Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
There are numerous posts on the community about how do I find a specific contact, without having to search EVERY list.
This is a valid and extremely useful feature to have, especially as you get into the millions of records!!
I am going to completely side-step the 'whys' and 'why nots' of this not being a feature in the Act-On platform, and go directly to the heart of the matter!
This easy to implement, and very helpful feature hinges entirely on you having a Master List. If you do not have your master list built yet… you should. Not only will it allow you to use this handy trick, but it is inline with marketing best practices, and has numerous benefits that have been discussed on community threads here - like having a one-stop-shop for all of your segmentation needs.
This is not the only way to accomplish this 'global search'. There was a brilliant suggestion by one of our community members to use segmentation to find a specific contact records in your master list.
The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list. This can take a LONG LONG TIME!!! (Imagine having 30 columns in your master list, with 100,000 records (I have seen 10-20x BOTH of these numbers multiple times in various accounts) this would be 3 Million fields that Act-On searches for your email address - time consuming!)
The solution is simple - create a master list that is ONLY email address, this reduces your searching to only 1 column for all of your records. (here's ours!)
The steps are straightforward and easy:
- Copy your master list
- Delete all columns, except for your email column (luckily we only have to go through this tedium once!)
Click the drop-down next to your list and select Maintenance > Change List Columns. Then, choose, 'Delete Column' from the drop-down next to each field except for your email column. (Make sure you Save when you are done)
- Now you have your static list of email addresses, but this is only truly useful if it is dynamic! This brings us to our last step.
- Create List Maintenance Program on your 'email only' master list.
I suggest using the 'append and merge' option and the 'remove records' option. This will keep your email only list true with your actual master list. Set this to run daily, and voila! You have a dynamically updating, email only, easily searchable master list with every one of your records in it.
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
Comments
11 comments
Is there any way to use LIst Maintenence to remove records after a certain period of time? ie x years after they were first added to the master list?
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2018 14:42
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
There are numerous posts on the community about how do I find a specific contact, without having to search EVERY list.
This is a valid and extremely useful feature to have, especially as you get into the millions of records!!
I am going to completely side-step the 'whys' and 'why nots' of this not being a feature in the Act-On platform, and go directly to the heart of the matter!
This easy to implement, and very helpful feature hinges entirely on you having a Master List. If you do not have your master list built yet… you should. Not only will it allow you to use this handy trick, but it is inline with marketing best practices, and has numerous benefits that have been discussed on community threads here - like having a one-stop-shop for all of your segmentation needs.
This is not the only way to accomplish this 'global search'. There was a brilliant suggestion by one of our community members to use segmentation to find a specific contact records in your master list.
The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list. This can take a LONG LONG TIME!!! (Imagine having 30 columns in your master list, with 100,000 records (I have seen 10-20x BOTH of these numbers multiple times in various accounts) this would be 3 Million fields that Act-On searches for your email address - time consuming!)
The solution is simple - create a master list that is ONLY email address, this reduces your searching to only 1 column for all of your records. (here's ours!)
The steps are straightforward and easy:
- Copy your master list
Click the drop-down next to your list and choose Copy (you will want to use the copy structure AND records option)Click the drop-down next to your list and select Maintenance > Change List Columns. Then, choose, 'Delete Column' from the drop-down next to each field except for your email column. (Make sure you Save when you are done)
I suggest using the 'append and merge' option and the 'remove records' option. This will keep your email only list true with your actual master list. Set this to run daily, and voila! You have a dynamically updating, email only, easily searchable master list with every one of your records in it.
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
------------------------------
John Donald
Manager, Sales & Marketing Automation
Designs for Health
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-06-2018 06:34
From: Vicky Hawkes
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Hi Robert
Is there any way to use LIst Maintenence to remove records after a certain period of time? ie x years after they were first added to the master list?
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2018 14:42
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
There are numerous posts on the community about how do I find a specific contact, without having to search EVERY list.
This is a valid and extremely useful feature to have, especially as you get into the millions of records!!
I am going to completely side-step the 'whys' and 'why nots' of this not being a feature in the Act-On platform, and go directly to the heart of the matter!
