Building segment rules

The rule builder decides which contacts of a mailing list end up in the segment. You combine groups of conditions, and each condition checks one field, tag, topic or interaction of a contact.

Building a segment step by step

1. Enter a "Segment name" that describes the audience, for example "Customers in NL, active last 90 days". Only you and your team see this name.
2. Select the mailing list. The fields you can filter on come from this list, so "Add group" stays disabled until a list is chosen. When editing an existing segment the list can no longer be changed.
3. Choose how groups are combined under "Combine groups with": And or Or.
4. Click "Add group", then "Add rule" inside the group. For each rule pick a field type, an operator and a value. A segment needs at least one group.
5. Click "Save segment". If a rule is incomplete or invalid, it is highlighted so you can correct it before saving again.

How And and Or work together

You make one choice: how groups are combined. The rules inside each group automatically use the opposite. The small "and" / "or" label between rules shows which one applies.

• Groups with And → rules within a group with Or. A contact must match every group, and within each group at least one rule. Example: (country is NL or BE) and (tag is customer or tag is lead).
• Groups with Or → rules within a group with And. A contact must match at least one group, and within that group every rule. Example: (country is NL and opened recently) or (tag is VIP and clicked recently).

Rule of thumb: And makes the audience smaller, Or makes it larger.

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Need And everywhere?

Set "Combine groups with" to Or and put all rules in a single group. Because rules inside a group then use And, a contact must match every rule.

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Need Or everywhere?

Set "Combine groups with" to And and put all rules in a single group. Rules inside the group then use Or, so matching any one rule is enough.

What you can filter on

• Subscriber email: match one specific email address.
• Subscriber tags: the tags linked to a contact.
• Subscriber topics: the topics a contact is interested in.
• Contact details: the custom fields of the selected mailing list, such as text, number, date, dropdown, radio and checkbox fields.
• Contact interactions: when a subscriber was created, confirmed their subscription, last opened an email or last clicked a link.

Operators per field type

• Email, text, dropdown and radio: "Equals" or "Not equals" the value you enter or select.
• Number: "Equals", "Not equals", "Greater than" or "Less than".
• Tags, topics and checkbox: "Is one of" (at least one of the selected values), "All of" (every selected value) or "None of" (none of the selected values).
• Dates and interactions: "On date", "In year", "After date", "Before date" or "Between dates".

Examples

• Recently active: groups with Or, one group with "Subscriber last opened at" after a date 90 days ago.
• Win-back: groups with Or, one group with "Subscriber last opened at" before a date 6 months ago and "Subscriber tags" "Is one of" customer.
• Two regions, one interest: groups with And. Group 1: country equals NL, or country equals BE. Group 2: "Subscriber topics" "Is one of" product news.

Why is "Add group" disabled?

No mailing list is selected yet. Choose a list first; the available fields depend on it.

Why can't I save the segment?

Check that the segment has a name, contains at least one group, and that every rule has a field, an operator and a valid value — for example at least one selected tag or a complete email address.

A rule says the field is no longer available

The field was removed from the mailing list or can no longer be used for segmenting. Remove the rule or choose another field.

Saving shows a warning about campaigns

The segment is used by one or more campaigns. The warning lists them, with a link to view those campaigns.

See also

• What are segments
• Tags
• Topics (interest preferences)
• Fields