Why am I seeing unexpected titles in my persona targeting?

Last updated: May 1, 2026

Context

When running website intent plays with personas, you may notice that some prospects with unintended titles are being included in your targeting. This often happens when using broad title matches that could overlap with other roles you're not targeting.

Answer

If you're seeing unexpected titles in your prospecting results, this is likely due to partial matches with your included titles. You don't need to list every possible variation of a title—Unify automatically handles common variations based on core keywords. For example, if you're targeting "President" roles, you might unintentionally capture "Vice President" titles as well, since both contain the keyword "President." Similarly, "Vice President Marketing" would match variations like "Vice President of Marketing" or "Vice President of Marketing - Blue Apron at Wonder" because the system focuses on core keywords and filters out extra context.

If you're seeing unexpected titles in your prospecting results, this is likely due to how Unify's fuzzy matching system works. The fuzzy matching system operates by:

  • Matching personas based on a 'contains' search that requires EVERY word from your target title to be present in the prospect's actual title (in any order)

  • Ignoring capitalization differences

  • Ignoring punctuation marks

  • Filtering out extraneous words and extra context (like company names or additional descriptors in titles)

Complex fuzzy matching can also lead to unintended matches in more nuanced scenarios. For example, if you target engineering executives and include the keyword “Head,” the system may match titles such as “Head of Partnerships” or “Head of Sales,” even though these roles are outside your intended audience.

This means that titles in your data sources don't need to match exactly with the persona inputs you configure in Unify, but all words you specify must be present. For example, if you're targeting "President" roles, you might unintentionally capture "Vice President" titles as well, since both contain the keyword "President."

Additionally, you may miss intended prospects if their title uses different wording than what you've specified. For example, targeting "CTO" won't match prospects whose title in our database is "Chief Technology Officer" since not all words are present. To capture these variations, add both abbreviated and full versions of titles to your persona (e.g., both "CTO" and "Chief Technology Officer").

Note that persona matching uses title data from Unify's data sources, not from your Salesforce environment. Keep in mind that titles in Unify's database may differ slightly from what appears on LinkedIn, as we source data from multiple providers, though the titles should generally match between the two systems.

Best Practice: When setting up personas, be as specific as possible with your title inclusions and use exclusions to filter out unwanted matches. When multiple personas could match prospects at the same company, the system may not always prioritize personas in the order listed. Review your persona targeting regularly to ensure you're capturing the right roles.

Important timing consideration: Changes to excluded titles only apply to new hires detected in future signal refreshes. They are not retroactive, so previously captured unwanted titles will continue to appear until the next refresh cycle completes.

To refine your targeting and exclude unwanted titles:

Commonly excluded titles include: intern, assistant, chief of staff, admin, cos, administrative assistant, coordinator.

Important: Exclusions take precedence over inclusions. If you exclude a broad term like "director," it will also exclude titles like "Executive Director" or "Director of Marketing" even if those specific titles are listed in your included titles. To avoid unintentionally filtering out desired roles, exclude specific title variants (e.g., "Director of Operations," "Facilities Director") rather than broad terms.

  1. Navigate to your Personas settings

  2. Locate the "Titles to exclude" section

  3. Add specific titles you want to exclude (e.g., "Vice President" if you only want to target Presidents)

Best Practice: While keeping titles high-level can help cast a wider net, being more specific with both inclusions and exclusions will help you target the exact roles you want to reach. Consider reviewing and updating your persona targeting regularly to maintain precision in your prospecting efforts.

Exclusions must be configured separately for each persona; there is no global exclusion setting. If multiple personas require the same exclusions (e.g., “Sales,” “Account Executive,” “Account Manager”), you need to add these exclusions to each persona’s settings individually.

You can also utilize our AI agent to qualify specific companies before prospecting for respective personas, which adds an additional layer of targeting precision.