This easy to implement, and very helpful feature hinges entirely on you having a Master List. If you do not have your master list built yet… you should. Not only will it allow you to use this handy trick, but it is inline with marketing best practices, and has numerous benefits that have been discussed on community threads here - like having a one-stop-shop for all of your segmentation needs.
This is not the only way to accomplish this 'global search'. There was a brilliant suggestion by one of our community members to use segmentation to find a specific contact records in your master list.
The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list. This can take a LONG LONG TIME!!! (Imagine having 30 columns in your master list, with 100,000 records (I have seen 10-20x BOTH of these numbers multiple times in various accounts) this would be 3 Million fields that Act-On searches for your email address - time consuming!)
The solution is simple - create a master list that is ONLY email address, this reduces your searching to only 1 column for all of your records. (here's ours!)
The steps are straightforward and easy:
- Copy your master list
Click the drop-down next to your list and choose Copy (you will want to use the copy structure AND records option)Click the drop-down next to your list and select Maintenance > Change List Columns. Then, choose, 'Delete Column' from the drop-down next to each field except for your email column. (Make sure you Save when you are done)
I suggest using the 'append and merge' option and the 'remove records' option. This will keep your email only list true with your actual master list. Set this to run daily, and voila! You have a dynamically updating, email only, easily searchable master list with every one of your records in it.
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
There are no auto-delete options that will meet your needs here, but I can help you get close with segmentation.
Each record (email address) in each list has a unique Record Creation Date. Meaning, that the record creation date is list-specific, and this is the key!
You can create a segment off of your Master List (or any list) that looks at the record creation date for a record only in that list like this:
The record creation date SHOULD be in the Mon DD YYYY format in your list, but you should verify by opening up any record in that list to edit it, and see the format of the 'Contact Created' field. The final drop-down in your segment needs to match the date format of the field you are segmenting by.
Now, you have a segment of everyone who was created in this list 365+ days ago (or whatever time period you want to use). Here is the manual part. Click the drop-down next to your segment and choose 'Clear Records'. This will delete everyone in that segment from the parent list the segment is off of.
That's it!
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-06-2018 06:34
From: Vicky Hawkes
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Hi Robert
Is there any way to use LIst Maintenence to remove records after a certain period of time? ie x years after they were first added to the master list?
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2018 14:42
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
There are numerous posts on the community about how do I find a specific contact, without having to search EVERY list.
This is a valid and extremely useful feature to have, especially as you get into the millions of records!!
I am going to completely side-step the 'whys' and 'why nots' of this not being a feature in the Act-On platform, and go directly to the heart of the matter!
This easy to implement, and very helpful feature hinges entirely on you having a Master List. If you do not have your master list built yet… you should. Not only will it allow you to use this handy trick, but it is inline with marketing best practices, and has numerous benefits that have been discussed on community threads here - like having a one-stop-shop for all of your segmentation needs.
This is not the only way to accomplish this 'global search'. There was a brilliant suggestion by one of our community members to use segmentation to find a specific contact records in your master list.
The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list. This can take a LONG LONG TIME!!! (Imagine having 30 columns in your master list, with 100,000 records (I have seen 10-20x BOTH of these numbers multiple times in various accounts) this would be 3 Million fields that Act-On searches for your email address - time consuming!)
The solution is simple - create a master list that is ONLY email address, this reduces your searching to only 1 column for all of your records. (here's ours!)
The steps are straightforward and easy:
- Copy your master list
Click the drop-down next to your list and choose Copy (you will want to use the copy structure AND records option)Click the drop-down next to your list and select Maintenance > Change List Columns. Then, choose, 'Delete Column' from the drop-down next to each field except for your email column. (Make sure you Save when you are done)
I suggest using the 'append and merge' option and the 'remove records' option. This will keep your email only list true with your actual master list. Set this to run daily, and voila! You have a dynamically updating, email only, easily searchable master list with every one of your records in it.
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
I appreciate your concern and response.
I fully understand that my workaround is not a solution for the global contact search not currently being in the platform - even internally we suffer from that lack, which was the birth of this Email Only Master List concept.
I know that there are plans for having this sort of feature added into the Platform, but the when and specifics are best addressed by our Product and Engineering teams.
