Update: 03/06/2024 for v196
With Query Builder you can make queries on your database to create selections of visitors and use these in mailings, or export the results.
As we continue to work on this module we will add new filter options frequently. The current possibilities are therefore a subset of all the options that will be available in a later stage.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Getting starter with Query Builder
- Creating/editing a query
- Filters Explained
- Adding filters to your query
- Using a query in your mailings
- Archiving Queries
- Feature launch party
Getting starter with Query Builder
You can access Query Builder in the Dashboard > Marketing > Query Builder.
The starting screen has an overview of all your queries. The Title and a description (if added) are shown to easily identify all queries in the overview. From here you can build a New Query or Edit an Existing one. You can also Archive a Query by selecting the archive icon in the left column.
NOTE: If you add or remove filters this will automatically alter the results. You can also select Use query to get a preview of the results, export to csv and use in a mailing.
Creating/editing a query
To create a new Query select the New query button.
To edit an existing query select Edit query.
The detail page will open.
- Name = Name you Query. Recommend something related to query purpose e.g. 2324 Season Visitors
- Description = Optional description e.g. Visitors to 2324 season with Opt-in
- Mailing query = Set this to "Yes" if you want to use this query result for mailings later on. Only queries with this toggle switched on will be available in the mailing module, so you can create a manageable subset and be sure that mailings are never sent to the wrong query.
- Archive after use = Set to “Yes” if you want the Query to be archived after use in Mailing. Note: This does not delete the query, it is hidden from the Query list on the previous page.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: When using the query for mailings, a reminder will pop-up to notify you that you need to check if your query is GDPR compliant. This means adding the Opt-in filter to the query to make sure only visitors with the correct opt-in will receive your mailing.
Filters Explained
AND v OR
Some filters allow you to select multiple settings within the filter. If this is the case, at least one of the settings within the filter should be valid for the visitor to be included.
OR = If you add more than one option within a filter, the query result will use the ‘OR’ protocol. .
For example, if you select multiple visitor tags in one filter, the result will be all visitors that have either the one visitor tag OR the other, or both:
AND = If you want to make sure your result only has visitors that have both visitor tags, add the same filter twice. The query result will use the ‘AND’ protocol.
Available Filters
Here is a list of all the Filters currently Available. We will add a lot more new filters in the future. For now this is the current set of filters that are released:
| Filter | Description | Multi-select |
|---|---|---|
| Has opt-in | Returns all visitors that have the selected opt-in | No |
| Has visitor tag(s) | Returns visitors that have specific visitor tags selected. You can select multiple visitor tags here. Visitors will need to have at least one (OR) of these visitor tags to be included in the query. | Yes |
| Does not have visitor tag | Returns all visitors that do not have the selected Visitor Tag. | No |
| On mailing list(s) | Returns visitors that are on a specific mailing list. Visitors will need to be on at least one (OR) of these mailing lists to be included in the query. | Yes |
| Not on mailing list | Returns visitors that are not on the selected mailing list. You can only select one mailing list here. | No |
| Purchased in period | Returns all visitors that have purchased tickets for a certain amount of events in a given period. The period set applies to the date the purchase took place and not the event date. E.g. Purchased more than 4 events between 1st January 2023 and 31st December 2023. | N/A |
| Visits in period | Returns all visitors that will attend/have attended an event in a given period a certain amount of times. The period set applies to the event dates in that period. E.g. Attended more than 4 events between 1st January 2023 and 31st December 2023 | N/A |
| Purchased production(s) or event(s) | Returns all visitors with tickets for a specific event or if Production is selected, any event from that same production. | Yes |
| Did not purchase production or event | Returns all visitors have not purchased tickets for a specific event or if Production is selected, any event from that same production. NOTE: If you want to include multiple events or productions, just add the same filter again while selecting another event or production. The result will be all visitors that have not bought tickets for any of the selected events/productions. | No |
| Purchased genres/tags | Returns all visitors that have bought tickets for any Production with one or more of the selected genres/tags. You can select multiple genres/tags to the filter(OR). If you want to only find visitors that bought tickets in all genres, add the filter multiple times (AND). | Yes |
| Has timeslot | Returns all visitors that have requested and received a time slot for your presale. | N/A |
| Activity before | Returns all visitors who have not shown any activity since a certain date. NOTE: Activity includes any website visit while being logged in. If a user visits the site but does not login they could be excluded. | N/A |
| Activity after | Returns all visitors who have shown activity since a certain date. NOTE: Activity includes any website visit while being logged in. If a user visits the site but does not login they could be excluded. | N/A |
| Belongs to organisation(s) | Returns all visitors from one or more organisations. You can manage your organisations in Marketing> Organisations module or add visitors to organisations in the visitor module. | Yes |
Adding filters to your query
All available filters are shown as big round buttons in the Query Builder start screen.
