Subset Tutorial

A simple way to learn about subsets in ListManager is to create subsets based on the three alternative email formats: plain text, HTML, and AOL-HTML.

Many list owners know that some subscribers prefer to receive email in HTML format, while others want or are limited to plain text. In addition, AOL users who request HTML must receive special messages due to differences in AOL’s HTML standards.

Here’s how to create a list with subsets:

1. Create a test list.

If you haven't already, make a test list. The easiest way to do so is to use the Create New Mailing List Shortcut on the Admin Login page.

2. Create test email addresses.

Next, you’ll need to create six test email addresses. Specify an email address for each member, and set their “UserID” field to one of the following: “text”, “html” or blank (i.e., nothing). Please note the following:

In our example, list members whose UserID field is blank will receive “text” messages.

List members at AOL who want to receive HTML mail will be differentiated from other people who want HTML by their “@aol.com” domain.

Our test list is therefore comprised of the following members:

The next step is to create a subset for each type of message format: text, AOL-HTML, and HTML.

Text Subset

Our first subset will select list members who should receive a text-only message. In this subset, only those who have requested text, or who have made no request, will receive a text message.

1. From the List Admin screen, click on Subsets.

2. Next, select Create Subset (Simple). For the Name field, enter text. For Description, type Text Message Recipients.

3. Leave the Match Any or All Criteria? setting as the default AND.

4. We want to send a text message all list members who haven’t requested HTML mail, so we want to select those members whose UserID field is either be "text" or blank. The easiest way to select these recipients is to select all recipients whose UserID is not equal to "html." For the first row in the Selection Criteria setting, select "UserID_", "<>" and "html" for each column.

5. Press Save and Test. The Test Subset page will then display the SQL generated and a list of the members who meet the specified criterion.

AOL-HTML Subset

Next, we will create a subset of list members on AOL who have requested HTML mailings.

1. Select Create Subset (Simple) again.

2. Enter aol-html as the subset’s name, and AOL HTML Recipients as the Description.

3. Leave the Match Any or All Criteria? setting as the default AND.

4. In order to select AOL members who have requested HTML mailings, we want to select all members whose e-mail addresses end in "@aol.com" and whose UserID's are set to "html."

For the first row in the Selection Criteria select "EmailAddr_", "ends with" and "@aol.com". For the second row, select "UserID_", "=" and "html."

5. Click on Save and Test. You should see the AOL member who was set to HTML.

HTML Subset

Finally, we want to select non-AOL members who requested HTML mailings. We can do this by cloning and modifying the aol-html subset we just created.

1. Select the aol-html subset in the main subset menu and press Clone Subset.

2. Change the Name to non-aol-html and the Description to Non-AOL HTML Recipients.

Please note: During this cloning and editing process, you will be using the Create Subset (Advanced) page that is not part of the previous (Simple) subset creations described above. Have no fear—this is a straightforward process!

3. In this Advanced editing screen, you will see that the “Additional SQL ‘Where’ Criterion” field is set to:

EmailAddr_ LIKE "%@aol.com" AND UserID_="html"

To modify this SQL phrase to select non-AOL list members, you simply need to add the keyword “NOT” before "LIKE":

EmailAddr_ NOT LIKE "%@aol.com" AND UserID_="html"

4. Press Save and Test to verify that this subset selected only users who have request HTML and who aren't at AOL.

You’re done creating your sample subsets! Now, go to the Send Message page to see how you can send a message quickly and easily to one of your subsets.