I've been told that this thread on Contact Management Feature Requests is the best place to voice your concern and desire about having this feature back in Act-On. I know you mentioned this desire back in April here and I have been reassured that the Product team is checking that posting (and others in the Feature Ideas & Enhancements discussion section).
In short, I feel your pain and my post was NOT a statement that means global search will never be added, but a band-aid for general use-cases for the time being.
I hope that this help.
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-07-2018 01:50
From: John Donald
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Robert- your work-around is not really a solution for all use-case scenarios and hardly a solution for the glaring lack of a global contact search feature in the product. This is a basic functionality that competing products seem to have figured out. Your suggestion does not necessarily work with my lists (I do have a 'master') because of how the Netsuite CRM integration has to be configured to connect with AO resulting in certain fields that require the use of a few separate lists outside of the master list that inherently creates some fragmentation that serves an important purpose. Then there is the issue of contacts being on multiple 'feeder' lists such as form submissions, custom touch, etc, and we might want to be able to quickly see all of the lists that a contact is on from within their contact record or a global search result. I hope your post does not indicate that global search will not be forthcoming...
------------------------------
John Donald
Manager, Sales & Marketing Automation
Designs for Health
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-06-2018 06:34
From: Vicky Hawkes
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Hi Robert
Is there any way to use LIst Maintenence to remove records after a certain period of time? ie x years after they were first added to the master list?
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2018 14:42
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
There are numerous posts on the community about how do I find a specific contact, without having to search EVERY list.
This is a valid and extremely useful feature to have, especially as you get into the millions of records!!
I am going to completely side-step the 'whys' and 'why nots' of this not being a feature in the Act-On platform, and go directly to the heart of the matter!
This easy to implement, and very helpful feature hinges entirely on you having a Master List. If you do not have your master list built yet… you should. Not only will it allow you to use this handy trick, but it is inline with marketing best practices, and has numerous benefits that have been discussed on community threads here - like having a one-stop-shop for all of your segmentation needs.
This is not the only way to accomplish this 'global search'. There was a brilliant suggestion by one of our community members to use segmentation to find a specific contact records in your master list.
The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list. This can take a LONG LONG TIME!!! (Imagine having 30 columns in your master list, with 100,000 records (I have seen 10-20x BOTH of these numbers multiple times in various accounts) this would be 3 Million fields that Act-On searches for your email address - time consuming!)
The solution is simple - create a master list that is ONLY email address, this reduces your searching to only 1 column for all of your records. (here's ours!)
The steps are straightforward and easy:
- Copy your master list
Click the drop-down next to your list and choose Copy (you will want to use the copy structure AND records option)Click the drop-down next to your list and select Maintenance > Change List Columns. Then, choose, 'Delete Column' from the drop-down next to each field except for your email column. (Make sure you Save when you are done)
I suggest using the 'append and merge' option and the 'remove records' option. This will keep your email only list true with your actual master list. Set this to run daily, and voila! You have a dynamically updating, email only, easily searchable master list with every one of your records in it.
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-07-2018 13:26
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
@Vicky Hawkes,
There are no auto-delete options that will meet your needs here, but I can help you get close with segmentation.
Each record (email address) in each list has a unique Record Creation Date. Meaning, that the record creation date is list-specific, and this is the key!
You can create a segment off of your Master List (or any list) that looks at the record creation date for a record only in that list like this:
The record creation date SHOULD be in the Mon DD YYYY format in your list, but you should verify by opening up any record in that list to edit it, and see the format of the 'Contact Created' field. The final drop-down in your segment needs to match the date format of the field you are segmenting by.
Now, you have a segment of everyone who was created in this list 365+ days ago (or whatever time period you want to use). Here is the manual part. Click the drop-down next to your segment and choose 'Clear Records'. This will delete everyone in that segment from the parent list the segment is off of.
That's it!
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-06-2018 06:34
From: Vicky Hawkes
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Hi Robert
Is there any way to use LIst Maintenence to remove records after a certain period of time? ie x years after they were first added to the master list?
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2018 14:42
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
There are numerous posts on the community about how do I find a specific contact, without having to search EVERY list.
