Validate, Estimate, and Preview
Validation and estimation help confirm that an audience is usable before it is saved, exported, or activated. Preview users help you inspect sample records and catch rule mistakes that aggregate counts may hide.
Workflow progress
The workflow strip shows the current state of the audience:
| Step | Meaning | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| Define | Rules have been added or need to be added | Add fields, conditions, and groups |
| Validate | Rules are ready to check or have issues to fix | Select Validate and resolve warnings or errors |
| Estimate | Audience size can be calculated after validation | Select Estimate |
| Preview | Matching users can be loaded after estimation and attribute selection | Review preview rows |
| Save | Audience is ready to save after the preview path is complete | Save the audience or save as draft |
Date filter
Use the date filter to set the evaluation period for preview and estimate payloads. The observed presets include Today, Yesterday, 7D, 30D, 3M, 6M, 12M, This month, Last month, This quarter, Last Quarter, This Year, and Last Year.
Use Custom date range when the audience must match a campaign, analysis period, or reporting window exactly.
The page-level date filter and condition-level time windows should support the same business question. If they conflict, the estimate may be hard to interpret.
Validate
Select Validate after adding or changing rules. Validation should check whether the audience definition is complete enough to estimate.
Validation can surface issues such as:
- Missing field selections.
- Missing operators.
- Missing values for operators that require values.
- Missing or inconsistent time windows.
- Rule combinations that produce warnings.
When a validation issue appears in Audience Summary, use the available focus action to return to the condition that needs attention.
Estimate
Select Estimate after validation. Estimation calculates reach and prepares preview data when the required attributes are selected.
Re-estimate after changes to:
- Root match mode.
- Group match mode.
- Conditions.
- Operators or values.
- Date filter.
- Condition time windows.
- Exclusion logic.
Audience Summary
The Audience Summary panel helps judge whether the rule definition is credible.
| Summary item | Meaning | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated Audience Size | Number of users expected to match the audience | Check whether the audience is large enough for analysis or activation |
| Included | Users included by the rule logic | Confirm inclusion rules are not too narrow |
| Excluded | Users removed by exclusion logic | Confirm suppressions and negative rules work |
| Total Users | Comparison population used for the estimate | Understand the denominator behind percentages |
| Last estimated | Most recent estimate time | Re-estimate when rules or dates change |
| Validation issues | Errors or warnings tied to rules | Fix before saving or activation |
| Impact steps | How rules change the audience count | Identify which condition removes or keeps the most users |
If the panel shows Estimate stale, run Estimate again before making decisions.
If the panel says no users match the audience, broaden a condition, remove an exclusion rule, or expand the time window before estimating again.
Preview Users
The Preview Users table shows matching records after estimation. Use it to confirm that real users match the intended audience definition.
The table depends on selected preview attributes. If no preview columns are selected, choose attributes first. If attributes are selected but no rows appear, run an estimate.
Available controls include:
- Page limit with 10, 20, 50, and 100 row options.
- Table sorting and column resizing when rows are loaded.
- Pagination for larger result sets.
- Export Sample (CSV) when preview rows and columns are available.
Preview review checklist
- Preview rows contain the identifiers needed for review.
- Users match the intended include behavior.
- Users do not match exclusion behavior.
- Dates and time windows explain why the user qualifies.
- Empty values are expected or explained.
- Counts in Audience Summary align with the preview pattern.
- The CSV export is disabled until preview rows and columns are available.
Common issues
| Issue | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Validate still shows issues | A condition is incomplete | Open the condition and complete field, operator, value, or time window |
| Estimate looks stale | Rules or dates changed after the last estimate | Select Estimate again |
| Audience size is zero | Conditions conflict, exclusion is too broad, or the window is too narrow | Broaden a condition or expand the time window |
| Preview table asks for attributes | No output columns are selected | Open Audience Attributes and select fields |
| Preview table asks for estimate | Attributes exist but rows are not loaded | Select Estimate preview or Estimate |
| CSV export is disabled | No preview rows or columns are available | Select attributes and run an estimate |