Choosing who gets it
Consent first, then the filters — tags and conditions, the live eligible count, and why the number is always smaller than your client list.
3 min readUpdated August 22, 2026Managers · Owners
Before any of the filters do anything, one rule has already been applied: only clients who agreed to hear from you are included. Not the ones you'd like to reach, not the ones who came in last week — the ones who said yes, on the channel you're sending on.
That means an email campaign reaches clients who have marketing email switched on and an email address on file. A text campaign reaches clients who have marketing texts switched on and a mobile number. Everyone else is excluded from every audience you can build, and there is no override.
For Canadian salons there's one more bar, because Canadian law (CASL) sets one: the consent has to be provable, not just switched on. A client whose record says marketing is on but doesn't say when or how they agreed doesn't enter the audience. The fix is at the client record: confirm the permission with them and re-save their marketing settings, and the record gains the when-and-how that counts. It's the difference between "the box is ticked" and "we can show they said yes" — and in Canada only the second one reaches an inbox.
It's why the count under Audience is usually a good deal smaller than your client list, and why that number is the honest one.
Setting the audience
Open a draft campaign and press Edit audience.
- 1
Choose All clients or Certain clients. All clients means everyone eligible — which is not everyone.
- 2
Under Certain clients, tick any tags you want to match. Tags are any of: tick two and you reach clients with either.
- 3
Add conditions to narrow further. Conditions are all must match.
- 4
Watch the count on the campaign page. It updates against your live client list, so it's the real answer rather than an estimate.
- 5
Press Save audience.
What you can filter on
Eleven things, in three groups.
About the client: Tag · Gender · How they were added (staff, online booking, an import) · Client notes (has any, or none) · Date added.
About their visits: Appointment — past or upcoming, and narrowable by stylist, service and location.
About what they've bought: Sale (any purchase) · Product purchase · Membership · Package · Gift card purchase.
Most useful audiences are two conditions, not five. "Booked a colour service in the last year, and hasn't booked anything in the last ninety days" is a win-back list. Adding a third usually cuts it to nobody.
Describing it instead
The box at the top of the dialog takes a sentence — "VIP-tagged women who haven't been tagged Lapsed" — and Interpret turns it into the filters below, which you then read and adjust. It fills the form; it doesn't save anything. See Write it from a sentence.
The count is a live number
"12 clients eligible to receive this" is computed when you look at it, not when you built the audience. A campaign scheduled three weeks out will very likely reach a different group than the one you had in mind — new clients join it, and anyone who unsubscribes in the meantime leaves it.
That's why a sent campaign's Recipients figure and its Audience count usually disagree. The first is history; the second is now.
Common questions
Why is the eligible count so much lower than my client count?
Because it counts only clients who can be sent marketing on that channel — they've agreed to hear from you, and they have an address (for email) or a mobile number (for text). Everyone else is excluded whatever audience you pick.
Where is marketing consent set?
On the client record, per channel. It's also what an unsubscribe link switches off — a client who opts out of one campaign is out of every future one on that channel, automatically and permanently, until they say otherwise. Automated messages on the same record counts too: set a client to Reminders only and they leave your campaign list as well.
Someone replied STOP to a text. Do I need to do anything?
No. A STOP reply takes them off every text you send — campaigns and automated messages both — from that moment on, and it happens without anyone at the desk having to notice the reply.
Can I send to someone who unsubscribed, just this once?
No, and you shouldn't want to. The opt-out is the reason the rest of your list keeps arriving in inboxes rather than spam folders.
What's the difference between tags and conditions?
Tags are any of — tick VIP and Lapsed and you reach either. Conditions are all must match — add two and a client has to satisfy both. Combine them to say "anyone tagged VIP who hasn't visited since June".
I set the audience but the count didn't change.
Check the mode. With All clients selected, tags and conditions are ignored — you have to switch to Certain clients for them to apply.
Can I change the audience after scheduling?
No. The audience is editable while a campaign is a draft only. A scheduled campaign has an Audience drift check instead, which tells you whether the group has changed since you scheduled it.
Related articles
- Send a campaignCampaigns · One message to a group of clients — building it, checking it, and choosing between sending it now and scheduling it.
- Write it from a sentenceCampaigns · Describing the campaign you want and getting a draft back — the copy, the audience, and the pre-send check that reads it before your clients do.
- The client recordClients · The four numbers at the top, the four tabs underneath, and how to read someone's whole history with you in about ten seconds.
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