This is a valid and extremely useful feature to have, especially as you get into the millions of records!!
I am going to completely side-step the 'whys' and 'why nots' of this not being a feature in the Act-On platform, and go directly to the heart of the matter!
This easy to implement, and very helpful feature hinges entirely on you having a Master List. If you do not have your master list built yet… you should. Not only will it allow you to use this handy trick, but it is inline with marketing best practices, and has numerous benefits that have been discussed on community threads here - like having a one-stop-shop for all of your segmentation needs.
This is not the only way to accomplish this 'global search'. There was a brilliant suggestion by one of our community members to use segmentation to find a specific contact records in your master list.
The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list. This can take a LONG LONG TIME!!! (Imagine having 30 columns in your master list, with 100,000 records (I have seen 10-20x BOTH of these numbers multiple times in various accounts) this would be 3 Million fields that Act-On searches for your email address - time consuming!)
The solution is simple - create a master list that is ONLY email address, this reduces your searching to only 1 column for all of your records. (here's ours!)
The steps are straightforward and easy:
- Copy your master list
Click the drop-down next to your list and choose Copy (you will want to use the copy structure AND records option)Click the drop-down next to your list and select Maintenance > Change List Columns. Then, choose, 'Delete Column' from the drop-down next to each field except for your email column. (Make sure you Save when you are done)
I suggest using the 'append and merge' option and the 'remove records' option. This will keep your email only list true with your actual master list. Set this to run daily, and voila! You have a dynamically updating, email only, easily searchable master list with every one of your records in it.
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
Have you tried using the Acton plugin? It allows you to type any email in the search bar and find the contact's timeline...it works for us!
------------------------------
Doménico Schwalb
Marketing Manager, Equippo AG
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-07-2018 01:50
From: John Donald
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Robert- your work-around is not really a solution for all use-case scenarios and hardly a solution for the glaring lack of a global contact search feature in the product. This is a basic functionality that competing products seem to have figured out. Your suggestion does not necessarily work with my lists (I do have a 'master') because of how the Netsuite CRM integration has to be configured to connect with AO resulting in certain fields that require the use of a few separate lists outside of the master list that inherently creates some fragmentation that serves an important purpose. Then there is the issue of contacts being on multiple 'feeder' lists such as form submissions, custom touch, etc, and we might want to be able to quickly see all of the lists that a contact is on from within their contact record or a global search result. I hope your post does not indicate that global search will not be forthcoming...
------------------------------
John Donald
Manager, Sales & Marketing Automation
Designs for Health
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-06-2018 06:34
From: Vicky Hawkes
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Hi Robert
Is there any way to use LIst Maintenence to remove records after a certain period of time? ie x years after they were first added to the master list?
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2018 14:42
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
There are numerous posts on the community about how do I find a specific contact, without having to search EVERY list.
This is a valid and extremely useful feature to have, especially as you get into the millions of records!!
I am going to completely side-step the 'whys' and 'why nots' of this not being a feature in the Act-On platform, and go directly to the heart of the matter!
This easy to implement, and very helpful feature hinges entirely on you having a Master List. If you do not have your master list built yet… you should. Not only will it allow you to use this handy trick, but it is inline with marketing best practices, and has numerous benefits that have been discussed on community threads here - like having a one-stop-shop for all of your segmentation needs.
This is not the only way to accomplish this 'global search'. There was a brilliant suggestion by one of our community members to use segmentation to find a specific contact records in your master list.
The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list. This can take a LONG LONG TIME!!! (Imagine having 30 columns in your master list, with 100,000 records (I have seen 10-20x BOTH of these numbers multiple times in various accounts) this would be 3 Million fields that Act-On searches for your email address - time consuming!)
The solution is simple - create a master list that is ONLY email address, this reduces your searching to only 1 column for all of your records. (here's ours!)
The steps are straightforward and easy:
- Copy your master list
Click the drop-down next to your list and choose Copy (you will want to use the copy structure AND records option)Click the drop-down next to your list and select Maintenance > Change List Columns. Then, choose, 'Delete Column' from the drop-down next to each field except for your email column. (Make sure you Save when you are done)
I suggest using the 'append and merge' option and the 'remove records' option. This will keep your email only list true with your actual master list. Set this to run daily, and voila! You have a dynamically updating, email only, easily searchable master list with every one of your records in it.
