- A documented audience rule using maintained CRM fields or tags
- Representative contacts that should match and should not match
- An owner for reviewing membership as source data changes
Choose smart membership for a repeatable rule
A smart list is appropriate when you can finish the sentence: “Include every contact who currently…” Examples include opted-in prospects in a territory, customers with a particular tag, or leads with no recent activity. If membership depends on judgment—such as “strategic people we personally approved”—use a manual list.
Smart membership depends on maintained customer context
- 01HubCustomer record
The durable identity shared by every workflow.
- 02EvidenceTimeline and consent
What happened and which communication is allowed.
- 03SignalConversation
The current customer exchange and channel state.
- 04RevenueDeal or quote
Commercial intent, value, and buyer decision history.
- 05OutcomeOwned next action
The named person, due point, and expected outcome.
Build and preview the rule
- Open Contacts, then Lists, and choose New list.
- Select Smart list and add a name and description that explain the intended use.
- Configure the available audience rules. WRKZY can evaluate contact search text, lifecycle stage, opt-in status, tags, company and other supported criteria, including time-based activity rules.
- Review the live preview. Inspect individual contacts, not only the total.
- Tighten or broaden one condition at a time and watch who enters or leaves.
- Save the list and reopen it from Lists to confirm its summarized rule and current count.
| Question | Good practice |
|---|---|
| Is the field maintained? | Use lifecycle, consent, owner, tags, and custom fields only when a team process keeps them current |
| Is the rule explainable? | Prefer a few clear criteria over a hidden maze of exceptions |
| Could the audience change before send? | Treat the preview as current, not permanent, and review again in the campaign builder |
| Does membership imply permission? | No—channel consent and suppression are still evaluated separately |
Example: opted-in prospects that need attention
Combine a Prospect lifecycle rule with the appropriate channel opt-in state and an inactivity window. Preview the result and inspect several boundary cases: a newly contacted prospect, an opted-out prospect, and a record with unknown consent. If the list is for a campaign, the final send preview remains the authority for eligibility.
Monitor list reliability
The Lists workspace distinguishes Manual and Smart lists and surfaces refresh health. A refresh error means the saved rule could not be evaluated reliably; do not use that count for outreach until the error clears. If a custom field or tag is retired, update dependent lists before removing it.
Troubleshoot surprising membership
- Open a contact that should qualify and compare every rule value.
- Check whether a blank field is being treated differently from the expected value.
- Verify time-window boundaries and recent activity timestamps.
- Confirm the list refreshed after source data changed.
- If the preview is correct but a campaign excludes the contact, inspect channel consent, reachability, suppression, and frequency guardrails.
- Rule describes a repeatable business condition
- Source fields have clear owners
- Preview includes and excludes expected examples
- Refresh health is clear
- Final channel eligibility will be checked at use time