Lists, Lead Scoring & Workflows

Zozo
Member

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

I want to do some experimenting but do not want to do it on the full list of target contacts. 

 

Lets say I have a list of 100,000 people who fit my criteria and want to start with a test on only 2,000 of them. 1,000 of them leads would get treatment X and 1,000 receiving nothing. I looks like I can do the 50/50 split using A/B testing (I am new to Hubspot but not marketing automation but reading the material this seems possible). However, I can't figure out how to do the first part i.e finding the 2,000 I want to target.

 

In previous tools I would add a random sample filter to my target list so that only a portion can make it into my test. If it is successful I simple increase the sample size. 

 

I don't see any mention of functionality like this in huspot but this seems pretty basic for a marketer so I am wondering if there is another way to do it, for example setting a lead limit on a campign or something like that.

 

2 Accepted solutions
DBellamy
Solution
Contributor

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

The simplest way I can think of is to export your contacts to a csv, then open it in excel and create a 2 new fields with 1 or 2 as numbers.  Do a sort by the first, then second columns.  Pull 1000 from each random section, import them, and email to your two imported lists.

 

That is the fastest way, I believe.  Sounds like a good entry for the Ideas page.

View solution in original post

karstenkoehler
Solution
Hall of Famer | Partner
Hall of Famer | Partner

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

Hi @Zozo and everyone,

 

It's now possible to create random samples from existing lists! 🙂

 

karstenkoehler_0-1678340527827.png

 


[Automated Rollout] Create a Random Sample from any List

Mar 7, 2023

What is it?

Easily create a new static list with a select number of randomized members from an existing list.

 

Why does it matter?

Experimenting with a smaller portion of your target audience across tools like e-mail, CTA's, and landing pages can lead to more effective personalized experiences for your customers. Previously though, there was no easy way to obtain these random batches of contacts or companies from an existing HubSpot list. With Random Sample, you can now select a percentage or count of randomized members that will join a new static list.

 

How does it work?

Inside any list, click "Actions" > "Random Sample".

 

Type in your desired count OR % of randomized members that you would like to join a new static list. The value that is not filled in, will auto-populate so you are aware of both the count and percentage breakdown.

 

Click "Create List". You will then be able to click on your new list that's being processed. Note that if your parent list was already in a folder, the random sample list will be automatically created in that folder as well.

Additionally, you will be able to track the source list for a random sample as well as all the samples it has created by going to the List and clicking on Details. It's important to note that this will not prevent a list from being deleted like other references.

 

Who gets it?

Marketing Enterprise, Marketing Pro


Best regards!

Karsten Köhler
HubSpot Freelancer | RevOps & CRM Consultant | Community Hall of Famer

Beratungstermin mit Karsten vereinbaren

 

Did my post help answer your query? Help the community by marking it as a solution.

View solution in original post

16 Replies 16
karstenkoehler
Solution
Hall of Famer | Partner
Hall of Famer | Partner

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

Hi @Zozo and everyone,

 

It's now possible to create random samples from existing lists! 🙂

 

karstenkoehler_0-1678340527827.png

 


[Automated Rollout] Create a Random Sample from any List

Mar 7, 2023

What is it?

Easily create a new static list with a select number of randomized members from an existing list.

 

Why does it matter?

Experimenting with a smaller portion of your target audience across tools like e-mail, CTA's, and landing pages can lead to more effective personalized experiences for your customers. Previously though, there was no easy way to obtain these random batches of contacts or companies from an existing HubSpot list. With Random Sample, you can now select a percentage or count of randomized members that will join a new static list.

 

How does it work?

Inside any list, click "Actions" > "Random Sample".

 

Type in your desired count OR % of randomized members that you would like to join a new static list. The value that is not filled in, will auto-populate so you are aware of both the count and percentage breakdown.

 

Click "Create List". You will then be able to click on your new list that's being processed. Note that if your parent list was already in a folder, the random sample list will be automatically created in that folder as well.

Additionally, you will be able to track the source list for a random sample as well as all the samples it has created by going to the List and clicking on Details. It's important to note that this will not prevent a list from being deleted like other references.

 

Who gets it?

Marketing Enterprise, Marketing Pro


Best regards!

Karsten Köhler
HubSpot Freelancer | RevOps & CRM Consultant | Community Hall of Famer

Beratungstermin mit Karsten vereinbaren

 

Did my post help answer your query? Help the community by marking it as a solution.

ChaosFreak
Contributor

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

Thanks, but this is not at all what we wanted, and doesn't solve the problem.

