Types of segment rules

The different rules you can use to create a segment when using our drag and drop segments tool.

Laura Russell avatar
Written by Laura Russell
Updated over a week ago

Depending upon the base rule for your segment, you get different options with which to formulate a rule.

There are five categories of segment rules:

  • Behaviors

  • Data

  • Sources

  • Ecommerce

  • Predictive

There are also two blocks available which allow you to create flexible groupings for your rule sets.


Before you start

Things you need to know:

  • This article covers rule types in detail. For an introductory tutorial on working with segments, see Create a segment.


Behaviours

The Behaviors section includes four rules for segmentation. You can create segments based on:

  • Opens

  • Clicks

  • Sends

  • Replies

Segment using Opens

Segmenting based on open data lets you create targeted marketing campaigns by grouping contacts according to their engagement. By analysing which campaigns your audience has opened, you can gain insights into their interests and preferences, leading to more effective campaigns.

Segmenting on open data is only available for email campaigns.

There are four options for segmenting based on email opens:

  • Not opened any campaign they were sent

  • Opened any campaign they were sent

  • Not opened specific campaigns they were sent

  • Opened specific campaigns they were sent

After you choose an option, the segment tool gives you additional filter options to fine-tune your segment. Here you can find date filters and, for some options, open data filters.

Segment using Clicks

Segmenting on clicks helps you to group your contacts based on how they interact with your content. By segmenting using clicks, you can pinpoint their specific interests and preferences, allowing for more targeted and relevant campaigns.

There are several options for segmenting based on clicks:

Email

  • For any campaign

    • They have not clicked any link

    • They have clicked any link

    • They have not clicked specific link groups

    • They have clicked specific link groups

  • For selected campaigns

    • They have not clicked any link

    • They have clicked any link

  • Specific links

    • They have not clicked specific links

    • They have clicked specific links

SMS

  • For any campaign

    • They have not clicked any link

    • They have clicked any link

  • For selected campaigns

    • They have not clicked any link

    • They have clicked any link

  • Specific links

    • They have not clicked specific links

    • They have clicked specific links

After you go through these options, the segment tool gives you additional filter options to fine-tune your segment. Here you can find date filters and, for some options, click data filters.

Segment using Sends

Segmenting on sends allows you to group your contacts based on the campaigns you've sent them, allowing you to see which contacts have received specific campaigns. By grouping contacts based on the campaigns you've sent them, you can customise your marketing communications and avoid overloading recipients with information, which helps to maintain a healthy sender reputation.

There are several main options for segmenting based on Sends:

Email

  • Not sent any campaign

  • Sent any campaign

  • Not sent specific campaigns

  • Sent specific campaigns

SMS

  • Not sent any campaign

  • Sent any campaign

  • Not sent specific campaigns

  • Sent specific campaigns

After you choose an option, the segment tool gives you additional filter options to fine-tune your segment. Here you can find date filters and, for some options, data filters.

Segment on Replies

Segmenting on replies lets you identify and group your contacts who have actively engaged with your communications by responding to any messages. Doing this allows you to see which contacts are genuinely interested in your content and promotes stronger connections with them.

There are several main options for segmenting based on Replies:

Email

  • Replied to any campaigns they were sent

  • Not replied to any campaigns they were sent

  • Replied to specific campaigns they were sent

  • Not replied to specific campaigns they were sent

SMS

  • Replied to any SMS they were sent

  • Replied with specific content

After you choose an option, the segment tool gives you additional filter options to fine-tune your segment. Here you can find date filters and, for some options, the ability to select an email or SMS campaign, and to filter for replies.

Data

The Data filter section includes two data type options for segmentation. You can create segments based on:

  • Data fields

  • Insight data

Depending on how many Insight data collections you have in your account, you see either an individual block for each collection, or a single Insight data block, which, once selected, allows you to select the collection you want using a drop-down menu.

Segment on Data fields

Segmenting on data fields lets you organise contacts based the information you hold about them in contact data fields, such as interests, demographics, contact scoring data, and more. This enables you to tailor your marketing communications to the unique characteristics of each group, boosting the relevance of your campaigns.

