Segments

Segments are saved, dynamic filters on a list: "everyone in Copenhagen", "opened something in the last 30 days", "placed at least 2 orders". Subscribers move in and out automatically as their data changes, so a segment is always up to date when you send to it.

Create a segment

1. Go to Segments and click create segment
2. Pick the email list the segment filters
3. Name it and add your segmentation criteria

Each criterion is a field, an operator and a value. You can combine multiple criteria.

What you can filter on

• Profile fields: email, name, phone, birthday, gender and any custom field on the list
• Engagement: opens and clicks
• E-commerce activity: orders placed, with amounts

Behavioral criteria support a time window: over all time or in the last X days. "Placed order at least 1 time in the last 90 days" is your active-customers segment; flip the operator to zero times for the winback audience.

Custom field criteria take the value as key:value. Text operators (key equals, key contains) match the stored text; the numeric operators (key is greater than, at least, less than, at most) compare the stored value as a number, so loyalty_points:250 with "key is at least" finds everyone with 250 points or more. Subscribers whose value is not a number never match a numeric operator. The same operators are available in automation profile filters.

Using segments

• Campaigns: choose the segment as the audience instead of the whole list
• Automations: the new subscriber trigger can enroll from a segment, and profile filters can require segment membership
• Segment membership counts update automatically; open a segment to see who is currently in it
• The "Unique subscribers" tile at the top of the Segments page counts people who are in at least one segment. Someone in three segments counts once there, but appears in each segment's own count
• Counts only include active subscribers. Unsubscribed, bounced and complained subscribers never receive campaigns, so they are not counted even if they match the rules. The number you see is the number of recipients a campaign to that segment gets

Segment ideas that earn money

• VIPs: placed order at least 3 times over all time - reward them, ask for reviews
• Winback: placed order at least 1 time, but zero times in the last 120 days
• Engaged non-buyers: clicked in the last 30 days, zero orders - a nudge or first-order coupon converts these
• Locals: a city custom field for store events

Segments versus lists

Use lists for genuinely separate audiences (customers versus wholesale partners). Use segments for everything else - they keep one profile per person and update themselves. If you find yourself exporting and re-importing to "move" people, a segment is almost always the better tool.