Understanding Audience Filters in Omnichannel Campaigns

You will learn

Learn how audience filters allow you to target specific customer sub-segments for each message in your omnichannel campaign. By targeting these specific groups, you can personalize messages based on customer behavior and preferences.

Before you begin

This article covers how to set up audience filters for omnichannel campaigns. If this is your first time creating a campaign, learn how to create and send an email campaign. For help choosing audiences and adding messages, see getting started with omnichannel campaigns.

How it works

Audience hierarchy and targeting

Audience filters take the audience selected for the message’s path and narrow it down to target a specific subset of that group.

A profile must meet 2 criteria to qualify for the message:

1. It must qualify for the audience selected for that message’s path.
2. It must qualify for the specific Audience filter configured for that message.

If a profile fails either requirement, they’re excluded from that message. Profiles must also be eligible to receive marketing on the message’s channel, and campaign exclusions and exit criteria still apply.

Filter logic and processing

Filters are evaluated once when Klaviyo prepares recipients for each message, shortly before sending begins, using profile activity and attributes at that time. For gradual sends and sends in recipients’ local timezones, this happens before the first batch; the audience filter is not re-evaluated for each later batch.

(For more details on calculating recipients at send time, read more about Understanding campaign schedule and send options.)

To create more precise targeting, you can combine multiple conditions with:

• AND Logic: Requires a profile to meet all conditions.
• OR Logic: Requires a profile to meet at least one condition.

Locking and unlocking

Audience filters are locked when the message is scheduled. If the message is reverted to draft status, the filters become unlocked and can be reconfigured. Once the message starts sending, the filter configuration becomes permanent.

Configuring audience filters

1. On the campaign canvas, click a draft message to open the message details panel.

2. Click the Settings tab.

3. In the Audience filter section, click Add filter conditions.

4. Define your filter conditions. The audience shown at the top is the audience selected for this message’s path; the conditions you add narrow down this group into a smaller, targeted subset.

5. Click Add condition to add more filter conditions. Use AND or OR operators to link the conditions. You can add up to 50 conditions per message filter.

6. Click Add filter to return to the message details panel. Review the conditions, then click Save to save your changes.

7. To confirm filter impact, click the Review tab and check the estimated recipients. This updated number reflects the audience subset that meets the filter criteria.

Audience filter examples

Engagement filters

• Has clicked on a specific message
  

• Has not opened a message in the last 24 hours
  

Channel affinity filters

Channel affinity filters are available when Klaviyo has channel affinity predictions for at least 2 channels in your account. See the linked channel affinity guide below for eligibility requirements.

• Engagement preference is email first
  

• For more details on channel affinity and engagement preference, read more about Understanding channel affinity in Klaviyo.

Combined filters

• Has clicked on a specific message and engagement preference is email first
  

Troubleshooting

If you encounter unexpected recipient counts or messaging issues when using audience filters, review these common scenarios:

Profiles receive no messages or too many messages

Audience filters are applied to each message independently and do not interact with filters set on other messages in the campaign path. This can lead to 2 issues:

• Profiles are excluded (receive no message):
  • Cause: The filters across all messages do not cover everyone in the path’s audience.
  • Solution: Review your filter logic (AND/OR chaining) so each profile you want to reach qualifies for at least 1 message. Alternatively, leave 1 message unfiltered to reach everyone eligible in the path. That message also includes profiles who qualify for other messages; it does not target only profiles missed by the other filters.
• Profiles receive multiple messages:
  • Cause: You created overlapping filters across different messages (e.g., Message A targets "Location = CA" and Message B targets "Gender = Female").
  • Solution: Review all message filters and define mutually exclusive groups. You may need to add exclusion criteria (e.g., exclude profiles who received Message A) to prevent duplicate messaging. If you use a received-message condition, schedule the later message after Message A so the receipt can be recorded before the later message’s recipients are prepared.

Recipient count shows zero

A zero estimate can occur when a filter requires engagement with a message (e.g., “Clicked Message A” or “Opened Message B”) that has not yet been sent.

• Cause: The filter cannot find profiles that qualify because the required action (like clicking the message) has not occurred yet.
• Solution: Schedule the filtered message after the message it references, allowing time for recipients to engage. A zero estimate can be expected while drafting this filter, but check the Review tab for errors before scheduling. Klaviyo evaluates the audience before sending begins. If no profiles qualify then, the message is canceled.

Additional resources