Creating and Managing Smart Lists in Your CRM

What Are Smart Lists?

Smart Lists are dynamic contact groups in your CRM that automatically update based on rules you set. Unlike standard contact lists that stay the same until you change them, Smart Lists constantly refresh as your contacts' information changes. When a contact meets the criteria you've defined—or stops meeting them—they are automatically added to or removed from the list. This helps you maintain highly specific, up-to-date segments of your audience without any manual effort.

Benefits of Using Smart Lists

Smart Lists offer several key advantages for managing your contacts efficiently.

• Save Time: Automate the process of grouping contacts, eliminating the need for manual list updates.
• Improve Targeting: Create precise segments based on contact behavior, status, or custom field data for more effective marketing and communication.
• Enhance Organization: Keep your CRM structured by having automatically maintained lists for different types of contacts.
• Power Automation: Use Smart Lists as triggers or conditions in workflows to automate actions for specific contact groups.

How Smart Lists Work

A Smart List is built using filters. You define the conditions a contact must satisfy to be included, such as having a specific tag, belonging to a certain location, or having a custom field with a particular value. The CRM continuously monitors your contact database. Whenever a contact's data changes, the system instantly re-evaluates them against all your Smart List filters, adding or removing them as needed. This ensures your lists always reflect the current state of your contacts.

Creating a Smart List

Follow these steps to create your first Smart List.

1. Navigate to the Contacts section and select Smart Lists.
2. Click the + Add smart list button.
3. On the right side of the screen, use the dropdown menu to select a filter (e.g., based on a tag, custom field, or activity).
4. Configure the details for the chosen filter and click Apply.
5. To add more conditions, select the AND option and choose another filter.
6. Once you have set all desired filters, click the Create button at the bottom to save your new Smart List.

Modifying an Existing Smart List

You can edit a Smart List to adjust its criteria at any time.

1. Go to Contacts > Smart Lists.
2. Click on the name of the Smart List you wish to modify to open it.
3. On the right-hand side, you will see a Customise List panel.
4. Click on Advanced Filters to view and edit the current filter rules.
5. To change a filter, click the pencil icon next to it. To remove a filter, click the dropdown arrow and select the remove option.
6. After making your changes, click the save icon to update the Smart List.

Managing Your Smart Lists

From the main Smart Lists page, you can perform various management actions.

1. Go to Contacts → Smart Lists.
2. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) next to the Add Contact button.
3. Select Manage Smart List.
4. In the list that appears, you can use the icons in the Actions column for each Smart List:
   • Copy Icon: Create a duplicate of the Smart List.
   • Share Icon: Share the Smart List with other administrators.
   • Pencil Icon: Edit the name of the Smart List.
   • Trash Icon: Delete the Smart List.

Customizing the List View

You can change the order of columns displayed in a Smart List view to prioritize the information most important to you.

1. Open the Smart List you want to customize.
2. Look for the column or field management option near the top of the contact table.
3. In the column manager, you can drag and drop the column headers to rearrange them into your preferred order.
4. Close the manager to see the new column layout, which is reflected immediately.

Note: The CRM saves the column layout when you save the Smart List. If you reorder columns or show/hide fields, be sure to save the Smart List afterward to retain those changes for future sessions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I manually add a contact to a Smart List?

No. Contacts are added or removed automatically based solely on the filter criteria. You cannot manually add a contact to a Smart List. If you need a contact to be in a Smart List, ensure they meet the conditions you've set, for example, by applying a relevant tag.

Who can see and manage Smart Lists?

Smart Lists are typically created by individual users. However, a user can choose to make a Smart List "global," which makes it visible to all users in the account. The ability to manage (edit, delete) Smart Lists is generally tied to user permissions.

If I schedule an email to a Smart List, when are the recipients determined?

The list of recipients is generated at the moment the email is sent, not when it is scheduled. This means any contact who meets the Smart List's criteria at the time of sending will receive the email, and any contact who no longer meets the criteria will be excluded.

Can I move a Smart List to a different account?

Currently, there is no feature to transfer Smart Lists between different CRM accounts or import them into a snapshot.