A segment is a subset of your customers based on who they are or what they have done. There are four principles to understand that will enable you to build any segment.

Who is a customer – A customer can have specific attributes, insights, and observations denoting who they are, such as email, order likelihood, and acquisition source.

What has the customer done in the past – A customer can have different engagements with your business (known as behaviors), such as orders, email opens, and website visits.

Does the customer belong to another segment or list – You can re-use any segments or lists you have built.

Does the customer match an existing filter – You can reference an existing filter.

Create a segment

1. Select Customers > Segments > + Segment > Create New Segment.
2. Provide a name for the segment in the Untitled Segment field.
3. Customize the elements of your segment. An example can be found here.
4. Click Save.

Recreating an example segment

When creating a segment, you can use the And operator and the Or operator to make your segment more complex and targeted. The example below reviews how these options can build on each other to create a more robust segment. 

The initial segment expression allows you to establish the foundation of your subset of customers. In this case, a small boutique retailer has decided to celebrate the holidays with a special event in Boston. At the highest level, the retailer would like to target their Boston customers.

Use the And operator to consider multiple rules at once. In this case, the retailer would only like to contact their most engaged Boston customers–the ones who have opened an email within the last month. They would also like to remove any campaigns concerning sales, applying a Where  filter to the Customers who have done rule.

Use the Or operator to consider a completely separate rule. In this example, the retailer's audience will be too small to make the event financially feasible. They have expanded their target audience to all engaged customers from Massachusetts.

Segment metrics

Segment metrics update once you preview or save a segment. You can interpret these metrics as follows:

1. The total segment size, including anonymous and known customers – Anyone who meets your segment criteria. This number can include customers without contact information, anonymous website shoppers, or unreachable/opted-out customers who cannot receive marketing communications.
2. Reachable customers by channel – The number of customers in the segment who would receive a message through each channel if sent right now. The customer has to be both reachable (physically able to get a message) and consented/opted-in (either implicitly or explicitly). A customer can be represented in more than one channel or not represented at all if they are not reachable in these ways.
3. Active and inactive customers – Active customers have been seen on-site, ordering, or otherwise responding to marketing content in the last 30 days and can be both anonymous and known customers. Email sends, list subscriptions/consent, and other events that do not require customers to do the activity themselves do not count as "active". Active plus inactive customers equals the total segment size (#1).

Apply a segment

Once a segment has been saved, you can apply it to campaigns, profiles, lifecycles, and reports. 

Campaigns

1. Go to Campaigns, and create a new One-Time or Behavioral campaign or edit an existing campaign.
2. Locate and select the desired segment under Enrollment.
3. Click Apply.
4. Save and Go Live with the campaign.

Profiles

1. Go to Customers > Profiles > + Segment.
2. Locate and select the desired segment.
3. Click Apply.

The profiles of customers included in the segment will appear below. 

Lifecycles

1. Go to Customers > Lifecycles > Any Segment.
2. Locate and select the desired segment via the Segment search.

The tool's displayed information will update automatically.

Reports

1. Go to Company > Reports.
2. Create a new report or edit an existing report.
3. Click + Segment.
4. Locate and select the desired segment.
5. Click Apply.

The report's information will update automatically. Click Save if you want to keep this version of the report for future review.

Edit a segment

1. Go to Customers > Segments.
2. Locate the segment you want to edit and click its name.
3. Click Edit.
4. Make the desired changes and click Save.

Delete a segment 

1. Go to Customers > Segments.
2. Locate the segment to delete and click its name.
3. Click the three-dot icon. 
4. Select Delete.
5. Click Yes, delete it to confirm.