Database Query Structure for Demographics Information

Selection Rules

A query consists of one or more selection rules that instruct M.O.M. to retrieve information selectively based on criteria that you establish. To build a rule, you select or enter elements using the List Management Module Demographic Query Builder Screen. Each selection rule consists of three elements:

• A field from the Demographic Data that you have defined.

• A comparison condition such as "equal to"

• A comparison value, which can be a field or value to which the value of the first field is compared.

Demographic Data Fields

Any field that you create when you define your Demographic Data screens in the List Management Module can be selected for the FIELD NAME.

Comparison Conditions

= EQUALS - select this condition to define a single value for the field. For instance, if the field is numeric, such as customer's age, you could limit the query to customers with a single specific age.

CONTAINS - select this condition to define a value by entering a part of the value. For instance, if the FIELD NAME is "favorite sport" you could enter "ball" to select baseball, football, softball, etc.

>=GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO - select this condition to define an upward range including the starting value. For instance, if the field is a date field such as customer's birthday, you could define a list consisting of all customers with a birthday of XX/XX/XX or greater.

>GREATER THAN - select this condition to define an upward range excluding the starting value.

<=LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO - select this condition to define a downward range including the starting value.

<LESS THAN - select this condition to define a downward range excluding the starting value.

<>NOT EQUAL TO - select this condition to exclude a specific value for a field. For instance, if the field is a letter code signifying specific hobby interests, you could exclude all customers with an interest in model trains by defining the not equal to value.

Comparison Values

Depending on the Demographic Data Field and Comparison Condition that you have selected, the comparison value can be either:

• A field of the same data type as the first field you selected. For instance, for the field "favorite sport" EQUALS "baseball."

• A value such as a number. For instance, for the field "customer's age" >GREATER THAN "50."

Connectors - AND/OR

Selection rules can be joined with the connectors AND and OR. Joining two or more selection rules with AND means that a customer must meet the criteria established by "all" selection rules in order to be included in the list. Joining selection rules with OR means that a customer must meet the criteria for at least one of the selection rules in order to be included in the list.

In the Demographic Query Screen, you join rules using the APPEND button.

Parantheses - ( )

You can use parentheses to indicate the order for evaluating connectors in a query. The connectors within parentheses are evaluated first, from the innermost level of parentheses outward, and from left to right within any set of parentheses. Without parentheses, connectors are evaluated left to right.

For example, in the following query, OR is evaluated before AND:

Include all customers where,

("Birthday" is GREATER THAN 01/21/56)

AND ("Favorite Sport" EQUALS "Baseball"

OR "Favorite Sport" EQUALS "Football")

The result is that the list includes only those customers whose birthdate falls after 1/21/56 who's favorite sport is either baseball or football.

If the parentheses were eliminated from this query, the resulting list would be different, since the AND condition would be evaluated first. The list would include customers whose birthdate falls after 1/21/56 and who's favorite sport is baseball along with ALL customers whose favorite sport is football.

In the Demographic Query Screen, you apply parentheses by entering them in the fields provided in the Add/Edit Selected Criteria section of the screen.