Sending the same email to every customer isn’t always the most effective marketing strategy.
Some customers are new subscribers. Others are repeat buyers. Some recently opened your emails, while others haven’t engaged in months.
Audience Segmentation helps you organize your contacts into targeted groups, allowing you to send more relevant emails that improve engagement and increase conversions.
What Is Audience Segmentation?
A segment is a dynamic group of contacts created using one or more filtering conditions.
Unlike a static contact list, segments automatically update whenever a contact matches (or no longer matches) the conditions you’ve defined.
For example, you could create segments such as:
- Customers who purchased within the last 30 days
- Subscribers who have never placed an order
- Contacts located in California
- Customers who opened your last email campaign
- VIP customers with multiple purchases
Instead of sending one email to everyone, you can deliver more personalized messages to each audience.
Why Use Segments?
Targeted marketing helps improve the customer experience while increasing marketing performance.
Using audience segments allows you to:
- Send more relevant content
- Increase email open and click rates
- Promote products to the most interested customers
- Reduce unnecessary emails
- Build stronger customer relationships
How Segments Work
Each segment is built using one or more filters.
For example:
Example 1
Location is California
This segment includes all contacts located in California.
Example 2
Purchased more than one order
This segment includes repeat customers.
Example 3
Opened the last email campaign AND has placed an order
This identifies engaged customers who are already purchasing.
Example 4
Subscribed within the last 30 days OR has never purchased
This helps you target new leads with welcome or introductory campaigns.
By combining different conditions, you can create highly targeted audiences for nearly any marketing scenario. Combining AND and OR conditions allows you to create more precise segments for personalized marketing.
How to Create an Audience Segment
Most email marketing and CRM platforms—such as Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HubSpot, FastCommerce, and Brevo—allow you to create audience segments using filters and customer data.
While the exact steps vary by platform, the process typically looks like this:
- Open your audience or contact management section.
- Create a new segment and give it a descriptive name.
- Define one or more filtering conditions, such as customer location, purchase history, subscription status, or engagement activity.
- Preview the contacts that match your criteria.
- Save the segment for future email campaigns or marketing automations.
Most modern marketing platforms use dynamic segments, which automatically update as customer data changes. For example, when a customer makes a purchase or subscribes to your mailing list, they can automatically be added to—or removed from—a segment based on the rules you’ve defined.
Using dynamic segments helps ensure your marketing campaigns always reach the most relevant audience without requiring manual updates.
Best Practices
For most ecommerce stores, these are great segments to create first:
- New Subscribers
- First-Time Customers
- Repeat Customers
- High-Value Customers
- Customers Who Haven’t Purchased Recently
- Recently Engaged Subscribers
- Inactive Contacts
These segments can be reused across email campaigns and marketing automations, making it easier to deliver personalized experiences throughout the customer journey.
What’s Next?
After creating your audience segments, you can use them when:
- Creating an Email Campaign
- Building a Marketing Automation workflow
- Sending promotional announcements
- Launching seasonal campaigns
- Nurturing new customers with welcome emails
Audience segmentation is the foundation of effective email marketing. The more relevant your message is to each customer, the better your marketing results will be.
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