Segments, Lists and A/B Testing

Sending everything to everybody is the fastest way to lose a subscriber. Admin → Marketing → Audience & Segments is where you cut your list into groups worth mailing: named lists you pick by hand, segments that keep themselves up to date, and tags that feed both. This guide covers building each one, targeting a campaign at several of them at once, and testing two subject lines against each other.

Lists and segments are different things

A list is a group you choose by hand: the members you invited to the preview, the artists in last year's show. You add and remove people yourself.

A segment is a rule. It describes who belongs, and membership updates on its own as subscribers change. "Everyone tagged Collector who has opened something in the last 90 days" is a segment.

Both appear on the Audience segments page, with a subscriber count and when each was last recalculated.

Build a named list

Select New list, give it a name, then search your subscribers and select who belongs. The button confirms the number, for example Add 24 people.

A list is editable after you create it. Open it and use Add people to search and add more, or Remove on any row to take someone out. Each list has a Members view showing the roster with email, name, status and signup date.

You can also fill a list from the subscriber table. Select subscribers there and choose Add to list from the bulk action bar, then pick an existing list or type a name to create one.

Build a segment

Select New segment and add rules. A rule tests one of these:

Tags, Signup Date, Last Activity, Email Engagement, Open Rate, Click Rate, Campaign Interaction, Location, Subscriber Status or a Custom Field.

Combine several rules to narrow the group. Once saved, the segment recalculates and the Last recalculated column tells you when it last ran. Open a segment to see its members, edit its rules with Edit rules, or take the roster away with Export CSV. The same Export CSV button sits on each row of the segments list.

Some segments are maintained by Crafted Call rather than by you. Those open read-only, as .