Segments are like ‘saved searches’ – or flexible dynamic lists – and can be changed any time. You can define your ‘segment’ (or ‘audience’) based on demographics – custom fields you upload – and/or behavioral info like opens and clicks.
Pinpointe highly recommends working from a master database and segmenting it into small lists, rather than uploading multiple databases. You'll be able to better target audiences by pulling out portions of your list and sending targeted emails to specific segments, and you’ll also be able to manage your lists more effectively.
Examples of segments:
- All Active contacts in list X that have NOT opened any email campaigns before a specific signup date (Date Added).
- All contacts located in a specific state
- All contacts with a specific title or titles who are located in a specific area
A good segment to create is:
- All active contacts in list X that have ever opened an email campaign.
The contacts in this segment are those contacts in your list(s) that you are paying for that are not producing any results. At some point, you may wish to export them to a csv file and unsubscribe them using the Bulk Unsubscribe feature.
Below is an example of the segment logic to create a segment of all active contacts whose date added is before 6 months ago from today (02/18/2015) who have never opened any email campaign:
You can both Export Active contacts from any segment(s) AND send an email campaign to any Segment(s).
Note: When creating a segment, it is always recommended to add the criteria Activity Status ... is ... active (as in the example above).
This is because if you do NOT, the # of contacts displayed and comprised of in that segment will include Unsubscribed and Bounced contacts as well as all the Active contacts.
However, you can ONLY send to and export the Active contacts.
So, for example, if you do not include that criteria, and your segment includes 500 bounced contacts, 500 unsubscribes and 10,000 active contacts, the number of contacts it displays will be 11,000. BUT, if you send to or export that segment, it will only send or export the 10,000 Active contacts.