Manually creating a static list containing a random sample doesn't help, for three reasons:

1. It's a manual process, so we'd have to do it every single time

2. It's a static list. If the "master" list is active, then contacts can be added/removed automatically any time, but the "random sample" remains static. So, you'd only be able to use it once, then it would soon become out of date.

3. We don't need just ONE random sample, we need to randomize the entire list into random segments that don't overlap. This is primarily to split large lists into smaller lists so that we can send emails over multiple days.

 

For this feature to be useful, we need to be able to create X random segments containing Y% each from an active list. For example, if I have a list with 100k contacts, I want to create five segments, each containing a random 25% of the master list. The segments shouldn't overlap, and all members of the master list should be assigned to one and only one segment. They should automatically update as the master list updates.

ChaosFreak
Contributor

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

Sorry, I should have said "each containing a random 20% of the master list." Basically, five equal, non-overlapping segments that include the entire master list.

0 Upvotes
ChaosFreak
Contributor

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

So, apparently this is yet another obviously useful feature that all email marketing platforms have, except for HubSpot. This was acceptable when HubSpot was the up and coming scrappy challenger to Salesforce. However, HubSpot continues to constantly disappoint me with its lack of basic features and its complete unwillingness to develop them. The "Ideas Forum" is a joke... name ten useful features that were ever developed from there!

 

Also, HubSpot, please stop labeling answers in this forum as "SOLVED" when the "solution" is "we can't do it, we'll never develop it, here's an unrealistic workaround."

TiphaineCuisset
Community Manager
Community Manager

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

Hi @ChaosFreak 

 

Thank you for reaching out. 

 

I appreciate you bringing your concerns to the Community. Community solutions are focused on helping customers maximizing their understanding of HubSpot. Most questions have multiple ways of being solved or thought about, and that is the great thing about the Community - we get to learn them all.

 

I'd like to invite you to consult this page regarding our Ideas Forum. You can find there the number of Ideas that are in review, in planning, in beta, and those which have already been delivered. This Guide is also useful to understand the Ideas Forum's processes. Finally, the Idea that you can upvote about this topic is this one

 

Thank you

Have a lovely day

Tiphaine


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0 Upvotes
ChaosFreak
Contributor

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

Thanks, looking at the Ideas Forum summary page, there have been 25,220 ideas submitted, of which 1076 are marked "delivered". That's a 4% LIFETIME delivery rate (since the forum was started). That's even if we believe that "delivered" actually means that the full requested feature was actually delivered, and not a half-finished version that doesn't address the need (as in this case).

 

So, my point stands. The "Ideas Forum" is a way to end customer support conversations without doing anything and without having to say "HubSpot can't do it". It's a way to "blame the customer" (i.e., if your "idea" doesn't get enough votes, then it must not be that great an idea). 

BurchA
Contributor

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

LOL!!!!

DMK1688
Participant

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

Yes please!

JonathanMill
Participant

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

You dont need to muck about with any CSV files, simply create a smart list from the total list with some sample criteria based on a wide range available in HubSpot.

DBellamy
Contributor

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

Which property would get you a random result?

robtowner
Participant

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

Couldn't agree with this more. Can't believe Hubspot can not support this functionality. Dissatisfied customer.

DBellamy
Solution
Contributor

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

The simplest way I can think of is to export your contacts to a csv, then open it in excel and create a 2 new fields with 1 or 2 as numbers.  Do a sort by the first, then second columns.  Pull 1000 from each random section, import them, and email to your two imported lists.

 

That is the fastest way, I believe.  Sounds like a good entry for the Ideas page.

BurchA
Contributor

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

5 years later and I can't do a random sample on a list? I am new to HubSpot and not at all impressed.

ChaosFreak
Contributor

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

Get used to it

Willsweet
Participant

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

Although exporting to CSV, randomising and re-importing is the simplest answer right now, it takes maybe 10-15 minutes each time. When you're running a gradual drip send with maybe 9-10 emails, and doing this multiple times a month, it adds up to quite a lot of time wasted.

The simplest thing I could think of would just be a button in the list UI that randomises the order of contacts. That way I could select the whole page and move to a static list. I could then ensure everyone in the static list (my sample) was removed from the master. Then just randomise, select, add to list and repeat until I have enough contacts in my sample.

Zozo
Member

Targeting only a portion of your audience with Random Sample functionality

SOLVE

Yeah, I am trying to avoid doing anything manual and looking for a way to automate this. I will add to the ideas page.Thank you.