New: About segments

Attention
If your account still works with interest labels and preferences instead of with interests, you can find more information here.

What are segments?

Segments are sections of your contacts that you have gathered together based on certain criteria. You can later use that segment to send campaigns, only to that segment.

Segments are particularly interesting because you can use multiple criteria, not just one. What is more, you chose if those multiple criteria should simultaneously be true or meeting one criterion will be enough to enter that segment. Therefore, segments allow you to really tune the audience that receives your messages quickly, easily and precisely.

How do segments work in Flexmail?

The way segments work in Flexmail depends on the different segmentation options you set up. When segmenting you simply name your segment and your criteria. You can create relationships between your various criteria. You may create a segment based on criteria that are met simultaneously and only if they are met simultaneously for a particular contact, it will be added to your segment list. Or, you could choose to add various criteria where contacts covering any of the criteria will enter the list. You can have any variation of those.

What can you do with segments in Flexmail?

You can create segments to divide your contacts in different contact lists.
You can create subsegments to further subdivide your contacts.
You can show personalised content in messages, based on the segments the contacts belong to.
You can send campaigns to one or more segments.
You can create workflows for contacts in a specific segment.

Segmentation criteria

There are five criteria types for the segmentation of your contacts: a contact field, a source, an interest, an opt-in form and a campaign. When a contact meets one of those criteria it can be added to a segment. The available criteria, with all their possible combinations, can be found in the following tables:

Contact fields

Trigger	Field	Function	Value
Contact field	Email	Starts with	The value of the field*
	First name	Doesn't start with	The value of the field*
	Name	Ends with	The value of the field*
	Language	Doesn't end with	The value of the field*
	Your custom fields	Contains	The value of the field*
		Does not contains	The value of the field*
		Equals (exact)	The value of the field*
		Not equals (exact)	The value of the field*
		Smaller than	The value of the field*
		Less than, equal to	The value of the field*
		Larger than	The value of the field*
		More than, equal to	The value of the field*
		Empty value	N/A**
		No empty value	N/A**

* Add the value as you have indicated it in your database.
** Depends on which field you select. There are exceptional fields that require you to enter a value, e.g. language and creation.

Support tip
If you use your own field with a multiple-choice field in which multiple answers are possible, use the option Includes instead of Equals (exact). The various values chosen by the contact are saved in one field. In the event of Equals (exact), these values have to be exactly identical. In the event of Includes, you need to check if one of the values is in the field.

Example 1 - Contacts who have a language equal to English may be added to the segment.

Example 2 - Contacts who have an email address that contains '@yourdomain.com' may be added to the segment.

Example 3 - Contacts who have no empty value for the (custom) field 'client number' may be added to the segment.

Sources

Trigger	Field	Function	Value
Source	Your sources	Contact has source	N/A

Example - Contacts who have a certain source may be added to the segment.

Support tip
To keep an overview and create your segments in the easiest and clearest way, it is recommended that the use of sources in the segment is restricted. Segmenting on the basis of a source can be useful in the case of a one-off campaign to a group of contacts.

Interests

Trigger	Field	Function	Value
Interests	Your interests	Is subscribed to	N/A
		Is not subscribed to	N/A
		Is unsubscribed from	N/A

Example 1 - Contacts subscribed to a specific interest are added to the segment.

Example 2 - Contacts unsubscribed from a specific interest are added to the segment.

Opt-in forms

Trigger	Field	Function	Value
Opt-in form	Your opt-in forms	Subscribes via	N/A

Example - Contacts who subscribes via a certain opt-in form may be added to the segment.

Campaigns

Trigger	Field	Function	Value
Campaign	Your campaigns	Sent	N/A
		Not sent	N/A
		Delivered	N/A
		Not delivered	N/A
		Opened	N/A
		Not opened	N/A
		Clicked	A link
		Not clicked	A link
		Form completed	A form
		Form not completed	A form

Example 1 - Contacts who were sent a certain campaign may be added to the segment.

Example 2 - Contacts who completed the chosen form in a certain campaign may be added to the segment.

What else is there to know about Flexmail?

How to do that exactly in my account?