The two types of lists
Vainu lists two different types of lists: My lists and Custom lists. Custom lists are your lists too, but there is another real distinction between these two types of lists:
My lists are dynamic, which means Vainu will constantly keep those lists up-to-date based on the exact filter sets you have selected - and nothing else. All active prospects that match the criteria are shown on the list, and Vainu will take care of both adding new prospects on the list as well as removing prospects from the list - whenever they being to match or stop matching the criteria you have defined.
Custom lists are static, which means you are in charge of not only creating the list - but also adding and removing prospects as per your needs. Vainu will only remove companies from the list if they are no longer active and cease their operations.
📃 Technically, there are four other list types that you might be seeing on your menu - but for the sake of simplicity we didn't want to mention them until now:
Shared with me are simply lists that another user from your organization has decided to share with you - sometimes only with viewing privileges in which case you can't edit those lists. But you can always duplicate those lists to create your very own copy to play around with.
Dynamic lists (legacy), Static lists (legacy) and Shared lists (legacy) are lists that might be visible to experienced Vainu users who have previously worked on our older platform. This allows you to view and migrate those lists to the new platform. The nomenclature has changed so that Dynamic lists are now called My lists, Static lists are now known as Custom lists and Shared lists have been renamed to Shared with me.
Creating new lists
When you click on Create a list, Vainu introduces two options: New list and Upload a list.
New list always creates a new dynamics list under My lists. The starting point is always a list that contains every single active organization within that country database, which you can then start narrowing down to your own personal preference by applying different filters.
Upload a list allows you to import a spreadsheet containing a list of companies. This is a nice way of building a list from your customer organizations, companies that participated in a trade show, or maybe a list of prospects that you targeted with a marketing campaign. The uploaded list is always created under Custom lists, as it is not a list that Vainu would update based on filters.
There is also a third way to create a new list, and that is by adding one or multiple companies on a new Custom list - directly from the platform without uploading a spreadsheet. This can be done either by clicking on this button on the top right corner of any company card...
...or by selecting a set of companies (or all companies) by clicking on the checkboxes on any existing lists and then clicking on the Add to custom list button. From there you can either choose to add the selected companies to any pre-existing Custom list or just create an entirely new one.
Frequently asked questions about lists
Can I turn a dynamic "My list" into a Custom list?
Yes you can. Just select all prospects by clicking on the checkbox next to the Select all text right above the first company card on your list - or choose a set of prospects by clicking on the checkboxes next to the Select text on each company card. After that, click on the Add to custom list button to either create a new list, or add all selected prospects on an existing Custom list.
Can I turn a Custom list into a dynamic "My list" to be able to use filters on it?
Yes you can. Every Custom list comes with a Filter button right below the list name, which essentially creates a new list under "My lists" that starts off with one single filter - the one that only shows you all companies listed on that original Custom list. You can then proceed to add any other filters to further narrow down the list of prospects.
Do I need to save changes when adding or removing filters from one of my lists?
No you don't, our lists autosave themselves after any changes are made. If you have a working list but want to try a different set of filters without losing the existing list, we recommend duplicating the original list to make sure it stays untouched while you play around with the filters of the duplicated list.
Can I exclude prospects on one list from another list?
Yes you can, but Vainu only allows you to use the Include / exclude list filter with Custom lists. So if you have a dynamic list under My lists, and you would want to exclude those prospects from a different dynamic list under My lists, you will first need to move all those prospects on a new Custom list and then use that new list as a filter. Just remember that the new Custom list is just a snapshot of what that dynamic list contained during the time when its prospects were copied on a Custom list. The dynamic list will keep evolving over time, but those changes will not follow on the Custom list.
Why can't I add a single prospect on my list?
You can add prospects on Custom lists as you please, but My lists are built to only follow the exact criteria defined with filters. So if the prospect matches the criteria, it's already there - and if it doesn't, Vainu won't allow you to break the criteria by adding prospects that otherwise wouldn't match them. If you want to build some sort of a combination of a dynamic list built using filters and handpicked selection of companies that otherwise wouldn't match those filters, you are best served by first turning the relevant dynamic My list into a Custom list, and then adding whatever you want to add on (or remove whatever you want to remove from) that list.
🕵🏻♀️ Contact Vainu Support if you have any questions! You can send an email to support@vainu.io or send a message through chat.