The filters are set up in a way that they combine to form subsets of your visitors by using the "AND" protocol. The result of the query will only return visitors that are in filter X AND in filter Y. Meaning, the more filters you add, the “smaller” your list becomes.
Select a filter to add it to your query. It will show a new box where you can input your settings.
When you have added all your filters select ‘Recalculate’ at the bottom of the screen to run the query and calculate the resulting number of visitors:
When you have finished building your Query, select Save. This will take you to the Use query screen, where you will get a preview of the result, export the list, or continue to the Mailings module:
Example Queries
Scenario 1: Mail all visitors who attended last season to tell them about the upcoming season
Filters:
- Has opt-in = Newsletter Opt-in
- Visits in period
- Visitor has tickets for [number of events] More than or Equal to 1 Events
- Event date(s) from… 01-09-2023
- … up to and including 31-03-2024
Scenario 2: Mail all customers who have not already not purchased for Christmas event, but attended during the Christmas period last year.
Filters:
- Has opt-in = Newsletter Opt-in
- Visits in period*=
- Visitor has tickets for [number of events] More than or Equal to 1 Events
- Event date(s) from… 01-12-2023
- … up to and including 31-12-2023
- Did not purchase production or event = Select Production from dropdown
*Alternatively, if you only had one Production in the previous festive period, in place of the you could use Purchased Production Filter and select that Production.
Using a query in your mailings
To integrate your mailings with the query builder, you first need to activate this feature "Use query builder for mailings" in the Control panel > Manual mailings.
This will replace your opt-in and filter select screen in the mailing module with the new and more simple query selection box.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Once you activate this, you can not revert back to the "old" way of mailing. The new Query Builder mail statistics are not backwards compatible, meaning viewing mail statistics of new mailings with queries are not guaranteed to work after switching back to using Mailing Lists once you started mailing with queries. The Mailing List functionality will eventually no longer be supported and removed.
Historical Mailing statistics of previously sent mailings will still work after you activate the "Use query builder for mailings" feature.
Once you have updated this, if you are not already using Query Builder in your Manual Mailings - Go to Mailings > Manual Mailings > Select the mailing you want to use your query in or create a new Manual Mailing.
When you schedule a mailing, a new screen will be shown. Here you can select your Query from the drop-down. :
Select your Query from the Dropdown. You can find more details on how to set-up and send your mailing in the How to build a Manual Mailing v4 article.
Archiving Queries
You can archive any queries no longer used, or you do not want to see in the main list. Each query also comes with a new “archive after use” option which will move the query to the archive after the mail has been sent.
You can also un-archive a query if you want to use it again.This is found on the Query Builder overview screen by selecting Archive at the top right.This new feature will enable you to keep your query collection tidy.
Note: This does not delete the query, it is now hidden from the Query list on the Query Builder Start page.
Feature launch party
You can replay the entire launch party, where we present this feature, explain the idea behind it and dive deeper into the technology behind the new mailing templates and Query Builder that come with this update:
Duration: 1 hour, 14 minutes
Language: English
Content: Overview of v4 Mailings module and Query Builder.