Audience Overview

Audiences are a powerful way to create targeted groups of constituents. Visit the Example Audiences page to learn how to make specific audience types with the audience editor.

The audience editor makes the process of creating audiences more intuitive. Quite simply, the editor allows you to query your Fireside database to find particular people based on rules you select. In the same vein, you can set rules that will exclude people from your audience as well. The audience editor allows users to add multiple rules for more precise targeting, but be sure to pay attention to how your audience is built. Tiny details can sometimes mean a big difference in people found! If you're unsure that you're building an audience correctly, we are always happy to review it for you prior to your taking any further action using the audience. 

Due to the simplified organization of the editor, you may not be able to create your desired audience if it's more complex in nature. These complex audiences can be edited using the Advanced Editor, which you can access using the button in the upper-right corner of the audience editor. Should you need to use it to fully create your audience, it is important that you first save your work and then reopen your audience to click on "Advanced Editor." With this said, please feel free to check in with us in chat to see if your desired audience requires the Advanced Editor. We may be able to provide a tip or two on how to create your audience using the basic editor.

Other features you will notice on the Audience page are the search box located in the header toolbar and the ability to sort your view by audience name or the last date the criteria in the audience were modified. Also, in the righthand sidebar is a recently viewed list which shows the last five audiences viewed in your account. 

Audiences are tied closely to user profiles. User profile data is typically a mix of data you import into Fireside such as email addresses, mailing addresses, and data collected by Fireside from constituents through surveys and correspondence. This information is stored in fields, which are used in Fireside to create audiences. Start off by deciding what fields to use (such as everyone in zip code 62626); then add that criteria to the audience. Once you have saved the audience, you can view all the users matched by the audience, export the audience to a CSV file, or send an email or letter to the audience using the bulk mailing or newsletter tools.

Let's look at a basic example with three people records and a single-select field named "FavoriteBasketballTeam" that has two options people can choose: Wizards or Pacers.

• Lucille has picked Wizards. 

• George has picked Pacers. 

• Oscar hasn't picked a team and has no preference.
  
  
  

In this example, using the audience editor you can target Wizards fans (just Lucille), Pacers fans (just George), anyone who has a favorite team (both Lucille and George), or people who have not selected a team (just Oscar).

Visit the Audience Gallery to learn how to make specific audience types with the audience editor.