Segments

What a segment is

A segment is a saved group of subscribers, such as "Paid readers who signed up this year" or "Everyone who answered my last poll". Segments never add or remove anyone from your list. They only group people who are already on it.

You can use a segment to:

• see your audience numbers for just that group on the Subscribers page
• send a newsletter to it, by choosing Selective under Email audience when you set up the newsletter
• start an automation when someone enters or leaves it, with the Segment Action trigger

Where to find segments

Segments live at the top of Audience > Subscribers, as a row of buttons:

• All subscribers shows everyone.
• Each segment shows its name and how many members it has. Click one and the whole page, including the charts and the People list, narrows to that segment.
• New segment starts a new one.

When a segment is selected, a bar under the row shows its member count, its description and when it was last recalculated. Its menu has Edit segment, Recalculate now, Pause segment (or Resume segment) and Delete segment.

The Segments tab on the same page compares all your segments side by side: Members, Overlap with the selected segment, Change, Open rate, Click rate, Unsub rate, Revenue / sub and a Trend line.

There is also a Segmentation page listing every segment in a table, with search, Date Created and Last Processed filters, and a Duplicate action. It isn't in the menu, but you can still open it at /subscribers/segments.

The three types

The type is chosen when you create a segment and can't be changed later. To switch, create a new segment.

Creating a segment

Click New segment (or Create Segment on the Segmentation page). There are two steps.

Step 1: Segment Details

• Name: required.
• Bio: an optional short description.
• Segment type: Static, Dynamic or Manual.

Click Define Conditions (for Static or Dynamic) or Import Subscribers (for Manual).

Step 2 for Static and Dynamic: conditions

Choose how the conditions combine:

• All (AND): people must match every condition.
• At least one (OR): people must match one or more.
• None: meant to find people who match none of them. At the moment a segment or group set to None matches nobody, so use All (AND) with opposite comparisons instead (for example is not rather than is).

Then use Add Condition to add rules, and Add Condition group to add a group with its own All, At least one or None setting. Drag conditions to reorder them or move them into a group. You need at least one condition, and each group needs at least one condition inside it.

Click Save segment. The segment is built within a few seconds.

Step 2 for Manual: import subscribers

Pick an Import method:

• CSV Upload: upload a .csv file. The whole file is scanned for valid email addresses.
• Paste emails: paste addresses separated by commas.

Click Save segment. The segment is created and the addresses are imported in the background, like any other import:

• Addresses already on your list are added to the segment.
• Addresses that aren't on your list are added to your list as Subscribed and to the segment. They don't get a confirmation email, so only add people who agreed to hear from you.
• Plan subscriber limits apply, as with any import.

The Send welcome email switch is saved with the import, but imports don't send a welcome email at the moment.

Conditions you can use

Conditions are grouped in the Add Condition menu.

Subscriber Data: Attribute

Subscriber Data: Engagement

Compare a number with is exactly, is greater than, is less than and similar:

• Unique opens, Open rate, Unique clicks, Click through rate and Unique sends
• Bounced, under Mailbox Rejections

Behavior Data

• Referral Count: how many people the reader has referred.
• Poll Response: whether they answered Any Poll or a specific poll (was submitted or was not submitted). For a specific poll, you also pick which choice they made.
• Survey Response: whether they submitted a specific survey.

Keeping segments up to date

The Last Processed time (or "Recalculated ..." in the segment bar) tells you how fresh the numbers are.

Pausing

You can pause a dynamic segment with Pause. A paused segment keeps its current members but stops updating: the daily update skips it and Recalculate does nothing. Click Resume to start again. Resuming recalculates it straight away.

Editing a segment

Choose Edit segment from the segment bar (or Edit on the Segmentation page). You can change the Name, Description and Conditions, then click Save changes. Saving rebuilds the segment from the new conditions, unless it is paused.

Manual segments

A manual segment's edit page shows its members instead of conditions, with each person's Email, Status, Tier, Subscribed On and Acquisition Source.

• Add subscribers lets you search your list and pick people to add.
• Remove from segment on a row takes that person out of the segment. They stay on your list.

Duplicating a segment

On the Segmentation page, choose Duplicate from a static or dynamic segment's menu. You get a copy named with "(copy)" at the end, with the same type and conditions. Manual segments can't be duplicated.

Deleting a segment

Choose Delete segment from the segment bar, the Segmentation page, or the bottom of the segment's edit page. Deleting a segment can't be undone. The subscribers in it stay on your list.

Segments and automations

The Segment Action trigger starts an automation when a subscriber enters or leaves a segment. It fires when:

• the daily update finds someone has joined or left a dynamic segment
• a single new signup joins a dynamic segment

It does not fire when a segment is first built or rebuilt after an edit, or when people arrive through an import. This stops a new segment from triggering the automation for everyone at once.

Troubleshooting

My segment has fewer people than I expected: check how the conditions combine. All (AND) needs every condition to match. Try At least one (OR) if you meant "any of these".

A dynamic segment looks out of date: dynamic segments update once a day. Click Recalculate to update it now, and check that it isn't paused.

Recalculate shows an error or does nothing: manual segments can't be recalculated, so choosing Recalculate now for one shows an error. Paused segments don't update either. Resume a paused segment first.

My segment set to None is empty: None currently matches nobody, whether it is set for the whole segment or for a group. Switch to All (AND) and change each condition to its opposite, such as is not or does not contain.

I can't change the segment type: the type is fixed when the segment is created. Create a new segment with the type you want.

A segment based on a tag suddenly emptied: the tag may have been deleted. Deleting a tag takes it off everyone, so nobody matches "Includes" any more.

Tier Plan "One-time" or "Donation" matches nobody: only Monthly and Annual paid plans are matched by this condition at the moment.

Engagement conditions don't match anyone yet: opens, clicks and sends are counted from the newsletters you send. A new publication, or one that hasn't sent yet, has nothing to count.

Creating a manual segment said the import failed: the segment is still created, just empty. Open it with Edit segment and use Add subscribers, or fix the problem (for example your plan's subscriber limit) and try again.

I can't find a segment in the row of buttons: the row shows up to 100 segments and says "Showing the first ... segments" when there are more. Open /subscribers/segments to see and search them all.