You can filter your segment based on your contacts' data. In addition to any custom contact data fields that you've created, the following contact data fields are available by default:

Data field

Data type

Availability

Email

Text

All accounts

Mobile number

Text

All accounts

Mobile number country

Text

All accounts

Email type

List

All accounts

Email channel opt-in type

List

All accounts

Email last sent date

Date

All accounts

Email channel creation date

Date

All accounts

Email last opened date

Date

All accounts

Contact scoring: Suitability

Byte

With contact scoring setup

Contact scoring: Engagement

Byte

With contact scoring setup

Contact scoring: Contact score

Byte

With contact scoring setup

Contact scoring: Label

ScoreLabel

With contact scoring setup

The rules only work when appropriate data is available for each contact in the corresponding contact data field. The rules you can use depends on the type of contact data field you're using.

After you choose a data field to segment on, the segment tool gives you additional filter options to fine-tune your segment. Here you might find comparison operators, date filters, boolean operators, and more.

Segment on Insight data

Segmenting based on Insight data allows you to create rules based on a whole range of information that you have gathered about your contacts, including consent data, website interactions, purchases, and more.

Sources

The Sources filter section includes two rules for segmentation. You can create segments based on:

  • Lists

  • Preferences

  • Channels

Segment on Lists

Segmenting your contacts by list membership lets you combine groups of contacts effectively, making it easier to target specific audiences. Your lists might contain various customer groups, interests, or other relevant criteria that are important to your business. Therefore, by segmenting your contacts on lists, you can ensure that the right messages reach the right people.

There are three options for segmenting based on lists:

  • Present in any list

  • Not in the specific lists

  • Present in specific lists

If you choose an option to segment on specific list, the segment tool then allows you to choose which lists to filter by.

Segment on Preferences

Segmenting your contacts on their preferences effectively tailors your marketing and communications to each individual's interests, needs, and behaviours. This enables you to target specific groups with customised messages, promotions and offers that interest them.

There are several three options for segmenting based on Preferences:

  • Have any preferences

  • Do not have any specific preferences

  • Have specific preferences

After you choose an option to segment on, the segment tool gives you additional filter options to fine-tune your segment. Here you can find a list of preferences to filter with.

Segment on Channels

Segmenting your contacts based on the subscription status of individual channels allows you to ensure that you are targeting your communications efficiently.

There are four options for filtering by Channels:

  • Have any of the selected channels with the status subscribed.

  • Do not have any of the selected channels with the status subscribed.

  • Have all of the selected channels with the status subscribed.

  • Do not have all of the selected channels with the status subscribed.

Once you have selected your filter rule, you can then select your channels; Email, SMS, or both.

Ecommerce

The Ecommerce section includes three types of rules:

  • RFM score

  • eRFM score

  • Purchase

These options allow you to build segments based around your contacts’ interactions with your store.

RFM score

This block allows you to specify which RFM personas you want to include in or exclude from your segment. You can either select from the six standard personas, or create a custom one. If you select a standard persona, you see some insights into these customers, as well as some suggested actions to help increase their engagement with you.

eRFM score

This blocks lets you select from a grid of eRFM personas to highlight those contacts to include in or exclude from your segment. eRFM is our ecommerce behavioural model designed to help you better understand the potential of your contacts by creating customer personas from engagement score and RFM score.

Purchase

The purchase block can be used to segment and target your contacts based on their purchase history. It offers additional options above those available when filtering directly on order insight data. For example, you can filter orders by the full set of product fields, metadata, and category data.

Predictive

Customer predictions are a useful way to anticipate what your customers are likely to do next, and when; this can help you to prepare appropriate strategies to keep your customers engaged and continue purchasing your products or services.

You can create segments that contain predictive blocks, which lets you filter your contacts into segments based on their predictions, such as when they will next order, or their churn risk.

Grouping

The Grouping options in the segment builder allow to build up more complex sets of rules to identify very specific subsets of your contact list. You can use these blocks to dictate whether contacts must meet all or any of the rules within a group.

Read more in the section Group rules together.

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