Documentation Marketo Engage Marketo Guide

Smart List Filter Operators Glossary

Last update: July 18, 2024

Topics:
Smart Lists

An operator is a part of the Smart List that helps you get specific. It lets you describe your filter or trigger in straightforward language. The available operators are different for each type of field.

Here’s a glossary describing each set of operators.

Date Fields

When you choose an operator, the right side will change dynamically.

Operator	Right Side	Description
is	Single Date	Exact date match
is not	Single Date	Any date EXCEPT the one specified
between	Two Date Fields	Any date including and between two specified dates
in past	Natural Language Input*	See diagram below
in past before	Natural Language Input*	See diagram below
in future	Natural Language Input*	See diagram below
in future after	Natural Language Input*	See diagram below
in time frame	Presets (last quarter, yesterday etc)	Defined in picklist
after	Single Date	All records after the specified date
before	Single Date	All records before the specified one
on or after	Single Date	Same as "after" but inclusive
on or before	Single Date	Same as "before" but inclusive
is empty	None	All records without a date
is not empty	None	All records with any date

* Natural language input is cool. Here are some of the patterns you can enter:

1 hour
82 days
3 weeks
14 months
1 year

Just type the number and unit together and it’ll work!

NOTE

“In past” does include the day (up until the time, not after) you create your Smart List.

CAUTION

When you create a Smart List using a date field filter (e.g., Date of Birth, SFDC Created Date) and use the constraints before, on or before, or in past before, the Smart List will also include people who have no value in said date field.

Use the following diagram to understand the difference between the date operators.

NOTE

Example

Date fields can get tricky when you’re working with past and future events. Here are a couple of examples.

In past before

For your new promotion, use this operator to send emails only to people who have not subscribed to or renewed your service within one year or have never been subscribers.

In future after

Say you want to see customers who are up for renewal in 90 days. You would use two separate filters. First use “In Future After 90 days,” and second, “In Future 91 Days.” That would capture whomever has a date 90 days from now.

String Fields

Operator	Description
is	Exact match (not case sensitive)
is not	Anything EXCEPT exact match
starts with	First letters of string match
not starts with	First letters of string DO NOT match
contains	Any letters together in the string match (example: california, fortune, therefor)
not contains	No letters together in the string match. (reverse of "contains")
is empty	Records that have no value (NULL)
is not empty	Records with ANY value

TIP

Use positive over negative operators. “Is not” filters have to search the entire data set in your instance, which can be extremely time-consuming. Positive “is” filters can leverage more effective search algorithms.

Integer Fields

Operator	Description
is	Exact number match ( = 0 will return both leads with 0 and NULL)
is not	Anything EXCEPT exact number match
between	Define two value to find everyone in between (inclusive)
greater than	Above the specified
less than	Less than the specified
at least	Above the specified (inclusive)
at most	Less than the specified (inclusive)
is empty	Records that have no value (NULL) - zero is a number, it is not NULL
is not empty	Records with ANY value (including zero)

As you can see, these operators make it easy to speak Marketo-ese with fluency!

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