters can be applied to perform segmentation
  • Dynamic List: Ability to use multiple lists from across an account, with filters applied
  • Remote List: One way synchronisation from an external data source into the platform
  • Managed Lists: Lists populated by automated processes

Managing Lists and Your Data

The list interface allows you to create, view and manage your lists by importing data into Adestra.

There are two main ways you can manage lists and the data in your account:

  • Manage data within the platform: creating new lists that are used regularly for your campaigns, importing any new data into the list when necessary. By over-writing any duplicate records you can keep the data in your core table up-to-date; unsubscribers will also be removed from the list automatically.
  • Manage your data externally: creating a new list each time you launch a campaign, when selecting the Mailing List.

Using a single list within the platform is beneficial as its size is generally close to the final launch count—as unsubscribers are removed from the list. Whereas creating a new list for each launch typically relies on the known bounce system and unsub lists to filter through contacts when sending.

Note: Both options automatically manage bounces and unsubscribes.

Downloading Data

If you have Data Admin rights you can download list data. To do this, click the download button in the data viewer. You will then be provided with a .csv file of the table data.

Tagging

When lists are created you can add tags. These tags are then searchable in the table of lists, allowing you to easily find specific or groups of lists.

List Tabs

There are multiple tabs available when you view a specific list which provide details for contact information, imports and the list's associations.

Overview

The 'Overview' tab of a list displays the basic details of the list you have created.

These details include the following:

  • ID - List ID
  • Name - Name of list
  • Table - Table that the list is associated with
  • Record history - Whether or not list history is recorded. Please see List Reporting for more information
  • Managed - Whether or not the list is managed. Please see Managing Lists for more information
  • Owner - Person who created list
  • Workspace - Workspace that the list is associated with
  • Created - Time lapse/stamp of when list was created
  • List size - Number of contacts in a list

Note: The List size figure is given as an estimate only. This may appear differently to the actual number of contacts currently in the list.

Browse

The 'Browse' tab of a list allows you to view contact data for contacts in the list. Whenever you browse data in Adestra you will be working with the data viewer, which allows you to view and modify sets of contacts, and edit individual contacts. For help using the data viewer and managing contacts, refer to the Data Viewer and Contact Profile topics.

Import

Importing is the process of adding contacts to an Adestra core table. This is typically done by using a list's import function to import a CSV file containing contact information. During the import process, contacts are stored in the list's core table, and associated with the list at the same time.

Should your import fail for some reason campaigns will be unable to launch until it is fixed. If available, the reason will be provided in the Import Log.

It is also possible to automate data imports. For more information, contact your account manager.

Import Log

The 'Import Log' page shows the import history for that list.

Note: Import logs that are older than one year may no longer be available.

Click the filename of an individual import to see more detailed information for that import.

This page gives a breakdown of the import, including:

  • Basic list information
  • Date of the import
  • Records in CSV: total number of records in the CSV
  • Records Imported: number of successfully imported records
  • Bad Records: import failures, malformed records (emails not following correct syntax or with special characters) or those with invalid email addresses (this data can be downloaded)
  • Number of Duplicates: records that are already in the list (this data can be downloaded)
  • Dedupe Field
  • Dedupe Method

Launches

The 'Launches' page displays details of all of the launches sent to this list, including the time and date of launch, the campaign it was sent from, and the individual launch reference.

For each launch, the 'Sent' column shows how many on the list were sent to. The 'Not Sent' total is the number of email addresses that have previously bounced, previously unsubscribed or that are undeliverable.

Settings

In the settings page you can change the basic details of a list, including the name, description and owner.

Managed Lists

If you are an admin or data admin user, the Import Manager section will be displayed in the lower part of the 'Settings' page.

Managed lists are maintained by the automated import system, which means that users cannot import into the list, only automated processes will be able to add data. Users are also unable to remove contacts from the list or edit the list settings once it has been marked as managed.

Selecting the 'Managed' option will expand the screen for you to enter the 'Managed Reference', which is how the list will be referred to by the import manager.

Note: Changing the 'Managed Reference' can cause problems with the automated imports, unless the files used by the import manager are also changed.

Transferring Lists to Different Workspaces

Lists cannot be shared across workspaces, however if a list has not been used, and the core table is available across the entire account, it is possible to move the list to a different workspace. If these conditions are met, you can select another workspace from the 'Workspace' drop-down menu.

Once you have saved any changes, the list will become available in the selected workspace, and will no longer appear in the original workspace.

Reports

Note: This is an On Demand feature. If you would like more information about this feature, contact your account manager.

