Message Sent to Zero Contacts Despite a Non-Zero Segmentation Result

When sending prepared or group messages via SMS or email in Mapp Engage, it is important to understand how the audience is determined.

Audience Definition

Each group message must be linked to a parent group, which defines the maximum possible audience for the message. Contacts outside of this group cannot receive the message.

In addition to selecting the parent group, segmentation rules may be applied to narrow down the audience. However, the segmentation works within the constraints of the parent group:

• If the segmentation results in zero contacts, the message will be sent to zero recipients.

• If the segmentation returns contacts, but none of them are part of the parent group, the message will also be sent to zero recipients.

This is because the system enforces a hard link to the parent group. Even if segmentation identifies contacts from multiple groups, only those who are also in the parent group will be considered part of the final audience. This ensures accurate tracking of statistics and responses.

Recommendation

To prevent sending to an unintended zero audience, Mapp recommends adding a segmentation rule that filters for active members of the parent group. This ensures the calculated audience aligns with the actual send behavior and provides a reliable recipient count.

Exception

This group linking requirement does not apply to Push notifications, In-app messages, and AMP messages. These types are handled differently and do not require a parent group association.