In Result & not in Result

The in result and not in result filters allow you to compare your target Data Extension (DE) against another DE—without doing a full data join. Think of them like subqueries that help include or exclude records based on their presence in another segment result.

These filters are key for exclusion logic, targeting based on past engagement, and suppressing previously contacted audiences.

In Result

The in result filter includes only those records in your target DE that also appear in the result of another DESelect Selection. You compare a field (usually an ID or email address) from your main DE to the same field in another DE or Selection.

Use cases for this filter type include targeting users who opened a specific email last week, who completed a survey, clicked a specific link, or made a purchase.

Not in Result

The not in result filter does the opposite—it excludes records from your current segment if they appear in another DE or Selection. For example, you can use it to send a campaign to all customers except those who have already received it.

Video tutorial

https://player.vimeo.com/video/683707869

When to use In/Not in Results instead of adding the Data Extension to my Selected Data Extensions

You should use the In/Not In Results filter instead of adding a Data Extension to your Selected Data Extensions when you want to prevent duplicate records in your results. This is especially useful when dealing with a one-to-many relationship, such as filtering customers based on their multiple orders. Additionally, use this method when you need to filter data based on another Data Extension, but you do not need to pull any of its specific fields into your final Target Data Extension.

Conversely, you should only add a Data Extension to your Selected Data Extensions when you specifically need to use its fields to populate your Target Data Extension.

Example

Suppose you have an Orders Data Extension and a Customers Data Extension with the records shown below:

Orders
Id	CustomerId
1	1
2	1
3	2

Customers
Id	Email
1	[email protected]
2	[email protected]

Because the CustomerId column in the Orders Data Extension is not unique when you try to join those two Data Extensions, the result would look like this:

Orders with Customers
OrderId	CustomerId	Email
1	1	[email protected]
2	1	[email protected]
3	2	[email protected]

Since there is a one-to-many relationship between those two tables duplicate values on the Email column show up. Depending on the use case, the Email duplicate values that show up might be unwanted.

To sum up:

Add to ‘Selected Data Extensions’	In / Not in Results
When you need a field of a Data Extension to populate a Target Data Extension field.	When you do not want duplicate rows. When you want to use a Data Extension that is not in your ‘Selected Data Extensions’.