Filtering lists by email campaign behaviour

Email campaign filtering lets you segment Contacts in the List Builder based on how they were targeted by, and how they interacted with, your email campaigns. Instead of relying on static fields, you build conditions from real campaign behaviour — who was sent, delivered, opened, clicked, bounced or unsubscribed — for precise follow-up, engagement analysis and suppression logic.

This is available in the List Builder as the Email campaigns group in the field menu, added like any other criterion in the Conditions stage. For every other field group, see List Builder field menus and operators (Document ID: 222).

What you can do

• Filter contacts based on a specific email campaign.
• Distinguish contacts who were the primary recipient of a campaign from those who received it only because they share an email address with the person it was sent to.
• Filter by delivery and engagement activity (Sent, Delivered, Open, Click, Blocked, Dropped, Bounce, Unsubscribe).
• Filter by the date a particular activity occurred.
• Combine email campaign filters with every other list criterion.

Email campaign fields

The Email campaigns group offers four fields. Each one is its own criterion, so add one row per field and join them with And in the same rule.

Campaign Name

Choose the email campaign. This returns the contacts who received that campaign — including contacts who received it only because they share an email address with the person it was sent to.

Primary Recipient

Uses the operator is with True or False.

• True — only contacts who were the primary recipient of the campaign.
• False — only contacts who received the email indirectly, for example because they share an email address with the primary recipient.

This distinction gives accurate results where several contacts share one email address.

Activity

Filter by what happened to the email. Use include or exclude with any of:

• Sent
• Delivered
• Open
• Click
• Blocked
• Dropped
• Bounce
• Unsubscribe

is empty and is not empty are also available.

Activity Date

Filter by when an activity occurred — for example, contacts who unsubscribed within a defined date range. The date applies to the activity, not to the campaign's send date.

Add defaults

Beside the Email campaigns group heading in the field menu is an Add defaults button. Click it to add the recommended starting criterion Primary Recipient is True, then add your Campaign Name, Activity and Activity Date criteria alongside it.

Build a list from email campaign behaviour

1. Open Lists from the left-hand menu.
2. Click Create list to start a new list, or open an existing list to edit it.
3. Click Next to go to the Conditions stage.
4. Click Add Criteria, open the field menu and choose Campaign Name from the Email campaigns group. Select the campaign.
5. Click Add Criteria again and add Activity — for example Activity include Open.
6. Optionally add Primary Recipient is True (or click Add defaults) and an Activity Date criterion.
7. Make sure And is selected under Define how the criteria work together, and combine with other list criteria as needed.
8. Click Next to preview the matching contacts in Results, then save the list from the Actions stage or with Save and close.

Common use cases

• Find contacts who opened or clicked a specific campaign for targeted follow-up.
• Identify contacts who did not open an email and resend a reminder (see the FAQ below for the reliable way to build this).
• Segment contacts who unsubscribed after a particular campaign.
• Exclude contacts who already engaged, to avoid duplicate messaging.
• Analyse campaign effectiveness by response type.

How it fits with the rest of the List Builder

• Email campaign filters can be combined with profile, event, form, subscription and financial criteria — see List Builder field menus and operators (Document ID: 222).
• The criteria use the same campaign activity data as email reporting, although some labels differ (for example Open here, Opened in the campaign report).

FAQs

What is the difference between Campaign Name and Primary Recipient?

Campaign Name includes anyone who received the email, while Primary Recipient is True restricts results to the contacts the campaign was actually sent to.

Why would someone receive an email but not be the primary recipient?

This happens when several contacts share the same email address.

Can I filter by people who did not open an email?

Yes. The most reliable way is two lists:

1. Build a list of everyone who opened: Campaign Name (the campaign) And Activity include Open. Save it.
2. Build a second list of the campaign's recipients: Campaign Name (the campaign) And Primary Recipient is True, then add Existing Lists exclude the openers list from step 1.

The second list contains the recipients who did not open. See Filtering lists using existing lists (Document ID: 378).

Does Activity Date refer to the send date?

No. Activity Date refers to when the activity occurred, not when the campaign was sent.

Can I combine multiple email filters?

Yes. Campaign name, primary recipient, activity and activity date can all be combined, and combined with any other list criteria.

What is this best used for?

Follow-ups, suppression logic, engagement analysis, and targeted re-campaigns based on actual email behaviour.