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
'The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list.'
^^^ Could a solution be to require the user to specify a data column that should be searched? I'm basically always searching by email address or Customer ID, and I imagine that every user searching for a contact record knows which field the data they're searching for is stored within.
------------------------------
Sara Theurer
Marketing Automation Strategist, Sullivan Higdon & Sink
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-08-2018 18:42
From: Natasha GM
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Agree completely. Mostly commenting to track it.
------------------------------
Natasha GM
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-08-2018 03:46
From: Vicky Hawkes
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Thanks Robert - we're really looking for an automated way to do this, rather than one which requires human intervention.
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
Original Message:
Sent: 06-07-2018 13:26
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
@Vicky Hawkes,
There are no auto-delete options that will meet your needs here, but I can help you get close with segmentation.
Each record (email address) in each list has a unique Record Creation Date. Meaning, that the record creation date is list-specific, and this is the key!
You can create a segment off of your Master List (or any list) that looks at the record creation date for a record only in that list like this:
The record creation date SHOULD be in the Mon DD YYYY format in your list, but you should verify by opening up any record in that list to edit it, and see the format of the 'Contact Created' field. The final drop-down in your segment needs to match the date format of the field you are segmenting by.
Now, you have a segment of everyone who was created in this list 365+ days ago (or whatever time period you want to use). Here is the manual part. Click the drop-down next to your segment and choose 'Clear Records'. This will delete everyone in that segment from the parent list the segment is off of.
That's it!
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
Original Message:
Sent: 06-06-2018 06:34
From: Vicky Hawkes
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Hi Robert
Is there any way to use LIst Maintenence to remove records after a certain period of time? ie x years after they were first added to the master list?
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2018 14:42
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
There are numerous posts on the community about how do I find a specific contact, without having to search EVERY list.
This is a valid and extremely useful feature to have, especially as you get into the millions of records!!
I am going to completely side-step the 'whys' and 'why nots' of this not being a feature in the Act-On platform, and go directly to the heart of the matter!
This easy to implement, and very helpful feature hinges entirely on you having a Master List. If you do not have your master list built yet… you should. Not only will it allow you to use this handy trick, but it is inline with marketing best practices, and has numerous benefits that have been discussed on community threads here - like having a one-stop-shop for all of your segmentation needs.
This is not the only way to accomplish this 'global search'. There was a brilliant suggestion by one of our community members to use segmentation to find a specific contact records in your master list.
The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list. This can take a LONG LONG TIME!!! (Imagine having 30 columns in your master list, with 100,000 records (I have seen 10-20x BOTH of these numbers multiple times in various accounts) this would be 3 Million fields that Act-On searches for your email address - time consuming!)
The solution is simple - create a master list that is ONLY email address, this reduces your searching to only 1 column for all of your records. (here's ours!)
The steps are straightforward and easy:
- Copy your master list
Click the drop-down next to your list and choose Copy (you will want to use the copy structure AND records option)Click the drop-down next to your list and select Maintenance > Change List Columns. Then, choose, 'Delete Column' from the drop-down next to each field except for your email column. (Make sure you Save when you are done)
I suggest using the 'append and merge' option and the 'remove records' option. This will keep your email only list true with your actual master list. Set this to run daily, and voila! You have a dynamically updating, email only, easily searchable master list with every one of your records in it.
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
You are on the right track with that suggestion!
I have made that feature request to our product team internally, because being able to contextually search a specific field would eliminate the need for my workaround!
Currently, you are unable to specify which column to search within (except if you create a segment), but I am hoping that column-specific searching is added in eventually.
Thank you for your suggestion!
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-12-2018 10:27
From: Sara Theurer
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
@Robert Kohnke
'The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list.'
^^^ Could a solution be to require the user to specify a data column that should be searched? I'm basically always searching by email address or Customer ID, and I imagine that every user searching for a contact record knows which field the data they're searching for is stored within.
