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DATA TYPE : TEXT & LIST - How and when should I use it?

  • February 7, 2021
  • 1 reply
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How and When to use the DATA TYPE: TEXT and LIST?

Best answer by retention

Hi @johnphysio 

If you are asking whether you should use “TEXT” or “LIST” when you’re creating Segments, that depends on how the data is stored.

I’ll try to explain by giving an example.

A list is any array of values, e.g. Offer Type = ["Offer1", "Offer2", "Offer3"]. If the parameter you want to use in the Segment has more than 1 value (the example above has 3), it can be stored as LIST.

Usually, this is used when you want to check if something is in a List:

Does “Offer Type” contains “Offer2”

Or
Does “Offer Type” have more than 5 values (items) on the list. - Which in this case the answer is NO, because we have 3 values.
 

Basically, you can have an unlimited number of values in a list and when you’re creating a segment, you’re checking if some value is part of that list.


You want to use “TEXT” if you want to use a custom property that has its value stored as a text. An example of such a parameter can be the first name of your subscribers. People’s names are stored as text because each person has only one name (hence, not a list). In that situation, you can set the segment’s definition to search for an exact match of the text.

E.g. First Name equals John as text

This segment will find all the people who are named John.

In this documentation, you can find a more detailed explanation and examples that might help you understand this better.

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retention
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  • February 8, 2021

Hi @johnphysio 

If you are asking whether you should use “TEXT” or “LIST” when you’re creating Segments, that depends on how the data is stored.

I’ll try to explain by giving an example.

A list is any array of values, e.g. Offer Type = ["Offer1", "Offer2", "Offer3"]. If the parameter you want to use in the Segment has more than 1 value (the example above has 3), it can be stored as LIST.

Usually, this is used when you want to check if something is in a List:

Does “Offer Type” contains “Offer2”

Or
Does “Offer Type” have more than 5 values (items) on the list. - Which in this case the answer is NO, because we have 3 values.
 

Basically, you can have an unlimited number of values in a list and when you’re creating a segment, you’re checking if some value is part of that list.


You want to use “TEXT” if you want to use a custom property that has its value stored as a text. An example of such a parameter can be the first name of your subscribers. People’s names are stored as text because each person has only one name (hence, not a list). In that situation, you can set the segment’s definition to search for an exact match of the text.

E.g. First Name equals John as text

This segment will find all the people who are named John.

In this documentation, you can find a more detailed explanation and examples that might help you understand this better.