Definitions for the Never A Followed By B rule

Detailed description of the values to enter when configuring the Never A Followed By B rule, including examples.

Table 1. Never A Followed by B rule field definitions

A two-column table that describes the fields in the Never A Followed by B rule.
Field Value

For each customer in segment
  • Any customer applies the rule to all customers.
  • Segment Name limits the rule to customers in the segment you select.

that first receives an offer from channel
  • Any channel applies to offers regardless of delivery channel.
  • Channel name narrows the rule to those offers on the channel you specify only.

concerning offer/offer list
  • Any offer applies to all offers.
  • Offer/offer list narrows the rule to the specific offer or offer list you select.
  • Offer Versions narrows the rule to offer versions with the offer attributes you specify in the query builder. Use offer version to scope the rule to apply to only specific offer versions defined using parameterized offer attributes.

cannot later receive an offer from channel
  • Any channel applies to offers regardless of delivery channel.
  • Channel name narrows the rule to those offers on the channel you specify only.

within the time period
  • A time period you specify applies the rule to all time periods with the specified duration. The duration is a number of days. In other words, the rule must be true for any time period specified. For example, you create a rule that says a maximum of 3 offers can be sent to any customer in a 30-day period. Contact Optimization does not allow any optimized offers (also considering offers given in contact history) to exceed 3 in any 30-day window. This "sliding window" interpretation of the time period allows you to truly control your offer presentation strategy.
  • 0 represents "this optimization period." This option sets the minimum and maximum number of offers made over the entire time range for proposed contacts across all participating campaigns in this Contact Optimization session. That is, between the earliest and latest proposed dates in the PCT. When a value of zero is used, no sliding windows are used. The entire optimization period is considered as a single time window. In addition, contact history is not considered.

concerning offer/offer list
  • Any offer applies to all offers.
  • Offer/offer list narrows the rule to the specific offer or offer list you select.
  • Offer Versions narrows the rule to offer versions with the offer attributes you specify in the query builder. Use offer version to scope the rule to apply to only specific offer versions defined using parameterized offer attributes.

Example of the Never A Followed By B rule

"For each customer in segment All Segments, that first receives an offer from channel All Channels concerning offer/offer list Platinum Cards cannot later receive an offer from channel All Channels within the time period 90 days concerning offer/offer list Gold Cards." This rule removes any gold card offers to a customer who first received a platinum card offer in the previous 90 days from the optimized contact list.

"For each customer in segment All Segments, that first receives an offer from channel Any Channel concerning offer/offer list CreditLimitReduction cannot later receive an offer from channel Any Channel within the time period 90 days concerning offer/offer list CrossSellCreditCardInsurance." This rule removes any offers for credit card insurance from customers who first received a Credit Limit Reduction notice in the previous 90 days.