How to create segments in ActiveCampaign

(and use them to send targeted campaigns)

Segmentation in email marketing is simply the act of filtering your email list using specific criteria, so you can send emails to a specific subset of your email list.

You can use segmentation to send all kinds of targeted campaigns, like:

• a member-only newsletter

• an upsell to customers who have bought a specific product in the past

• a sale email specifically designed to appeal to females under 35

As long as you have the right data in ActiveCampaign, you can build a segment for it.

But how do you create a segment, and how do you send a campaign only to that segment? Check out my guide below to learn more.

**Update as of September 2024 - building segments has gotten much easier! Check out my video guide:

If you’re looking to train your team on segmentation, automations, or any other email marketing functionality, feel free to grab a time on my calendar.

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Understanding conditions

To filter your contacts and create a contact, you need to decide on the “conditions” that you’ll use to define who should belong to your segment.

There are a huge number of conditions available with ActiveCampaign, but here are some I use most often:

• Tag: use this to filter for contacts who have (or don’t have) specific tag(s)

• Is subscribed to list (active)/Is not subscribed to list (not active): use these to filter for contacts that are subscribed to specific lists

• Has clicked on a link: use this to filter for contacts who have clicked a specific link in your emails

• Product Name in Any Order: use this to filter for contacts who have purchased (or not purchased) specific product(s)

Mixing conditions (AND/OR)

If in creating your segment you need to use more than one condition, you’ll need to use AND/OR statements to tell ActiveCampaign how to combine those conditions.

Whenever you use the AND condition, it means that all criteria must be met in order for the contact to show up.

Whenever you use the OR indicator, it means that any criteria can be met in order for the contact to show up.

Let’s look at an example of conditions in action. In the image below, there are 3 conditions:

• Has clicked on any campaign link in the past 30 days

• Is subscribed to the 2023 December Free Webinar list

• Is tagged “Webinar-Subscription-Paid”

The example condition set described above.

Note that there are two blue boxes - these are called conditions “sets”. You can use these sets to build up more complex conditions and thus more complex segments.

In this example, a contact will show up in this segment if:

• A: they have clicked on any campaign link in the past 30 days AND are subscribed to the 2023 December Free Webinar list

• OR

• B: they are tagged “Webinar-Subscription-Paid”

In this way, AND and OR can be mixed to create complex segmentation to suit your needs.

Advanced Search

If you want to find contacts who meet certain conditions, but don’t want to create a segment, you can use ActiveCampaign’s Advanced Search.

Simply go to Contacts, then click the search box on the top-right, then click “Advanced Search”.

You’ll see the same condition boxes that you use when creating a segment. Note also that you can use the “Edit all” button to make changes to these contacts in bulk.

Need help with Segmentation?

Lastly, here’s the link to my calendar again in case you’re looking for professional assistance with setting up your own segments or creating a segmentation strategy!