The reporting tab includes reports on campaign performance, list size history and domain breakdowns for individual lists. This lets users access statistics to monitor and manage list activity and gain an understanding of how their lists are changing over time.

Associated Campaigns

The Associated Campaigns tab displays any campaigns that have this list selected as their mailing list, and their corresponding project and workspace.

Associated Programs

The Associated Programs tab is where you can associate your list to a program(s), and displays any programs that already have the list selected as their data source.

Add Contact (Regular List Only)

The 'Add Contact' link allows you to manually add a contact to the list and core table.

At the very least you will need to add an email address, though populating other fields with information can be useful, for example, for personalisation or filtering etc.

You can add data table fields to the contact once you have added the contact to the list, by editing in the Contact Data tab of the contact profile interface.

Empty List

If you are an admin or data admin user, you can remove all contacts from a list using the 'Empty List' link. This will only remove the contacts from the currently selected list, the contact record will still exist in the core table, and the contact will still be assigned to any lists that they were previously.

Note: This is not available to Remote Lists.

Delete List

Clicking Delete List removes this list from the system. If a list contains any contacts when it is deleted, it still exists in the core table.

Note: In order to delete a list, it must first be disassociated from all campaigns.

Disassociate List

A list can be disassociated from all campaigns using the 'Disassociate List' link.

Split List

You can split a list into segments using the 'Split Test' button. This maintains the original list.

You will be asked to choose the number of list segments you want to create. The data in the original list will be divided into the chosen number of segments randomly.

Once a list has been split, the segments become new, separate lists, independent of the original. Each new list will be automatically assigned a name and description, which you can change in the relevant list's 'Settings' tab if you wish.

Note: When splitting a Remote List, the segments will become regular lists, while the original Remote List will remain unaffected.

Cleanup Imports

Note: This is an On Demand feature. If you would like more information about this feature, contact your account manager.

This on demand feature can be enabled for your account to allow for the cleanup of failed imports. When an import has failed, any associated campaigns will not be sent until a cleanup has been performed. If an import fails, this button will appear in the associated lists overview.

Note: The campaign overview will continue to show the list as attempting to import. This will change to complete only after selecting the cleanup option.

Copy List (Dynamic & Remote Lists Only)

Copying a dynamic list will maintain all of its properties, except for the name. This means you can efficiently duplicate a list; keeping filters, include lists, exclude lists and scheduling—saving set up time. The owner of the copied list will be the user implementing the copy.

Copying a remote list will maintain the remote source field mapping, but a path will not be auto-populated. The owner of the copied list will be the user implementing the copy.

Disable Remote List (Remote Lists Only)

Note: This is an On Demand feature. If you would like more information about this feature, contact your account manager.

By disabling your remote list it will be converted into a regular list.

Caution: Disabling is a permanent action and cannot be reversed.

Deactivate List (Dynamic and Remote Lists Only)

As part of the scheduled list expiry feature, you can manually deactivate the scheduled updates of Dynamic and Remote lists.

Once clicked you will see the option to Extend Scheduled Update, allowing you to restart those updates.

FAQ

How many lists can I create?

You can create as many lists as you need.

How many records can a list contain?

There isn't a limit to the number of records a list can contain, however a large number of big lists can be slow.

Can I change the core table assigned to a list after the list has been created?

No, once the list has been created, the core table cannot be altered. However, as long as the list has not been launched to, you can delete and recreate it if necessary.

Can a list be associated with more than one core table?

No, a list can only refer to data in a single core table.

Can I reuse a list?

Yes, a list can be reused any number of times, although the contact count can be affected with each use by unsubscribes and known bounces etc.

Can I send more than one campaign to the same list?

Yes, lists can be used in as many campaigns as you like, as long as they are all in the same workspace.

Can I create a new list for an existing campaign?

Yes, you can select 'More data options' in the relevant campaign overview, and the option to create a new list will be available in the side bar. However if the existing campaign has already been launched, the new list that you create will be automatically associated to the same core table as used for previous lists.

How many times can I import to a list?

You can import as many times as you like to a single list, and you can keep track of the imports using the list's import log.

Can I add to a list directly from a core table?

Yes, when browsing the core table you can filter the contacts and add these to a selected list. Refer to the Data Viewer topic for more information.

What happens if I delete a list before a launch has completed?

If a launch is in progress, and you disassociate and delete the list, the launch will continue unaffected.

If the launch is scheduled, you will be unable to disassociate or delete the list unless the scheduled launch is cancelled.