> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mx.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Creating Audiences and Messages

> Learn how to create audiences and Messaging campaigns.

Audiences and Messaging work in tandem to deliver Messaging campaigns to your target audience through the Intelligence Platform.

## Audiences

An audience is a defined group of your institution's users that you can target with Messaging campaigns to ensure each message reaches the people it's most relevant to. You can create audiences through the [Intelligence Platform](https://docs.mx.com/intelligence-platform/index.md) in several different ways:

* **Using a Customer Analytics dashboard:** Select dashboard visuals and filters to narrow your users to the audience you want.
  * The Audience Builder dashboard creates basic audiences from your held or external account records. You must have the Data Enhancement product to use the Audience Builder.
  * All other dashboards create targeted audiences based on more advanced analytics, using both internal records and externally aggregated data. You must have the Customer Analytics product to use these dashboards.
* **Using the Audience Assistant:** Enter a plain-language AI prompt describing the users you want to reach to create a custom audience using a combination of your institution's account records, external aggregated accounts, enriched transaction data, and analytic insights. You must have the Customer Analytics product to use the Audience Assistant.
* **Importing an audience:** Import your own list of users to build an audience from attributes that aren't available in the Customer Analytics dashboards, or to create a group of internal test users so you can test campaigns before you publish them to production.

### Static and Dynamic Audiences

When you select the option to create an audience with a Customer Analytics dashboard or Audience Assistant, a toggle option appears for you to create the audience in a dynamic or static state.

The default option is set to the dynamic audience, which saves your audience conditions and re-runs them every night. When a dynamic audience is attached to a Messaging campaign, any users who newly meet the audience conditions are added to the list of users targeted by the campaign. If a user no longer meets the audience conditions, they're not removed from the campaign. This is done to avoid the inaccurate inflation of campaign conversion metrics.

A static audience saves the list of users at the time you create it, and the list doesn't change when users newly meet the audience conditions. To create a static audience, turn off the dynamic option.

### Using a Customer Analytics Dashboard

To create an audience with a Customer Analytics dashboard:

1. Log into the Intelligence Platform.
2. Navigate to **Customer Analytics**.
3. Select any dashboard that is marked as eligible for audience creation.
4. Apply filters in the dashboard to narrow down the selection to only the users you want in the audience.
5. Select the **Create Audience** button at the top of the page. The **Create audience** window appears.
6. Enter a descriptive audience name in the **Audience name** field.
7. Set your [audience state](#static-and-dynamic-audiences) and save your changes:
   * To save the audience in a dynamic state, leave the **Dynamic audience** toggle in its default position, then select **Save**.
   * To save the audience in a static state, turn the toggle off, then select **Save**.

To access the list you just created, go to **Audiences** and select the audience.

### Using the Audience Assistant

The Audience Assistant maps your request to Customer Analytics data, such as users, financial health metrics, held accounts, aggregated and discovered accounts, online banking user sessions and features visited, and transactions and repeating transactions.

To create a custom audience with the Audience Assistant:

1. Log into the Intelligence Platform.
2. Navigate to **Customer Analytics**.
3. Select the **Create audience** button from the Audience Assistant banner.
4. Enter a prompt that uses plain language to describe the audience you want to build, such as *Generate a list of customers who don't have an internal direct deposit set up*. For best results, be specific with time windows (*last 30 days* instead of *recently*), use concrete numeric thresholds (*\$500* instead of *high value*), combine multiple conditions explicitly (*and, or*), and use the [search reference](#search-reference) for precise language to use.
5. Review the generated conditions that are displayed. If needed, further refine your prompt to generate more specified conditions. Or, if the assistant produced unexpected results, select **Create new prompt** and start again using a different prompt.
6. (Optional) If you want to save the list for later use, select the button to export the list. This exports all the fields visible in the preview table, whereas creating the audience only saves the user IDs.
7. Select **Save audience**. The **Create audience** window appears.
8. Enter a descriptive audience name in the **Audience name** field.
9. Set your [audience state](#static-and-dynamic-audiences) and save your changes:
   * To save the audience in a dynamic state, leave the **Dynamic audience** toggle in its default position, then select **Save**.
   * To save the audience in a static state, turn the toggle off, then select **Save**.

To access the list you just created, go to **Audiences** and select the audience.

#### Search Reference

Naming specific fields in your prompt helps the Audience Assistant match your request to the right data. The following tables list the most commonly searched data and the field names to use.

> [tab] Users
>
> | Field | What it shows |
> | - | - |
> | `attrition_score`, `attrition_category` | Checking account attrition risk |
> | `primacy_score` | Strength of the user's relationship with your institution |
> | `mx_adoption_status` | Digital adoption status, if applicable |
> | `spend_to_income_ratio` | Spending compared to income |
> | `estimated_annual_income`, `estimated_monthly_income` | Estimated income |
> | `estimated_annual_spend`, `estimated_monthly_spend` | Estimated spending |
> | `age`, `generation` | Demographics, if provided |
> | `credit_score` | Creditworthiness, if available |
> | `health_score`, `health_score_category` | Financial health measures |
> | `mx_affinity_segment` | Spending affinity segment, if applicable |

> [tab] Accounts
>
> Includes held, external, aggregated, and discovered accounts.
>
> | Field | What it shows |
> | - | - |
> | `name` | Account nickname or institution label |
> | `account_type`, `account_subtype` | Account classification |
> | `absolute_value_balance` | Current balance |
> | `interest_rate` | Interest rate for interest-bearing accounts |
> | `matures_on_date` | Maturity date for time deposits |
> | `is_closed`, `is_internal`, `is_business` | Account attributes |
> | `institution_name` | Financial institution |

