Email segmentation: the complete guide (with examples)
Segmentation means sending different emails to different groups instead of the same email to everyone. Start with three segments: engaged, quiet, and customers. Split by what people did, not who they are. Mailchimp's own research found segmented campaigns get roughly 14% higher opens and around double the clicks.
Sending everyone the same email is the single easiest thing to fix in most email programmes. Segmentation is just this: different message, different group. This builds on how to start email marketing and pairs with your automated flows.
“Most brands don't really have a retention problem. They've got a “we treat everyone the same” problem.”
Split by behaviour, not demographics
What someone did beats who someone is.
The instinct is to segment by age or location. That is usually the weakest signal you have. What someone did — opened, clicked, bought, went quiet — tells you far more about what to send next.
“Segment by behavior and value, not demographics… And measure on revenue per recipient, not open rate.”
The three segments to start with
You can build all three today.
- Engaged — opened or clicked in the last 30–60 days. Your best people. Send them more, first.
- Quiet — nothing in ~90 days. Send a short win-back, then suppress. This protects your delivery.
- Customers — they've bought. Stop selling them the thing they own; ask for a review or suggest what goes with it.
What to actually send each group
Same news, three different emails.
Measure the right thing
Revenue per recipient, not open rate.
A smaller, well-targeted send that makes more money beats a huge blast with a nice-looking open rate. Open rates are also unreliable now that Apple's Mail Privacy Protection pre-loads images and marks emails as opened. Judge segments on clicks and revenue per recipient. There is more on this in email marketing benchmarks by industry.
Segmentation checklist
Common questions
What is email segmentation, simply?
Sending different emails to different groups of people instead of one email to everybody. The groups are usually based on what people did — opened, clicked, bought, or went quiet.
Does segmentation really work?
Yes. Mailchimp's own research on segmented campaigns found roughly 14% higher open rates and around double the clicks compared with non-segmented sends.
How many segments do I need?
Three is plenty to start: engaged, quiet, and customers. Most of the gain comes from those. Add more only when you have a clear reason.
Should I segment by age or location?
Rarely. Behaviour and value are far stronger signals. Location matters if you're promoting something local; otherwise it's usually noise.
Does segmentation cost extra on Bluey?
No. Segmentation is included on every plan and you're billed on emails sent — so sending less to fewer, better-targeted people actually costs you less.
Segmenting in Bluey
The three segments above are where the gain is. What follows is where to build them, and the one pricing detail that changes how freely you can use them.
- Segments are free — contact storage is unlimited and billing is on emails sent, so there is no cost to holding many overlapping segments. On per-contact platforms, aggressive segmentation and list hygiene become a billing exercise rather than a marketing one.
- Behavioural conditions — pages viewed, links clicked, campaigns opened, products browsed, orders placed. Behavioural targeting is on every plan.
- Store data — connect Shopify and order history, spend and product affinity become segment conditions. The WooCommerce connector is coming soon; webhooks carry the same data in the meantime.
- Contact scoring and lifetime value — Grow and above, for the “best customers” segment worth treating differently.
- Do not segment on opens alone — Apple Mail Privacy Protection auto-opens messages, so a dormant contact can look active. Build dormancy segments on clicks.
- Sending less costs less — because you are billed per email, a tighter segment is cheaper as well as better performing. That alignment is unusual and worth exploiting.
Related guides
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