Filters

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Create multiple personalized paths on your automation maps with the filter element following this deep dive tutorial.

In this lesson you'll learn:

The purpose of filters in Ontraport
When and how to use the five different types of filters: conditions, forks, splits, go-to, and end/exit
Strategies for split testing emails, pages and more with filters
How to configure your settings for each type of filter
How to compare the results of multiple paths on your automation map
How to end any automation flow

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Transcript

Filters control how contacts flow through your automation map. They check conditions, split contacts into different paths, and decide where each path ends. That's how you send the right message to the right person. In this lesson, we'll cover Condition, Fork, Split, Go To and End. To add a filter, click the plus sign between two elements, or click What Happens Next? at the end of a path. Then open the Filters tab and choose one. A Condition checks a contact against criteria you set, then sends them down one of two paths: Yes or No. Click the condition to open its settings, click Add Condition, and choose what to check, like a field, a tag or purchase history. You can combine criteria with and, or and not. For example, customers who've spent over a thousand dollars could get a thank-you email with a personal coupon, while everyone else follows a different path. Need more than two groups? Put another condition under the Yes or No path. Conditions can also check the actual current date and time. Use the Now is condition to check whether it's before, during or after a specific date or time, a day of the week, or a date field, like a contact's last purchase date. For example, send one email if an event is still coming up and another if it has already passed. With days of the week, the week starts on Monday. A Fork sends contacts down two paths at the same time. There's no yes or no. They take both. The most common use is keeping someone on this map while the other side of the fork adds them to another automation with the Add to Automation action. For example, a new customer can stay in your lead nurture map and also start your fulfillment map. A Split is for testing. Each contact goes down only one side, so you can compare two versions, like two emails with different subject lines, or even two sales pages. Click Add Version A and Add Version B, and put a version on each side. Change just one thing between them, so you know what made the difference. You can change the percentage of contacts who see each version. Your automation's performance stats show which one wins. Once there's a clear winner, update the map to send everyone to it. The Split testing deep dive lesson goes further. A Go To moves contacts to another spot on your map. Add it in an empty What Happens Next? box, then drag its handle to the element you want. That lets you merge paths, like sending three different opt-in paths into one shared follow-up sequence, so you don't build the same sequence three times. You can't place a Go To in the middle of an existing line, and it can't connect to a trigger or a goal. It's also handy for linking the default Added to Automation trigger to the rest of your map, so contacts you add by hand land in the right place. An End closes out a path. Every What Happens Next? box needs an element before you can publish, so finish each path with one. An End works three ways. By default, contacts stop but stay on the map, which is useful with date triggers for things like a newsletter. Turn on "Remove from this automation" to make it an exit, for one-time flows like onboarding. Or turn on "Move to new automation" to send contacts to another map, like moving new buyers from lead nurture into onboarding. If you delete an End or a Wait that has contacts on it, those contacts are removed from the map. Ontraport warns you first. You'll also find Wait and Goal with the filters. Waits control timing, and goals move contacts the moment they act. Each has its own lesson earlier in this section. So: conditions to branch, forks to do two things at once, splits to test, Go Tos to connect paths, and Ends to stop, exit or move contacts. Next up: putting automations together, where we combine all of these into one complete map.