------------------------------
Sara Theurer
Marketing Automation Strategist, Sullivan Higdon & Sink
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-08-2018 18:42
From: Natasha GM
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Agree completely. Mostly commenting to track it.
------------------------------
Natasha GM
Original Message:
Sent: 06-08-2018 03:46
From: Vicky Hawkes
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Thanks Robert - we're really looking for an automated way to do this, rather than one which requires human intervention.
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
Original Message:
Sent: 06-07-2018 13:26
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
@Vicky Hawkes,
There are no auto-delete options that will meet your needs here, but I can help you get close with segmentation.
Each record (email address) in each list has a unique Record Creation Date. Meaning, that the record creation date is list-specific, and this is the key!
You can create a segment off of your Master List (or any list) that looks at the record creation date for a record only in that list like this:
The record creation date SHOULD be in the Mon DD YYYY format in your list, but you should verify by opening up any record in that list to edit it, and see the format of the 'Contact Created' field. The final drop-down in your segment needs to match the date format of the field you are segmenting by.
Now, you have a segment of everyone who was created in this list 365+ days ago (or whatever time period you want to use). Here is the manual part. Click the drop-down next to your segment and choose 'Clear Records'. This will delete everyone in that segment from the parent list the segment is off of.
That's it!
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
Original Message:
Sent: 06-06-2018 06:34
From: Vicky Hawkes
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Hi Robert
Is there any way to use LIst Maintenence to remove records after a certain period of time? ie x years after they were first added to the master list?
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2018 14:42
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
There are numerous posts on the community about how do I find a specific contact, without having to search EVERY list.
This is a valid and extremely useful feature to have, especially as you get into the millions of records!!
I am going to completely side-step the 'whys' and 'why nots' of this not being a feature in the Act-On platform, and go directly to the heart of the matter!
This easy to implement, and very helpful feature hinges entirely on you having a Master List. If you do not have your master list built yet… you should. Not only will it allow you to use this handy trick, but it is inline with marketing best practices, and has numerous benefits that have been discussed on community threads here - like having a one-stop-shop for all of your segmentation needs.
This is not the only way to accomplish this 'global search'. There was a brilliant suggestion by one of our community members to use segmentation to find a specific contact records in your master list.
The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list. This can take a LONG LONG TIME!!! (Imagine having 30 columns in your master list, with 100,000 records (I have seen 10-20x BOTH of these numbers multiple times in various accounts) this would be 3 Million fields that Act-On searches for your email address - time consuming!)
The solution is simple - create a master list that is ONLY email address, this reduces your searching to only 1 column for all of your records. (here's ours!)
The steps are straightforward and easy:
- Copy your master list
Click the drop-down next to your list and choose Copy (you will want to use the copy structure AND records option)Click the drop-down next to your list and select Maintenance > Change List Columns. Then, choose, 'Delete Column' from the drop-down next to each field except for your email column. (Make sure you Save when you are done)
I suggest using the 'append and merge' option and the 'remove records' option. This will keep your email only list true with your actual master list. Set this to run daily, and voila! You have a dynamically updating, email only, easily searchable master list with every one of your records in it.
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
Anyway, we found out that the easiest way is Website Prospector. It's self-explanatory as you can see in the screenshot.
1/ Search for a name or email address of a contact.
2/ When it shows up, you can either select that contact for more info or you can click to the #visits to see all the webpages they visited.
------------------------------
Linh Nguyen
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-12-2018 11:34
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
@Sara Theurer,
You are on the right track with that suggestion!
I have made that feature request to our product team internally, because being able to contextually search a specific field would eliminate the need for my workaround!
Currently, you are unable to specify which column to search within (except if you create a segment), but I am hoping that column-specific searching is added in eventually.
Thank you for your suggestion!
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-12-2018 10:27
From: Sara Theurer
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
@Robert Kohnke
'The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list.'
^^^ Could a solution be to require the user to specify a data column that should be searched? I'm basically always searching by email address or Customer ID, and I imagine that every user searching for a contact record knows which field the data they're searching for is stored within.
------------------------------
Sara Theurer
Marketing Automation Strategist, Sullivan Higdon & Sink
Original Message:
Sent: 06-08-2018 18:42
From: Natasha GM
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Agree completely. Mostly commenting to track it.
