How to test a filter with Test On Campaign before enabling it

A Lead filter is powerful precisely because it is silent. It quietly trims which records the dialer pulls, with no warning if it trims too many. Set one too aggressively and a live Campaign can suddenly have nothing to dial, with agents sitting idle while you scramble to figure out why. The Test On Campaign tool exists to stop exactly that.

This post covers what Test On Campaign does, where to find it, and the simple loop of preview, check, and revise that should come before you ever switch a filter on.

What Test On Campaign tells you

Test On Campaign sits at the bottom of the Filter Modification page. You pick a campaign, run the test, and it previews how many leads in that campaign you can expect to dial if this filter were enabled. It runs your filter SQL against the real lead data without touching anything, so it is completely safe to run as many times as you like.

The number it returns is the whole point. A healthy count means agents will have plenty to call. A count near zero means your filter is too strict, or the data simply does not contain matching records. Either way, you learn it before going live instead of during a shift.

The test-and-revise loop

flowchart TD
  A[Write filter SQL] --> B[Open Test On Campaign]
  B --> C[Pick campaign and run]
  C --> D{Enough leads remain}
  D -->|No| E[Loosen the SQL or load data]
  E --> A
  D -->|Yes| F[Enable filter on campaign]
  F --> G[Hopper loads dialable leads]

Think of it as a loop rather than a one-off. Write the rule, preview the count, and if it is too low, loosen the condition or load fresh data, then preview again. Only when the count looks right do you enable the filter. Because the Hopper cron is what actually loads dialable records, the preview is your one chance to see its decision before it goes into effect.

Why a near-zero count is so easy to hit

Filters stack with everything else that decides whether a record is callable. A Lead might match your filter but already be flagged on your DNC (do not call) list, sit outside your calling hours, or have a status the campaign excludes. The preview reflects all of that together, which is why the real dialable number can be much lower than you would guess from the filter alone.

This is most common right after loading a new list, or when you combine two tight conditions, such as a narrow attempt band plus a recency window. Each rule on its own looks fine; together they can leave almost nothing. The preview catches that overlap before your agents do.

Make it a habit

Treat Test On Campaign as a required step, not an optional one. Every time you create or change a filter, run the preview against the campaign you plan to attach it to, confirm the leftover count is comfortable, and only then enable it. It takes seconds and saves you from idle agents and a confusing scramble.

Need a refresher on editing filters first? See how to modify a filter, and for the wider context read our quality control overview.

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