Advanced Search
Performing an advanced search is an effective way to perform "drill-down" searches based only on the specialized criteria that you select. This gives you an effective way to further slice, dice, and analyze the data from your site's form(s).
Use this data to build focused advertising campaigns, or to serve your visitors better!
The first step in the process is to select your search criteria, which will offer you two advanced sorting capabilities...
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OR: Will provide you with a greater number of results, as it displays results based on any one of two or more search criteria being met (i.e., if field "A" had this result OR field "C" had that result, display the data).
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AND: Will provide you with fewer results, since it displays the results only if the data exactly matches the criteria set for each one of any number of multiple fields (i.e., if field "A" had this result AND field "C" had that result, display the data).
Special Note: Only concern yourself with the search criteria if you intend to perform a search on multiple fields. If you intend to perform a search on one field only, it doesn't matter what you choose here.
An Example
- Enter the Date Range you want to search, selecting the day, month and year for both From and To.
- Select OR or AND (if searching multiple criteria).
- Enter your search criterion or criteria (e.g., United States for Country).
- Click on Search to start the search process.
Suppose you were conducting a simple survey asking visitors for a first name, email address, country of origin, and favorite widget color (red, yellow, or blue).
Below you would see this survey form exactly as it was presented to your client. Suppose you wanted to view the data based on the number of Canadians who preferred the blue colored widget.
Select AND for your search criteria (since both elements of this equation must be met to view the data -- i.e., the visitor must be from Canada, and she must select the blue widget as her favorite).
In the "Country" field, enter "Canada."
In the "Favorite color widget" field, select the "blue" option.
Click the Search button.
Bingo! A list of Canadians who prefer the blue widget.
OK, let's back up a step. Suppose you had chosen OR as your search criteria -- what would your results look like then?
Well, you'd be presented with the results from anyone who had either typed "Canada" into the Country field (and not necessarily chosen the blue widget as a favorite), or had selected "blue" as a favorite colored widget (but may not be from Canada).
In other words, you'd have a greater number of results, but they wouldn't be nearly as targeted! So the AND / OR options are powerful tools -- use them to refine your search as much as possible.
Remember...
You can perform searches on the data you stipulate for any field (or series of fields), and results are determined to be a match if a field (or series of fields) contains the value (or values) you enter.
Any time you perform a search on more than one variable, remember to consider your search criteria (AND -- all fields must meet the criteria you stipulate to generate a match, OR -- any one of the selected fields has to match to generate a match).
In general...
AND yields a more targeted search with fewer results.
OR yields a more general search with greater results.