About segments

Segmentation is a powerful tool for filtering contacts with comparable data in contact fields, interests, actions performed in your campaigns or other information, and for including them in a target group together. You use your segments to bring similar contacts together and view them or to send specific campaigns on the basis of information they have in common.

To put it briefly: segments are filters. Flexmail will become really powerful when you put relevant information in your central database. You will build segments on the basis of that information. On the basis of your segments, you can also send better emails to the people for whom your information is interesting.

So segments are filters

Segments filter your contacts on the basis of information we have about them. It makes your segments dynamic. This means that the contacts in your segments are always up to date, because you filter data by the most recent information in your account.

This also means that you will never delete your contacts when deleting a segment. You create a segment to be able to find a specific group of contacts more easily or to create a target group for your next campaign.

Henceforth, you can use segments as a target group of your campaign, to start workflows or to show or hide specific email content.

A segment consists of segmentation rules

You can build a segment on any contact feature you can think of:

• The standard contact fields
• Own fields you create (all types)
• Language
• Opt-in forms used
• Forms or surveys used
• Interests
• The addition date.

Per segment, you can combine up to five segmentation rules. More information about combining segmentation rules are provided here.

New or nested segments

When you create a segment, we first ask you if you want to create an entirely new segment or if you want to build on an existing segment. In this way, you can save time or make more complex combinations.

When you nest a segment in an existing segment, the mutual relationship between the two will also be clear.

It could look like this:

• Customers NL
  • Customers product group A
  • Customers product group B
  • Customers product group C

By nesting the product group segments in the example above in the general NL target group, you do not need to repeat the language parameter for each segment. Under the product group segments, you could make further divisions.

More information about nesting segments is provided here.

Best practices

In principle, more segmentation leads to more relevant emails, since you can tailor your content to the recipient better. All the same, we recommend that you bear the following best practices in mind.

Your permission should be up to date

If you work with several target groups, make sure they hear from you on a regular basis. People may forget a permission granted in the past if you do not have active contact with your target group. This is not always as simple as it sounds. If you do have a target group that has not heard from you for quite a while, it may be a good idea to ask them for permission again or to show the unsubscribe option more clearly.

Allow contacts to change their interests

We strongly recommend that you use interests when setting up your target groups, so that your recipients can indicate which content they want or do not want to receive. This is a good way to avoid unsubscriptions and spam notifications, and your contacts contribute to keeping your data up to date. You also provide more insight into what exactly your recipients can expect from you and your content.

Ask yourself what is feasible for you

It is true that segmented mailing makes your communication more relevant. It also requires more work from you, though. It is up to you to create content and stick to a proper frequency. Look for balance: consider the size of your target group (the number of contacts that meet your parameters) and what the chances are that they will actually proceed to conversion. Also consider how much time and effort it would take for you to create good content for them. In this way, you can ensure it remains feasible and satisfactory for you.

Think about your naming

Give your segments a name that will still be clear to you and any colleagues several months or years later. Include one or more important features in it.

What is the difference between segments and interests?

Segmentation is grouping contacts by common features to send more personalised, targeted campaigns. Every segment has at least one rule or condition that subscribers should meet to be part of it. Once the rule is met, your contact will enter the segment automatically. So you can add somebody to a segment ‘manually’ or ‘directly’ by simply changing a contact’s contact data or interests.

Interests, on the other hand, have no rules or criteria that subscribers should meet, so they will not be updated automatically. It is like a tag or label. You decide what your interest is about and which contacts you want to assign this tag to or from which contacts you want to delete it. You can also use these interests as a segmentation rule. You can also open them to your contacts, so that they can indicate their own interests themselves.

Do you need more inspiration? In this article, we explain the example of a toy shop.