Use Custom and Smart Segments

Segment your list to send targeted, engaging content tailored to their unique qualities.

What is a segment?

A segment is a group of contacts defined by a set of conditions. Unlike a static subscriber list, segments are dynamic, meaning they grow as contacts meet the segment’s conditions and shrink as contacts no longer meet them. Segmented email sends often return more revenue per recipient than unsegmented sends since they can be tailored to a particular situation, and thus are more relevant to the recipients.

Privy offers two kinds of segments:

1. Custom Segments
2. Smart Segments

Check out the following guide on how to build, manage, and use your segments in Privy.

Custom Segments

Custom Segments are built from scratch by you! You can customize a group of your subscribers by combining a number of filters and criteria such as Shopping Activity, Email Engagement, Website Activity, and Customer Attributes.

Create a new segment

There are a couple ways to access the Custom Segment builder:

From the Segments Page: head to Contacts > Segments and click Create Segment.

From your Campaign: when creating a Campaign, click to edit who you’re sending to. Click + Create Segment under the “Send To” section.

Now you’re ready to build your segment:

• Name your segment. This is internal only — your contacts will not see this name.

• Select whether you want your contacts to Match all criteria or Match any criteria. For stricter segmentation, you’ll want to select Match all.

• Click the Choose Category menu to start selecting your conditions for your segment.

• To add more conditions, select the + And or the + Or buttons to start selecting the next condition.

• The contact count will adjust as you add filter(s). Once you’re happy with your segment, click Create.

Segment Conditions

Privy offers a number of different conditions to segment your audience by. See below to dive into each category and their conditions.

Shopping Activity

Cart value

Include contacts based on the current value of your BigCommerce, Shopify, Squarespace, or Weebly cart.

First order

Include contacts based on when they first ordered from your store.

Last order

Include contacts based on when they last ordered from your store.

Lifetime spend

Include contacts based on their total spending in your Shopify store.

Order count

Include contacts based on the number of orders they have placed in your Shopify or Weebly store.

Purchase history

Include contacts based on the products or collections they have purchased or have not purchased from your Shopify store in the past 365 days.

Website Behavior

By display

Include contacts based on which displays they have or have not signed up for.

Last seen

Include contacts based on the last time they visited your site.

Created at

Include contacts based on when they signed up for your email list / when their contact profile was created.

Customer Attributes

By country

Include contacts based on the country reported by the contact’s IP address.

Custom fields

Include contacts based on their custom field values. These values are provided via an import or when signing up for a display.

Imported

Include contacts based on whether or not they have been manually imported directly from another service or via CSV.

Name / Email

Include contacts based on their exact name or email address.

Privy Tags

Include or exclude contacts based on the tags applied to their contact profile.

Shopify Tags

Include or exclude contacts based on the tags applied to their customer profile in Shopify. 

Email Engagement

Opened

Include contacts that opened a specific campaign, or opened any campaign within a specific window of time.

Did not open

Include contacts that did not open a specific campaign, or did not open on any campaign within a specific window of time.

Clicked

Include contacts that clicked a specific campaign, or clicked on any campaign within a specific window of time.

Did not click

Include contacts that did not click on a specific campaign, or did not click on any campaign within a specific window of time.

Sent

Include contacts that were sent a specific campaign, or were sent any campaign within a specific window of time.

Was not sent

Include contacts that were not a specific campaign, or were not sent any campaign within a specific window of time.

Managing Custom Segments

To manage an existing Custom Segment, head to Contacts > Segments. Locate your desired segment and click on the menu beside it. Select Rename segment or Delete segment.

As of now, there is no way to edit the conditions of an existing segment in Privy once it’s been created.

Smart Segments

Smart Segments are prebuilt by Privy. They allow you to quickly target a group of your contacts without the hassle of creating a custom segment. Below are the four kinds of Smart Segments in Privy:

Engaged Contacts

Mailable contacts who have opened or clicked at least one email within the last 90 days. This segment also includes new contacts who joined your list within the last 90 days.

Unengaged Contacts

Mailable contacts who have not opened or clicked any email within the last 90 days. This segment excludes any new contacts who joined your list within the last 90 days.

Potential Customers

Mailable contacts who have never placed an order with your store.

Current Customers

Mailable contacts who have placed at least one order with your store.

There’s currently no way to edit or delete Privy Smart Segments.

Using your segments

You can use your segments to target both email and text message campaigns in Privy. There are a couple days to do this:

Create a new message from your Segments page

1. Navigate to Contacts > Segments. Locate the Custom or Smart Segment you’d like to use.

2. Select the Create message dropdown under the Actions column on your Segments table. Choose from Email or Text Message.

Proceed with the usual steps of creating an email campaign or creating a new text message. Your new message will already be segmented based on your selection from the Segments page!

Edit an existing email’s recipients

If you already have an email campaign draft that you’d like to segment:

1. Head to Campaigns and select the desired draft.

2. On the left, click the ‘edit’ icon next to the “To” section.

3. Specify which Custom or Smart Segment you’d like to send to.

4. Optional: Specify if there is a segment you’d like to exclude under the “Don’t Send To” section.

Edit an existing text’s recipients

1. Head to Campaigns and select the desired draft.

2. Scroll below your Text Message content to edit your message’s recipients.

3. Specify which Custom or Smart Segment you’d like to send to.

4. Optional: Specify if there is a segment you’d like to exclude under the “Don’t Send To” section.