How to Improve Targeting with Advanced Segmentation

Segments is a powerful way to send out more targeted, personalized marketing content. 

In this article, we'll go over how to create the most widely-used segments based on

We will also cover some more advanced segmentation methods such as:

Before Getting Started

Before creating any segments, you will need to have a list created with contacts added.

Segment with Custom Field Data


\When creating a Pop-up, you are given the option to add Custom Fields to collect additional information about your contacts. 

  1. Navigate to Audience → Segments → New Segment 
  2. Name your segment and choose whether you'd like to identify contacts on one specific list, or across all lists (All contacts) 
  3. Select Custom Fields from the dropdown menu
  4. Then, specify the custom field you'd like to identify your contacts by
  5. Click Create Segment in the upper right hand corner to save your new segment

Segmenting by Tags

Tags can be added to your contacts via an automation or manually.

  1. Navigate to Audience → Segments → New Segment 
  2. Name your segment and choose whether you'd like to identify contacts on one specific list, or across all lists (All contacts) 
  3. Select Contact Tag from the dropdown menu
  4. Then, choose the tag you'd like to identify your contacts by
  5. Click Create Segment in the upper right hand corner to save your new segment

Segmenting by Activity

A great way to target your contacts is to send follow up emails based on their activity. Segments can be created based on whether or not a contact has opened or clicked a specific campaign, or any campaign in a particular timeframe.

  1. Navigate to Audience → Segments → New Segment
  2. Name your segment and choose whether you'd like to identify contacts on one specific list, or across all lists (All contacts)
  3. Choose Engagement & Activity from the menu options and then choose either opened, clicked, or did not open/click
  4. Select one specific campaign, Any campaign or Recent campaigns
    • Selecting a specific campaign will identify only those contacts that did/did not open or click that one campaign
    • Any Campaign will identify contacts that did/did not open or click any campaign you have ever sent them
    • Recent Campaigns will allow you to choose a date range to identify contacts that did/did not open or click any campaigns you have sent within a certain timeframe (such as within the last 30 days)
  5. Click Create Segment in the upper right hand corner to save your new segment

Segment by Subscription Date

Contacts can be segmented based on their subscription date, such as before or after a specific date or within a date range.

  1. Navigate to Audience → Segments → New Segment
  2. Name your segment and choose whether you'd like to identify contacts on one specific list, or across all lists (All contacts)
  3. Select Contact Properties → Subscription Date from the dropdown menu
  4. Select Is, After or Before and choose the appropriate date
  5. If you are looking to identify contacts that subscribed during a certain date range, you'll create 2 conditions in this segment - the 'Before' and 'After' dates as shown here:
    • This segment is identifying all contacts added within the month of August, 2020. The conditions for the segment will pull subscribers added after July 31st, and before September 1st. 
    • When adding the second condition, be sure to add an And Condition. Adding an Or Condition would identify all contacts in your account, because it would be pulling everyone added either before September 1st or after July 31st. 
  6. Click Create Segment in the upper right hand corner to save your new segment

Segment by Demographics

How to use custom fields to target contacts based on age, gender, location, etc. 

  1. Create a Pop-up to add to your website that includes the custom fields you'd like to segment by (Age, Gender, Location, etc.)

  2. When a contact enters their information into the pop-up form, the custom field will be added to their profile
  3. To create your segment, navigate to Audience → Segments → New Segment
  4. Name your Segment and choose whether you'd like to identify contacts on one specific list, or across all lists (All contacts) 
  5. From the dropdown menu choose Custom Fields → Select the custom field you'd like to use → Select "is" → Enter the custom field entry you'd like to identify. 
    • In this example, we will identify all contacts that entered "California" into the "State" field:
  6. Click Create Segment in the upper right hand corner to save your new segment

Now you can send targeted emails to your contacts with this specific custom field!

Please Note

Contacts will only be added to your segment if custom field data is recorded during the opt-in process, or if those fields are transferred in via API.

Segmenting by Brand or Product Preference

How to use tags to track which links your contacts are clicking on within your emails.

  1. Create a campaign or newsletter that highlights certain products or brands 
  2. Input links in your newsletter so that your reader can click through to the different product or brand
  3. Tag your links with the product or brand name so that you can track which links your contacts are clicking on.
    • You can do this by selecting or creating a new tag from the drop down within the toolbar
  4. When your contact clicks on a tagged link, the tag will be added to their profile
  5. To create the segment, navigate to Audience → Segments → New Segment
  6. Name your Segment and choose whether you'd like to identify contacts on one specific list, or across all lists (All contacts)
  7. From the dropdown menus, choose Contact Tag → Has Tag → Select the Tag you'd like to segment by
    • In this example, we will segment all contacts that have clicked on the link tagged "Black Sunglasses"
  8. Click Create Segment in the upper right hand corner to save your new segment

Now you can send targeted emails to your contacts with this specific tag!

Segmenting by Engagement (to Target Non-Openers)

How to identify contacts that have not opened/clicked a recent email campaign.

  1. Navigate to Audience → Segments → New Segment
  2. Name your Segment and choose whether you'd like to identify contacts on one specific list, or across all lists (All contacts)
  3. From the dropdown menus, choose Engagement & Activity → Did Not Open → Select if you'd like to identify contacts that have not opened any of your campaigns, a recent campaign (within a certain timeframe i.e., one month), or one specific campaign that's been sent
  4. Click Create Segment in the upper right hand corner to save your new segment

You can now send another campaign to only those contacts that did not open!

Additional Resources

For a more in-depth explanation and overview about segmentation within Sendlane, please see our Segments help doc.

If you hit any roadblocks, you can also get in touch with our team of email marketing automation experts right here!

TL;DR

Audience → Segments → New Segment → Name, Select List, Add Conditions  → Create Segment

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