The Conditions editor in ActiveCampaign is used to quickly find all the contacts who match a set of search conditions.
ActiveCampaign does the “find the people who match up, and tell me how many there are” thing in super-fast time, reliably, even for really complex searches.
And your ActiveCampaign account can be any size, from a gathering in the village square to Glastonbury Festival upwards, and it will always help you find your people, quickly.
Every ActiveCampaign user should spend a little time getting to know this incredibly powerful feature, because the Conditions Editor will save them a ton of time and trouble – and it’s critical to making sure the right email gets sent to the right person, every single time.
Read this blog from world leading ActiveCampaign teacher and consultant, Kay Peacey, to make segments, searching and sending emails to ActiveCampaign contacts a total breeze.
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Learn how to find all contacts with a certain Tag in ActiveCampaign
In the Conditions Editor, which crops up in lots of places inside ActiveCampaign, you can specify a thing for ActiveCampaign to check and look for ActiveCampaign contacts with a match.
Like looking at what is in their contact Custom Fields, and what Tags they have.
To warm-up your Conditions Editor muscles, try using it to look for just one thing at a time.
To use it to find every contact who has a specific Tag, it looks like this:
Tag > Exists > ACADEMY: early bird
Go browse through the options in that editor – there’s a big selection of things you can use to hunt out the exact people you want.
Here are a couple more examples of simple conditions to use:
- Find all contacts who have written a message containing the word ‘urgent’
Custom contact field > message > Contains > urgent
- Find every contact who has ever visited your sales page
Site & event data > Has visited > [enter site url] > Ever
You get the picture…
Conditions really are fabulously useful for finding contacts who match what you’re looking for.
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Learn how to use the OR condition to segment and search in ActiveCampaign
You can use OR to combine conditions for hunting out the contacts you want.
Imagine you need to find all the people who either have “bob” in their first name, or wear blue socks, or have a cat…
ActiveCampaign could look for them in a flash for you, so long as you have that information stored in custom fields for your contacts.
In ActiveCampaign, OR means “at least one of these things must be true”
(firstname > contains > bob) OR (socks = blue) OR (pet = cat)
✅ Zara, who wears red socks and has a cat fits the bill nicely thank you
✅ Billybob Thornhead wears black socks, always, and has sixteen cats – Yup, he’s in
❌ Rhiana has no cat and never wears socks at all – sorry Rhiana, not this time
Thank goodness for ActiveCampaign because if you physically had to sort through thousands of contacts and then count up all the people with at least one of these OR conditions, you’d definitely cry before bedtime.
You can see this in action, step by step, in our free training Accelerated ActiveCampaign – it’s a little mini-course on the stuff you really need to know how to do if you use ActiveCampaign.
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Understand how to use the AND condition in ActiveCampaign searches
The AND condition means you are looking for contacts who meet all the conditions you specify. It narrows your search because every condition must be met.
Imagine you need to find all the people who wear blue socks AND have a cat.
ActiveCampaign can quickly and accurately tell you all the people who fulfil both criteria, as long as that information is stored in their contact fields.
In ActiveCampaign, AND means “all of these things must be true”
(socks = blue) AND (pet = cat)
✅ Geoffrey wears blue socks and has four cats – good for you, you’re in!
❌ Katie wears red socks and has two cats – soz Katie, not this time
❌ Ian wears blue socks and has no cats – nope to you Ian
Contacts who do not meet all of your AND conditions will not be counted as a winner in your search results, so this is a brilliantly quick way to filter them.
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Discover Grouped Conditions for advanced search and segment in ActiveCampaign
Conditions are really cool and there is almost no limit on the deep dive you can have with searches.
You can also mix and match conditions in groups, with AND / OR to join them up – so long as you’re not on the Starter plan (see our ActiveCampaign pricing blog for more on the different plans)
Need to see who loves teapots, and who also happens to be one of your bob/blue-sock/cat people?
No problem. It goes like this:
[ (Name > contains > bob) OR (socks = blue) OR (first pet = cat) ]
AND
(tag > exists > INTEREST: teapots)
✅ Bobby wears green socks and has no cats and loves teapots – yup
✅ Philippa wears pink socks and has two cats and is interested in teapots – you’re through to the next round Phillipa
❌ Tim wears grey socks and has no cats and does not like teapots – Tim, we loved your backstory, but it’s a no today – sorry
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FAQs about the ActiveCampaign conditions editor
These are the questions I hear most often from ActiveCampaign users just like you – let’s clear them up!
What is the ActiveCampaign conditions editor used for?
- It’s the place where you tell ActiveCampaign how to filter, search, or segment your contacts
You’ll find it in advanced searches, campaign segments, automation steps, and lots more - It’s your best tool for grouping, counting, and splitting contacts based on any info ActiveCampaign knows
Think tags, fields, activity in automations, form submits, e-commerce purchases etc
How does AND vs OR work when building a segment in ActiveCampaign?
- AND means all the conditions must be true
Use this to narrow your target group to those who match every condition - OR means at least one of the conditions must be true
Use this to make a wider group and include anyone fitting any listed condition
What kind of information can I use for segmentation in ActiveCampaign?
- Anything ActiveCampaign tracks for each contact
Custom fields, tags, email engagement, ecommerce events, website visits, and lots lots more – it’s wild how big the range of conditions in there is!
Why should I bother with the ActiveCampaign conditions editor?
- It gives you power to count, filter, and target contacts with laser precision
That means more effective automations, campaigns, and a better experience for your list - Most people are under-using it and missing opportunities
Go explore and see just how powerful it is – you’ll be surprised what’s possible!
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Get more help with how to use Conditions in ActiveCampaign
Things can get complicated in ActiveCampaign because there are a lot of options and subtle things to check – luckily I know it like the back of my wrinkly hand, and I can help you any time you need in our Academy.
So many times, I’ve pointed someone, in 10 seconds flat, to the search condition that will solve their problem, and they didn’t even know was there.
And we’ve just scratched the surface here of the things you can leverage in the Conditions Editor – there’s huge power under the hood you probably don’t even know is there – and I can help you unlock it fast.
Come on in to the Academy to see how it’s done, get help when you’re stuck, and totally change the game on what you can get done with ActiveCampaign.
Learn more about our Slick Business Academy
Fast effective Email & Automation training & support from Kay Peacey
