Segment Your Audience for Maximum Impact
Campaign efficiency comes down to one principle: sending the right message, to the right person, at the right moment. Segmentation is how you put that principle into practice — keeping conversions high, controlling costs, and protecting the relationships you've built with your subscribers.
This article covers two complementary approaches: how to segment by audience type and how to segment by engagement level to calibrate send frequency automatically.
✅ Why segmentation matters
Relevance — Messages land better when they're tailored to where a contact is in their journey.
Retention — Over-messaging quiet contacts drives opt-outs. Stepping down frequency for disengaged subscribers keeps your list healthy.
ROI — Aligning offer strength with audience value means your best campaigns reach the people most likely to act.
Part 1: Segmenting by audience type
Start by deciding who receives each campaign. There are three broad approaches:
Approach | Best for |
All subscribers | Broad announcements, maximum visibility |
Pre-event sign-ups | Rewarding early interest with early access |
Dynamic segments | Behavioural targeting — active vs. inactive, opened but not clicked, high-value spenders |
Example: Matching segments to campaigns
Different segments call for different messages. Here's how this might look during a high-volume period like Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM):
Segment | Campaign type |
💎 Loyalty members / pre-sign-ups | Early access campaign |
📣 All subscribers | BFCM start announcement |
🔔 Non-buyers | Last-chance reminders |
🛒 Cart abandoners | Automated recovery messages |
The goal isn't to send less — it's to send smarter.
Part 2: Segmenting by engagement to control frequency
Once you have your audience segments, the next question is: how often should each group hear from you? The answer should depend on how recently a contact engaged — not just when they signed up.
This model groups contacts into four tiers based on signup date and last engagement date, then adjusts send frequency accordingly.
The most important rule: The moment a contact clicks any message, they move back to 🟢 Active 1 — regardless of how long they've been subscribed. A two-year-old subscriber who clicks an offer is treated exactly like a brand-new signup.
How to set it up in charles
Step 1 — Understand the available filter values
Each contact stores two key data points you'll use for filtering:
Signup date — the date the contact was created, or the last time they received a message in a Welcome Flow.
Last clicked — captured whenever a contact clicks a URL CTA or a reply button in a campaign.
Step 2 — Build the four dynamic segments
Go to Contacts → Segments and create one dynamic segment per tier using condition groups. Double opt-in (DOI) is always a prerequisite.
🟢 Active 1 — signup date within last 4 weeks OR last clicked within last 4 weeks → up to 4x per month (weekly)
🟡 Active 2 — signup date 5–12 weeks ago AND not clicked within last 4 weeks → 2x per month (bi-weekly)
🟠 Passive — signup date 4–6 months ago AND not clicked within last 4 weeks → 1x per month
🔴 Inactive — not clicked within last 180 days → 1x total — goodbye message only
Because these are dynamic segments, contacts move between tiers automatically as time passes or as they re-engage.
Step 3 — Build the goodbye / re-activation message
For your 🔴 Inactive segment, send a single goodbye message with a CTA button that lets the contact opt back in. When clicked, they re-enter 🟢 Active 1 and resume receiving regular campaign messages.
💡 Things to keep in mind
Protect your opt-in base. Reducing frequency for quiet contacts directly reduces opt-outs and keeps your sender reputation strong.
The thresholds above are a starting point. Adjust the week and month windows to fit your brand's product cycle and typical buying patterns.
Stay GDPR-compliant. The final goodbye message and re-opt-in flow must give contacts a clear, low-friction way to stay or leave.
Review tier definitions per brand. What counts as "inactive" for a daily-deal brand is different from a luxury brand that sends twice a month.
Segmentation isn't a one-time setup — it's an ongoing practice. Start with the audience types that matter most to your next campaign, layer in engagement-based frequency as your list grows, and revisit your segment definitions regularly to keep them aligned with how your contacts actually behave.
Related guides
For more on creating segments:
See an example on how to segment your audience:
