Module 5 — Lesson 28

Not segmenting your email list is like rounding up a bunch of kids from kindergarten through high school and teaching them an advanced calculus class.

Okay, maybe it’s not that bad.

But segmenting your list can help you send targeted messages to a specific section of your email list. To create a new segment, go to Audience → Segmentation → Create Segment.

1. Name your email segment

2. Select ‘All’ or ‘At Least One’ | All = And | At Least One = Or

3. Create your segment conditions

4. Hit Create Segment

This segment was an example of any subscribers within 14-30 days who haven’t opened any emails. Then, you can write up a re-engagement email specifically for the non-openers.

4 Segmentation Use Cases

1) Understand where subscribers are coming from

The greatest asset you can have as a newsletter marketer is to know where your subscribers are coming from.

(This is especially useful if you’re not on the Scale plan and don’t have access to beehiiv’s 3D Analytics suite).

Once you understand where subscribers are coming from, you can direct your marketing efforts to the growth channels that are performing the best.

2) Know the quality of those subscribers

Another way to leverage segmentation is to understand the quality of your subscribers by their acquisition source.

Let’s say you create a segment of all your subscribers who came from TikTok. If you see that your engagement rate is really low, then maybe you decide not to double down on TikTok (even if you’re converting a lot of subscribers).

Remember: quality, not quantity.

3) Segment based on Custom Fields

Segmenting by Custom Fields is a more advanced use case. Let’s say you send a daily newsletter and you ask your subscribers, “How often do you want to receive my emails?”

You can create a segment for everyone who chooses “Once a week” instead of daily. Then send specific email blasts to them once a week. That way you tailor your newsletter to the needs of your subscribers.

Another cool example:

Let’s say you ask people, “Where do you live?”

You can create a segment with everyone who answered with “California” and send an email blast to only those living in California that you’re hosting an in-person meetup.

Pretty cool, right?

4) Segment by Engagement

Lastly, you can segment your list by engagement rate (opens and clicks) to see who’s most active and who’s not.

If you segment your list by:

• 0-25% open rate

• 25-50% open rate

• 50-75% open rate

• 75-100% open rate

You can send an email blast to your most active subscribers giving them special gifts and rewards.

And you can send an email blast to your least active subscribers asking them if they want to stay on your list.

What do I mean?

Well, the last thing you want to do is create a segment of subscribers with a low engagement rate but accidentally remove paid subscribers.

Or remove subscribers who just joined your newsletter.

Double-check that your segment logic makes sense before you clean your list.

To set up your segments, watch this video:

How to create specific segments:

How to send emails to your segments (like re-engagement campaigns):

You can also create segments from custom fields:

Additional Resources

• Your guide to email segmentation

• How often do segments update?

• How do I create segments?

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