A segment is a group of contacts defined by a set of conditions. Unlike a static subscriber list, segments are dynamic, meaning they grow as contacts meet the segment's conditions and shrink as contacts no longer meet them.

Segmented email sends often return more revenue per recipient than unsegmented sends as they can be tailored to a particular situation and thus are more relevant to the recipients. A few examples of how you might use segments to reach different audiences include:

• Send a special promotion to customers who currently have any amount in their shopping cart and have never made a purchase.
• Attempt to re-engage inactive subscribers who signed up at least six months ago but haven't been seen recently or haven't opened your last few emails.
• Send a thank you or special reward to VIP customers who have purchased at least X times before or have spent over X amount of money.
• Send a special offer to contacts who have purchased a specific product or an item from a particular collection (Shopify only). 

Custom segments

Custom segments allow you to target a group of your contacts by combining various filters. These segments are built from scratch, making them highly customizable to your situation.

Create a custom segment

To create and apply a custom segment to a one-time email campaign:

• Navigate to Campaigns and select or create the email you want to segment.
• Select the Edit button next to the "Send email to" heading in the Settings step.

• In the menu that opens, select the Custom Segment option.
• In the dropdown menu that appears, determine if you'd like the segment's contacts to Match any or Match all of the filters you eventually select.

• Now, click the Add filter dropdown menu and add the desired conditions. When building a segment, you can use the following conditions:

• Once the desired filters have been applied, decide if you would like to save the custom segment for reuse. If you do, select the Save Segment button and provide a name. If not, skip this option and move to the next step. 

• Finally, select the Save button at the upper right. The number of recipients included in the segment will appear on the card. If the selected segment is over 10,000 contacts, you'll see a 10,000+ value instead. 

Reuse a custom segment

To reuse an existing saved custom segment: 

• Navigate to Campaigns and select or create the email you want to segment. 
• Select the Edit button next to the "Send email to" heading in the Settings step.
• In the menu that opens, select the Custom Segment option. 
• Select a previously saved segment from the "Contacts in" dropdown menu. If you don't see this dropdown menu, then no segments were previously saved - follow these steps to revisit a previous campaign and save the desired segment.

• Finally, select the Save button at the upper right. The number of recipients included in the segment will appear on the card. If the selected segment is over 10,000 contacts, you'll see a 10,000+ value instead. 

To reuse an existing custom segment that hasn't been saved:

• Navigate to Campaigns and locate the email with the desired custom segment.
• Select the Edit button next to the "Send email to" heading in the Settings step.
• In the menu that opens, select the Custom Segment option. 
• Next to the segment's filter, select the Save Segment button and name the segment. The segment will now be available to select from a "Contacts in" dropdown menu in the custom segment options of other email campaigns. This is reviewed in the previous section. 

Smart segments

Smart segments allow you to quickly target a group of your contacts without the hassle of creating a custom segment. These segments make sending the right message to the right contact at the right time much more straightforward and typically result in increased deliverability rates and email engagement. Some of the available segments include:

• Current Customers: This segment targets the contacts that have placed at least one order with your store.
• Engaged Contacts: This segment targets the contacts that opened or clicked an email at least once in the last 90 days.
• Potential Customers: This segment targets the contacts that have not yet placed an order with your store.

Use a smart segment

To apply a smart segment to a one-time email campaign: 

• Navigate to Campaigns and select or create the email you want to segment.
• Select the Edit button next to the "Send email to" heading in the Settings step.
• In the menu that opens, select the Smart Segment option.
• In the dropdown menu that appears, select one of the prebuilt smart segments and then select the Save button. An estimated number of recipients will appear on the card. If the selected segment is over 10,000 contacts, a 10,000+ value will appear.