> [tab] Transactions
>
> Includes held and external transactions.
>
> | Field | What it shows |
> | - | - |
> | `transaction_date` | Date and time of the transaction |
> | `transaction_type` | Credit or debit |
> | `absolute_value_amount` | Transaction amount |
> | `description` | Raw merchant description |
> | `category`, `top_level_category` | Spending category |
> | `merchant_name`, `merchant_city`, `merchant_state`, `merchant_country` | Merchant details |
> | `is_direct_deposit`, `is_ach` | Transaction attributes |

> [tab] Repeating Transactions
>
> | Field | What it shows |
> | - | - |
> | `description` | Merchant or transaction label |
> | `predicted_occurs_on_date` | Next expected occurrence |
> | `recurrence_type_description`, `recurrence_day` | How often it repeats |
> | `repeating_transaction_type_description` | Expense or income |
> | `repeating_transaction_amount` | Typical amount |

> [tab] Feature Visits
>
> | Field | What it shows |
> | - | - |
> | `feature_visit_date` | Date and time of the visit |
> | `feature_name` | Feature used, such as Bill Pay, Transfers, or Credit Score |
> | `product_name`, `product` | Product context |
> | `application_type` | Application type, such as mobile or web |

> [tab] Analytics Sessions
>
> | Field | What it shows |
> | - | - |
> | `analytics_session_date` | Date of the session |
> | `product_name`, `product` | Product context |
> | `application_type` | Application type, such as mobile or web |

> [tab] Financial Health
>
> | Field | What it shows |
> | - | - |
> | `health_score` | Composite financial health score |
> | `financial_health_category` | Category version of the score |
> | `health_score_date` | Date the score was measured |

### Importing an Audience

Before you import a file to create an audience, ensure your file meets the following criteria:

* It's formatted in CSV.
* It contains a single column with no header row.
* It has only one external user ID per row. This must match the `id` value that was used to create the user in the MX system.
* It doesn't exceed one million rows.

To import an audience:

1. Log into the Intelligence Platform.
2. Navigate to **Audiences**.
3. Select **Import**.
4. Follow the prompts.

After the list is imported, all rows are validated to determine whether the user is on the platform. Validation times range from several minutes for short lists to roughly two hours for lists with the maximum number of rows.

When validation finishes, open the **Imported** tab and select your list. The user count shows only the users found on the platform, and the audience details show the total number of users in the file. To export the users who weren't found, select the three-dot menu for the list and choose **Export**.

### Marketing Opt-Out List

You can import a single list of users who have opted out of promotional communications to exclude them from receiving new messages.

Before you import your file, ensure it meets the following criteria:

* It's formatted in CSV and is no larger than 20 MB.
* It contains a single column with no header row.
* It contains the `id` value that you set when you created the user on the MX system. This may be an internal CIF field value or another value. For more information, see [ID Prefixes and Formats](https://docs.mx.com/products/connectivity/overview/held-data/best-practices.md#id-prefixes-and-formats).
* It doesn't exceed one million rows.
* It doesn't contain commas, semicolons, or tabs. Files with these characters are rejected with a `Multiple columns detected` error.

For example:

```csv theme={null}
user_10001
user_10002
user_10003
```

To import or update the list:

1. Log into the Intelligence Platform.
2. Navigate to **Audiences** > **Marketing opt-out list**.
3. Select the option for your use case:
   * **Add new users:** Merges the file with the existing list and removes duplicate users.
   * **Replace existing list:** Deletes the current list before the import. Users who aren't in the new file are removed from the list.
4. Follow the prompts.

> [!TIP]
>
> To comply with industry regulations and best practices, update this list every 30 days.

When you create a message and select the option to exclude users in the opt-out list, you're shown how many users in the audience are in that list.

## Messaging

Before you create a Messaging campaign, you must first define the campaign's target audience as described in [Audiences](#audiences).

### Creating a Message

If you're attaching an image file to your message, make sure it meets the following criteria:

* It's formatted in PNG, JPEG, JPG, or GIF. Files in PDF and SVG format aren't accepted.
* It doesn't exceed 2 MB.
* It matches the required dimensions for its placement. If the aspect ratio doesn't match, you can crop the image to the required ratio.

| Placement | Dimensions (pixel width × height) |
| - | - |
| PFM online banking banner ad | 615 × 110 |
| Mobile banner ad | 450 × 150 |
| Mobile fullscreen banner | 393 × 393 |
| Mobile dynamic header | 1083 × 618 |
| Financial Insights banner | 675 × 450 |
| Embedded Space banner | Set by the space's configured width and height. See [Embedded Spaces](https://docs.mx.com/intelligence-platform/marketing-hub/embedded-spaces.md). |

To create a message:

1. Log into the Intelligence Platform.
2. Navigate to **Messaging**.
3. Select the **Create Message** button.
4. Follow the prompts.

### Managing a Message

You can view a list of all messages that are active, scheduled, completed, paused, or in draft from **Messaging**.

To copy, edit, delete, or export a message, or to view its business metrics, select the message's three-dot menu and choose the action to take.

> [!NOTE]
>
> **ACTIVE CAMPAIGN EDITS**
>
> If you edit active campaigns (excluding the audience), messaging metrics and analytics won't be updated with the changes made.