Contact Lists help you organize, segment, and engage groups of contacts in Swivel. Whether you're sending a marketing campaign, managing event attendees, tracking outreach, or building follow-up workflows, lists make it easy to work with the right audience.
Swivel supports two types of lists:
Dynamic Lists - automically update based on filter criteria
Static Lists - fixed snapshots of contacts that only change when manually updated
Choosing the right list type depends on whether you want your audience to stay current automatically or remain unchanged over time.
When to Use Contact Lists
Contact Lists are commonly used for:
Broadcast email campaigns
Broadcast text message campaigns
Event invitations and follow-up
Call-down and outreach campaigns
Birthday outreach
Re-engagement campaigns
Tracking outreach progress with dispositions
Creating targeted marketing audiences
Dynamic Lists
A Dynamic List automatically updates based on the filter criteria used to create it.
Each time you open the list or send a campaign, Swivel re-evaluates the criteria against your current database and returns all matching contacts in real time.
When to Use a Dynamic List
Use a dynamic list when your audience should continuously stay up to date without manual maintenance.
Example
“All active clients in Texas with birthdays this month.”
If a new qualifying contact is added tomorrow, they will automatically appear in the list.
Benefits of Dynamic Lists
Automatically refreshes
Always reflects current data
Great for ongoing workflows and recurring campaigns
Important Considerations
Because Dynamic Lists continuously update:
Contact counts may change over time
New qualifying contacts may appear automatically
Contacts may drop off if they no longer match the criteria
🔍 Tip: Dynamic Lists are not ideal when you need a fixed, auditable audience snapshot.
Static Lists
A Static List is a fixed snapshot of contacts at a specific point in time.
Once created, contacts only change when someone manually adds or removes contacts from the list.
When to Use a Static List
Use a static list when you need a consistent audience that should not change automatically.
Example
Seminar attendees from a past event
A curated re-engagement campaign
A compliance or audit snapshot
A one-time outreach campaign
Benefits of Static Lists
Predictable audience membership
Auditable contact snapshots
Campaigns target exactly the selected contacts
Important Considerations
Static Lists do not update automatically. If new contacts should be added later, they must be manually added to the list.
Dynamic vs Static Lists
Feature | Dynamic List | Static List |
Contacts included in the list | Recomputed on each view | Fixed snapshot |
How contacts are added | Based on filter criteria | Saved at creation |
How contacts are removed | Criteria updates | Manual removal |
Best for | Ongoing audiences | One-time campaigns |
Shows "Excluded Contacts" | Yes | No |
Shows Building status | No | Yes (during initial build) |
How to Choose the Right List Type
Use a Dynamic List when:
Your audience changes regularly
You want new qualifying contacts included automatically
You are building ongoing campaigns or workflows
You are managing event attendees or one-time outreach
Use a Static List when:
You need a frozen audience snapshot
You want consistent campaign recipients
You are managing event attendees or one-time outreach
How to Identify List Type
Lists are labeled with a badge next to the list name:
Dynamic (green badge)
Static (purple badge)
🔍 Tip: The Contact Lists page also includes a Type column you can sort by.
Common Contact List Uses
After creating a Contact List, you can:
Send broadcast emails
Send broadcast text messages
Track outreach progress using dispositions
Export contacts
Create appointments
Create opportunities
Create products
View communication results
Perform 1-to-1 outreach
Best Practices
Use clear naming conventions
Choose list names that make the audience easy to identify later.
Use Static Lists for one-time campaigns
If you need an exact audience that won't changes between review and send, use a Static List
Use Dynamic lists for recurring outreach
Dynamic Lists work best for ongoing workflows where contacts hould flow in and out automatically based on criteria.
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