------------------------------
Natasha GM
Original Message:
Sent: 06-08-2018 03:46
From: Vicky Hawkes
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Thanks Robert - we're really looking for an automated way to do this, rather than one which requires human intervention.
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
Original Message:
Sent: 06-07-2018 13:26
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
@Vicky Hawkes,
There are no auto-delete options that will meet your needs here, but I can help you get close with segmentation.
Each record (email address) in each list has a unique Record Creation Date. Meaning, that the record creation date is list-specific, and this is the key!
You can create a segment off of your Master List (or any list) that looks at the record creation date for a record only in that list like this:
The record creation date SHOULD be in the Mon DD YYYY format in your list, but you should verify by opening up any record in that list to edit it, and see the format of the 'Contact Created' field. The final drop-down in your segment needs to match the date format of the field you are segmenting by.
Now, you have a segment of everyone who was created in this list 365+ days ago (or whatever time period you want to use). Here is the manual part. Click the drop-down next to your segment and choose 'Clear Records'. This will delete everyone in that segment from the parent list the segment is off of.
That's it!
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
Original Message:
Sent: 06-06-2018 06:34
From: Vicky Hawkes
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Hi Robert
Is there any way to use LIst Maintenence to remove records after a certain period of time? ie x years after they were first added to the master list?
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2018 14:42
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
There are numerous posts on the community about how do I find a specific contact, without having to search EVERY list.
This is a valid and extremely useful feature to have, especially as you get into the millions of records!!
I am going to completely side-step the 'whys' and 'why nots' of this not being a feature in the Act-On platform, and go directly to the heart of the matter!
This easy to implement, and very helpful feature hinges entirely on you having a Master List. If you do not have your master list built yet… you should. Not only will it allow you to use this handy trick, but it is inline with marketing best practices, and has numerous benefits that have been discussed on community threads here - like having a one-stop-shop for all of your segmentation needs.
This is not the only way to accomplish this 'global search'. There was a brilliant suggestion by one of our community members to use segmentation to find a specific contact records in your master list.
The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list. This can take a LONG LONG TIME!!! (Imagine having 30 columns in your master list, with 100,000 records (I have seen 10-20x BOTH of these numbers multiple times in various accounts) this would be 3 Million fields that Act-On searches for your email address - time consuming!)
The solution is simple - create a master list that is ONLY email address, this reduces your searching to only 1 column for all of your records. (here's ours!)
The steps are straightforward and easy:
- Copy your master list
Click the drop-down next to your list and choose Copy (you will want to use the copy structure AND records option)Click the drop-down next to your list and select Maintenance > Change List Columns. Then, choose, 'Delete Column' from the drop-down next to each field except for your email column. (Make sure you Save when you are done)
I suggest using the 'append and merge' option and the 'remove records' option. This will keep your email only list true with your actual master list. Set this to run daily, and voila! You have a dynamically updating, email only, easily searchable master list with every one of your records in it.
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
------------------------------
Sion Stedman
Idox Software Ltd
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2018 14:42
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
There are numerous posts on the community about how do I find a specific contact, without having to search EVERY list.
This is a valid and extremely useful feature to have, especially as you get into the millions of records!!
I am going to completely side-step the 'whys' and 'why nots' of this not being a feature in the Act-On platform, and go directly to the heart of the matter!
This easy to implement, and very helpful feature hinges entirely on you having a Master List. If you do not have your master list built yet… you should. Not only will it allow you to use this handy trick, but it is inline with marketing best practices, and has numerous benefits that have been discussed on community threads here - like having a one-stop-shop for all of your segmentation needs.
This is not the only way to accomplish this 'global search'. There was a brilliant suggestion by one of our community members to use segmentation to find a specific contact records in your master list.
The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list. This can take a LONG LONG TIME!!! (Imagine having 30 columns in your master list, with 100,000 records (I have seen 10-20x BOTH of these numbers multiple times in various accounts) this would be 3 Million fields that Act-On searches for your email address - time consuming!)
The solution is simple - create a master list that is ONLY email address, this reduces your searching to only 1 column for all of your records. (here's ours!)
