People, myself included, often overcomplicate customer segments. It’s understandable, given the plethora of data points available for building a segment. But how do you determine the most impactful and effective segments? It took me over 10 years of email marketing experience—both executing myself and guiding my team—to figure out (and test!) what works and what doesn’t. Here’s what I learned about distinguishing between noise and truly impactful strategies.
Side note: Klaviyo’s documentation provides extensive coverage on how to execute tasks but often falls short on explaining what strategies to implement. This is where strategic thinking becomes crucial. It would be incredibly helpful if Klaviyo included some of these default segments, as they are applicable to almost all types of brands and would simplify the segmentation process for us.
For example, knowing who to exclude is crucial. Consider a pet shop that sells both dog and cat toys and treats. If your list doesn’t identify who owns dogs, who owns cats, or who owns both, it becomes challenging to sell a dog toy to a cat owner and vice versa. By properly segmenting your email marketing list, you can avoid sending irrelevant offers to your subscribers, increasing the effectiveness of your campaigns. I can almost promise that your metrics/KPIs will drastically improve with these strategic segments.
I’ve divided my segments into three main groups to keep things simple and easy to understand: Master List, Customer List, and Suppress List. Each definition below is an “AND” statement unless otherwise stated as an “OR” statement.
BONUS: For almost all of the segments below, you can paste the definitions into Klaviyo’s AI segment builder, and it’ll do the heavy lifting for you. Or you can use my nifty Klaviyo Segment Automator tool to create & update these segments with just one-click right into your account!
ML – Master Email List
Why: Ensures the list consists of legitimate, non-suppressed emails that can receive marketing communications. You may have a number of different signup lists (website popup, footer signup, in-field sampling collection, etc). This list is your, well, “Master” list of everyone on your list that can receive email marketing.
ML – Master SMS List
Why: Identifies contacts who have opted in for SMS marketing, allowing for targeted SMS campaigns.
ML – SMS Subscribers in the USA
Why: Enables targeting of SMS campaigns to subscribers in the USA, ensuring compliance with regional regulations.
ML – Engaged 15D, 30D, 60D, 90D (4 segments)
Why: Focuses on subscribers who have recently engaged, increasing the likelihood of response to future emails and helping guide content for each time lapse.
ML – Very Highly Engaged
Why: Targets highly engaged subscribers who are most likely to interact with your emails. Sometimes these could be your competitors, most of the time these are people who are interested in your brand. A good segment to send an initial survey!
Most of these segments likely exist in your ESP, but it’s essential to exclude refunded or returned orders!
CL – Master Buyers List
Why: Identifies all-time buyers, ensuring communications reach active purchasers.
CL – Repeat Customers List
Why: Focuses on loyal customers who have made multiple purchases.
CL – High LTV Customers List
Why: Identifies high-value customers or otherwise your “VIP” customer list, allowing for campaigns such as new product drops (early adopters), new program launches (ie. referral, loyalty, etc), and surveys!
CL – Purchased Last 7, 14 Days
Why: Targets recent purchasers, increasing the relevance of follow-up communications.
CL – Purchased [Product Category] 30 Days
Why: Enables category-specific marketing to recent buyers of certain products.
CL – Recurring Subscription Customers
Why: Identifies subscription customers for targeted retention campaigns.
CL – Zero Orders Non-Customers
Why: Highlights inactive subscribers who have not made any purchases.
These segments are critical for preventing your emails from being sent to the wrong people!
SL – Bounced 2x
Why: Prevents wasting efforts on email addresses that are invalid.
SL – Never Opened + Never Clicked
Why: This one is pretty obvious but missed by many marketers. Removes uninterested subscribers who have never engaged with your emails.
SL – No Recent Engagement
Why: Focuses on disengaged subscribers for potential re-engagement or suppression.
SL – Suspected Spam Traps
Why: Protects your sender reputation by avoiding potential spam traps.
SL – Left Negative Review
Why: Identifies customers who may be dissatisfied, preventing further negative interactions. This one requires that you have an integration with your review’s platform. I prefer Judge.me but others that sync reviews data into Klaviyo will work too! It doesn’t make sense sending promotional campaigns to people who’ve reported having a bad experience, right?
SL – Subscription Churned List
Why: Highlights customers who have canceled subscriptions for targeted win-back campaigns.
SL – Resend Excludes, Recent Engagers
Why: Ensures you don’t bombard recent engagers with repeated emails, improving user experience.
By implementing these segments in your Klaviyo setup, you can significantly improve your email marketing efforts, ensuring that your messages reach the right audience and improve overall campaign effectiveness.