Our Email Marketing software allows you to create multiple lists, which you can use to keep your subscribers organized. However, many people wish to divide up their subscriber lists even further. This is known as "list segmenting." List segmenting allows you to send specific, targeted campaigns to small groups of subscribers, based on certain subscriber data, such as geographical location, gender, interests, etc -- a powerful marketing strategy.
Creating A Segment
To create a list segment in our Email Marketing software, first click on the Lists tab. On the right side of the page, you will see a link that says "List Segments" -- click this link.
Once you are on the List Segments page, click Add to add a new segment. You will be asked to choose which list(s) the segment should be used on, and you will also be asked to type a name for the segment, by which to reference it later.
Match Type
The "Match Type" option gives you two settings to choose from -- "subscribers who match ALL of the following groups," or "subscribers you match ANY of the following groups." A segment can be composed of multiple groups of conditions, and it is up to you if you want subscribers who meet at least one of these conditions to be a part of the segment, or if you want only subscribers who meet every condition to be a part of the segment.
Groups & Conditions
By default, your segment will have one group. Groups can contain one or more conditions, and you can decide whether or not all conditions should be met for a group to be matched, or if only one of the conditions needs to be met for a group to be matched. Your groups and conditions can be as simple of complex as you need.
Conditions can be based on default subscriber fields (such as Name, Subscription Date, etc), custom fields that you have added (such as City, Zip Code, Interests, etc), or actions that a subscriber has taken in the past (such as opened a specific campaign, clicked a specific link, etc).
You can click "Add another condition" to add multiple conditions to your group, and click the red "X" to the right to remove conditions. Similarly, you can click "Add another group of conditions" to add multiple groups.
Click "Add" on the bottom of the page when you are finished adding groups and conditions, to save your segment.
Once you have saved your segment, you will be brought back to the main List Segments page, where you can edit your segment, or view its matching subscribers.
Example Segments
Below is an example segment, where any subscribers whose City field (a custom field) is set to "Detroit" or "Chicago" are matched.
This segment has one group, and either one of the conditions in that group can be true for the segment to be matched (the subscriber can live in Chicago OR Detroit to be a part of the segment).
What if you want to send a newsletter to all of your subscribers who live in either Chicago or Detroit, and who have subscribed before a certain date? (For example, if you wanted to offer a special promotion to your earlier customers.) Below is what that segment would look like.
Pay special attention to the use of "all" and "any" in the drop-down selections -- they are basically the "and" and "or" in your logic statements.
Using Your Segment
Once you have created a segment, you can send a new campaign, only to subscribers who match that segment. To do this, simply click Create New Campaign as usual. On the second step of the campaign creation process, you will be asked to choose which list(s) the campaign should be sent to. As soon as you click on a list, you will see an option appear below, which says "Segment my selected list(s)." Click this option, and you will see a list of segments you have already created, plus you will see the option to create a new segment on the fly.
Once you have chosen your segment, continue on with the campaign creation process as normal. On the summary page at the end, before you click Send Now, you will see the name of the list, the name of the segment you are using, and the number of subscribers the campaign will be sent to.
Questions or Concerns?
This concludes the List Segment tutorial. Segments are a powerful marketing tool, which can be used to maximize your subscriber responses, increase sales, organize your lists, or send any type of targeted campaign or promotion. Should you have any questions regarding how segments are used, what they can be used for, or how to utilize segments to meet your business' specific needs, please do not hesitate to contact us for further information, and we would be happy to help!
