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How to use AND and OR filters to build audiences

Learn how filters combine using AND and OR operators to create precise customer segments for your campaigns.

Updated this week

Applies to: All

Overview

When building audiences in Endear, filters determine which customers end up in your audience. Understanding how filters combine is the key to targeting exactly who you want and excluding who you don't.

  • Filters within the same group combine using AND logic, meaning customers must match all conditions in that group.

  • Filters across separate groups combine using OR logic, meaning customers must match at least one group's conditions.

  • AND narrows your audience; OR expands it.

  • You can combine AND and OR to build sophisticated audience segments for any campaign scenario.

How AND logic works

When you add multiple filters side by side within a single filter group, they combine with AND logic automatically. You do not need to select an operator — it is implied. Customers must match every condition in the group to be included.

AND logic narrows your audience because each additional filter adds a requirement.

Example: Location is "New York" and Lifetime Spend is greater than $500.

  • ✅ NY customer, $800 spend | Meets filter criteria

  • ❌ LA customer, $900 spend | Doesn't meet filter criteria

  • ❌ NY customer, $200 spend | Doesn't meet filter criteria

Building this in Endear

How OR logic works

When you create a new filter group, it connects to the previous group with OR logic. You will see the OR operator displayed between groups. Customers only need to match the conditions in one of the groups to be included.

OR logic broadens your audience because it adds customers from each group.

Example: Group 1 has Location is "New York." Group 2 has Lifetime Spend is greater than $500.

  • ✅ NY customer, $200 spend

  • ✅ LA customer, $900 spend

  • ✅ NY customer, $800 spend

  • ❌ LA customer, $200 spend

Building this in Endear

Using AND and OR filters together

VIP customers in multiple regions

To target VIP customers in New York or VIP customers in Los Angeles, set this up as two filter groups:

1. In Group 1, set Location to "New York" and Tag to "VIP."

2. Select the option to add a new filter group.

3. In Group 2, set Location to "Los Angeles" and Tag to "VIP."

Building this in Endear

Troubleshooting filter logic

My audience is too small

This is likely caused by too many AND conditions in one group, since each additional filter in the same group narrows the audience further. To fix this, check whether some filters should be in separate groups using OR instead. Ask yourself whether the customer truly needs to match all of the conditions, or just some of them.

My audience is too large

This is likely caused by filters being split across groups when they should be combined. Separate groups use OR, which adds customers instead of narrowing. To fix this, move filters into the same group so they combine with AND.

Excluded customers are still showing up

This is likely caused by an exclusion filter, such as "Tag is not VIP," being placed in a different group from the rest of your conditions. Because groups connect with OR, the exclusion operates independently. To fix this, always place exclusion filters in the same group as the conditions they should apply to.

I am not sure which logic is being applied

Look at the layout of your filters. Filters stacked within a single box are AND. Separate boxes are joined by OR. When in doubt, start with a single group and add filters one at a time, checking the audience count after each addition.

Best practices for complex segmentation

  1. Start simple by beginning with one filter, confirm the audience looks right, then layer on additional conditions.

  2. Check the audience count after each filter. This is the fastest way to catch logic mistakes. If the count jumps up unexpectedly, you may have accidentally created an OR by adding a new group when you meant to use AND by adding to the same group.

  3. Keep exclusions in the same group. Negative conditions like "is not" or "does not contain" only work as intended when they are combined with AND alongside your inclusion filters, meaning they must be in the same group.

  4. Use fewer groups when possible. Every additional group broadens the audience via OR. A clean segment with one or two groups is easier to manage than five.

  5. Name your segments descriptively. When you save a segment, use a name that reflects the logic, such as "VIPs in NY or LA – no Fall purchasers," which is far more useful than "Campaign segment 3."

  6. Test with known customers. Before launching a campaign, search for a specific customer you expect to be included or excluded and verify they appear in the results.

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