Building conditions — rules, criteria and AND/OR logic

The Conditions stage (titled Search Criteria in the list builder) is where you define exactly who is included in your list. You build Rules, and inside each rule you add Criteria, combining them with And/Or logic.

Rules and criteria

• A Rule is a group of one or more criteria.
• A Criterion is a single test against a field.
• Add criteria within a rule using Add Criteria, and add more rules using Add New Rule.
• And/Or logic is set per rule under Define how the criteria work together, and also applies between rules.

The three parts of every criterion

Each criterion row begins with Where and has three parts:

1. Field — what you are testing, chosen from the searchable field menu (for example Profile Details, Custom Fields, Location Lookup, Events or Subscriptions). For every field group and the fields inside it, see List Builder field menus and operators (Document ID: 222).
2. Operator — how you are testing it. Operators vary by field type — for example include, exclude, is empty and is not empty for list and select fields, contains and contains the phrase for free-text fields, and greater than or less than for numeric fields. The full set is under Notes on operators in List Builder field menus and operators (Document ID: 222), which also explains how text searching treats multiple words.
3. Value — the target value or range you are matching against.

And vs Or logic

• And means a record must satisfy all the joined criteria to be included. Example: Member And Age greater than 50 returns only members who are also over 50.
• Or means a record need satisfy only one of the joined criteria. Example: Member Or Resigned returns anyone who is either a member or has resigned.

Because And/Or can be set both within a rule and between rules, you can build precise, layered segments — for example one rule that narrows by membership and age, combined with another rule that narrows by location.

Step-by-step: building conditions

1. In the list builder, go to the Conditions (Search Criteria) stage.
2. In Rule 1, click Add Criteria and set the Where row: choose a Field, an Operator and a Value.
3. To narrow further, click Add Criteria again and set Define how the criteria work together to And.
4. To broaden, add a criterion or rule joined with Or.
5. Click Add New Rule to add more rules, and set the And/Or logic between them.
6. Click Next to move to Results and preview the records your conditions return.

Each rule header also has a three-dot menu and a collapse arrow on the right. Collapse a rule to keep a long set of conditions readable.

Tips

• Build from broad to narrow: start with the criterion that captures most of your intended audience, then add And criteria to refine.
• Use Or when you are combining alternative ways of qualifying for the same list.
• Always preview in Results before acting — small logic changes can dramatically change the count.