The steps are straightforward and easy:
- Copy your master list
Click the drop-down next to your list and choose Copy (you will want to use the copy structure AND records option)Click the drop-down next to your list and select Maintenance > Change List Columns. Then, choose, 'Delete Column' from the drop-down next to each field except for your email column. (Make sure you Save when you are done)
I suggest using the 'append and merge' option and the 'remove records' option. This will keep your email only list true with your actual master list. Set this to run daily, and voila! You have a dynamically updating, email only, easily searchable master list with every one of your records in it.
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
That is funny work around. So apparently it is already availlable in Act-On but only through the Act-On Anywhere plugin.
Thanks for the tip!
------------------------------
Marten Hoekstra
Inbound marketeer / Marketing Automation Consultant, Stan and Stacy
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-11-2018 04:07
From: Doménico Schwalb
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
@John Donald
Have you tried using the Acton plugin? It allows you to type any email in the search bar and find the contact's timeline...it works for us!
------------------------------
Doménico Schwalb
Marketing Manager, Equippo AG
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-07-2018 01:50
From: John Donald
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Robert- your work-around is not really a solution for all use-case scenarios and hardly a solution for the glaring lack of a global contact search feature in the product. This is a basic functionality that competing products seem to have figured out. Your suggestion does not necessarily work with my lists (I do have a 'master') because of how the Netsuite CRM integration has to be configured to connect with AO resulting in certain fields that require the use of a few separate lists outside of the master list that inherently creates some fragmentation that serves an important purpose. Then there is the issue of contacts being on multiple 'feeder' lists such as form submissions, custom touch, etc, and we might want to be able to quickly see all of the lists that a contact is on from within their contact record or a global search result. I hope your post does not indicate that global search will not be forthcoming...
------------------------------
John Donald
Manager, Sales & Marketing Automation
Designs for Health
Original Message:
Sent: 06-06-2018 06:34
From: Vicky Hawkes
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Hi Robert
Is there any way to use LIst Maintenence to remove records after a certain period of time? ie x years after they were first added to the master list?
------------------------------
Vicky Hawkes
Digital Content Manager
Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2018 14:42
From: Robert Kohnke
Subject: Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
Easily find activity history for ANY contact record
There are numerous posts on the community about how do I find a specific contact, without having to search EVERY list.
This is a valid and extremely useful feature to have, especially as you get into the millions of records!!
I am going to completely side-step the 'whys' and 'why nots' of this not being a feature in the Act-On platform, and go directly to the heart of the matter!
This easy to implement, and very helpful feature hinges entirely on you having a Master List. If you do not have your master list built yet… you should. Not only will it allow you to use this handy trick, but it is inline with marketing best practices, and has numerous benefits that have been discussed on community threads here - like having a one-stop-shop for all of your segmentation needs.
This is not the only way to accomplish this 'global search'. There was a brilliant suggestion by one of our community members to use segmentation to find a specific contact records in your master list.
The problem with that solution or simply opening your master list to search within it is that Act-On does not only search the email column for your record, but it searches every field (cell) of every column of every row in your master list. This can take a LONG LONG TIME!!! (Imagine having 30 columns in your master list, with 100,000 records (I have seen 10-20x BOTH of these numbers multiple times in various accounts) this would be 3 Million fields that Act-On searches for your email address - time consuming!)
The solution is simple - create a master list that is ONLY email address, this reduces your searching to only 1 column for all of your records. (here's ours!)
The steps are straightforward and easy:
- Copy your master list
Click the drop-down next to your list and choose Copy (you will want to use the copy structure AND records option)Click the drop-down next to your list and select Maintenance > Change List Columns. Then, choose, 'Delete Column' from the drop-down next to each field except for your email column. (Make sure you Save when you are done)
I suggest using the 'append and merge' option and the 'remove records' option. This will keep your email only list true with your actual master list. Set this to run daily, and voila! You have a dynamically updating, email only, easily searchable master list with every one of your records in it.
Have a great day and Happy Marketing!
------------------------------
Robert Kohnke
Marketing Operations Strategist, Act-On Software, Inc.
------------------------------
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