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

Who is a customer? A customer can have or not have specific attributes, insights, and observations denoting who they are or aren't. Examples of these are email, order likelihood, and acquisition source.

What has the customer done in the past? A customer can have or not have different engagements with your business. Examples of these behaviors are orders, email opens, and website visits.

Does the customer belong to another segment or list? Once you've built a segment or list, you may want to re-use it in future segments so that you don't have to build it over and over again.

Does the customer match an existing filter? Once you've created a filter, you may want to reference it in multiple segments instead of building a new filter for each new segment. 

Create a segment

To create a segment:

• Select Customers > Segments from the main navigation.
• Select the + Segment option at the upper left. 
• Select the Create New Segment option. 
• Provide a name for the segment in the Untitled Segment field. 
• Customize the elements of your segment. An example can be found here. 
• In the upper right, click the Save button.

Recreating an example segment

When creating a segment, you will be able to use the And operator and the Or operator. These allow your segment to become 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. 

The And operator allows multiple rules to be considered at once. In this case, the retailer would only like to contact their most engaged Boston customers. For them, this means the customer has opened an email within the last month. They would also like to further qualify this email open by removing any campaigns concerning sales. This additional refinement was achieved by applying a Where  filter to the Customers who have done rule. 

The Or operator allows a completely separate rule to be considered. In this case, the retailer has realized that their audience will be too small to make the event financially feasible. To address this challenge, they have decided to expand their target audience to all engaged customers from Massachusetts. 

Segment metrics

Once a segment has been previewed or saved, the segment metrics will update. These metrics can be interpreted as follows:

1. The total segment size, including anonymous and known customers. There are no restrictions on who is included in this number, as long as they meet 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. These figures include the number of customers in the segment who would receive a message through each channel if sent right now. The receive a message, the customer has to be both reachable (physically able to get a message) and consented/opted-in (either implicitly or explicitly). Channels are not mutually-exclusive, so a customer may be represented in more than one channel, or may not be 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. Both anonymous and known customers can be active. Email sends, list subscriptions/consent, and other events that don't require customer 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, it can be applied to campaigns, profiles, lifecycles, and reports. 

Campaigns

To apply a segment to a campaign:

• Navigate to Campaigns via the main navigation. 
• Create a new One-Time or Behavioral campaign or edit an existing campaign. 
• Locate and select the desired segment via the Segment search in the Enrollment section. 
• Select the Apply option on the segment card that appears. 
• Save and Go Live with the campaign as usual. 

Profiles

To apply a segment to profiles: 

• Navigate to Customers > Profiles via the main navigation. 
• Select the + Segment option at the upper left. 
• Locate and select the desired segment via the Segment search section. 
• Select the Apply option on the segment card that appears. 

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

Lifecycles

To apply a segment to the lifecycles tool: 

• Navigate to Customers > Lifecycles via the main navigation. 
• Select the Any Segment option in the expression at the top. 
• Locate and select the desired segment via the Segment search. 

The tool's displayed information will update automatically.

Reports

To apply a segment to a report: 

• Navigate to Company > Reports via the main navigation. 
• Create a new report or edit an existing report. 
• Select the + Segment option at the upper left. 
• Locate and select the desired segment via the Segment search section. 
• Select the Apply option on the segment card that appears. 

The report's information will update automatically. Select the Save option at the upper right if you'd like to keep this version of the report for future review.

Edit a segment

To edit an existing segment:

• Select Customers > Segments from the main navigation.
• Locate the segment you'd like to edit and click its name. 
• Click the Edit button in the upper right. 
• Make the desired changes and click the Save button at the upper right.

Delete a segment 

To delete an existing segment:

• Select Customers > Segments from the main navigation.
• Locate the segment you'd like to delete and click its name. 
• Click the three-dot icon next to the Edit button in the upper right. 
• Select the Delete option from the dropdown menu. 
• Click the Yes, delete it button in the prompt to confirm.