Both Customer Lists and Auto Tags are built using Segments to specify the criteria you're using to find customers, whether that's finding people based on the Events they've attended, the donations they've made, or information held against their customer record.
In this article we're going to look at:
- The different kinds of Segments available to you
- How to create a new Segment
- How to build and configure a Segment
- Using Segments in Customer Lists
- Editing existing Segments
- Audit trails
- Further reading
Segments are used to define which customers should be included in Customer Lists and Auto Tags. There are two kinds of Segments available: Global Segments and Local Segments.
Global Segments
Global Segments can be c reated and edited in Insights & Mailings > Customer Lists > Segment Explorer by anyone with the Insights & Mailings Administrator role. They're available in all Customers Lists and any changes made will affect all the Lists they're used in. You should use Global Segments for those Segments that you'll use over and over again across multiple Lists, e.g. Has Agreed to Email, Has 'Staff' Tag, Has an Email Address. Global Segments are not available when building Auto Tags.
NOTE: Global Segments can only be used in Customer Lists.
Local Segments
Local Segments can be created inside a Customer List by anyone who has access to Insights & Mailings, or inside an Auto Tag by anyone who has access to the Admin Interface. They'll only ever be available in the List or Auto Tag they were created in and any changes made will only affect that List/Auto Tag. In Customer Lists, you'll use Local Segments for less common or more specific criteria, e.g. Booked for Hamlet, Donated £5+ This Year, Received Othello Pre-Show Email.
In both Global and Local Segments, there are a number of different Segment Types:
- Booking: extract customers based on their attendance, e.g. customers who have attended more than once in a set time frame, customers who have attended specific events
- Customer: extract customers based on their personal details, e.g. customers who live in a particular postcode district, customers who have agreed to emails
- Marketing: extract customers based on whether they have been included in your mailings and how they have reacted to emails you have sent, e.g. customers who received a pre-show email, customers who clicked a particular link in a marketing email
- Purchasing: extract customers based on items they've purchased, e.g. customers who made a donation yesterday, customers who have bought three or more merchandise items
- Ticket Vouchers: extract customers based on Ticket Subscription vouchers that they have purchased, and the status of these vouchers, e.g. customers who bought at least one subscription to the current season, and haven't used all of their vouchers yet
If you use the Opportunities Interface, you'll also have the following additional Segment Types available:
- Opportunity: extract customers based on the Opportunities you have open with them, e.g. customers who have open Opportunities at the Ask stage, customers who have open Opportunities owned by a particular member of staff
- Invitee: extract customers based on their Invitations to fundraising events, e.g. customers who have been invited to an upcoming gala
- Attendee: extract customers based on whether they were marked as having attended fundraising events, e.g. customers who attended last year's gala
- Relationship: extract customer's based on their relationship to other customers, e.g. customers who have a Sibling relationship with another customer, customers who have a relationship with another customer with an End Date of next year
- Soft Credit: extract customers based on purchases that have been soft credited to them, e.g. customers who have donated above a certain amount, including donations soft credited to them
How to create and use Segments
Depending on whether you're creating a new Global Segment or a new Local Segment, you'll need to follow slightly different steps.
Creating a Global Segment
Global Segments are made in Insights & Mailings > Customer Lists > Segment Explorer. The Segment Explorer lists all of the Global Segments currently available on your system. You can arrange these by dragging and dropping them into the folders in the left-hand pane, in exactly the same way as you can arrange Customer Lists in the Customer List Explorer, or reports in the Report Explorer. Select the folder in which you wish to create the new Segment and click the New Segment button:
Creating a Local Segment in Customer Lists
To create a Local Segment, go to Insights & Mailings > Customer Lists and create a Customer List or edit an existing one. In the bottom left-hand side of the List Builder, in the Local Segment section, click the New Local Segment button:
Creating a Local Segment in Auto Tags
When you're creating an Auto Tag in the Admin Interface > Customers > Tags, in the bottom left-hand side of the Auto Tag Builder, click the New Local Segment button:
This will launch the Segment Builder wizard.
NOTE: for the purposes of the rest of this article, we'll be focusing on Global and Local Segments created for Customers Lists.
Building and configuring your Segment
Give your Segment a name, ideally one that is really clear and descriptive so that you and your team know exactly which customers it represents – this is particularly important when creating Global Segments! You'll then choose which type of Segment you want to build. As a reminder, these are the available Segment Types:
- Booking: extract customers based on their attendance
- Customer: extract customers based on their personal details
- Marketing: extract customers based on whether they have been included in your mailings and how they have reacted to emails you have sent
- Purchasing: extract customers based on items they've purchased
- Ticket Vouchers: extract customers based on Ticket Subscription vouchers that they have purchased, and the status of these vouchers
If you use the Opportunities Interface, you'll also have the following additional Segment Types available:
- Opportunity: extract customers based on the Opportunities you have open with them
- Invitee: extract customers based on their Invitations to fundraising events
- Attendee: extract customers based on whether they were marked as having attended fundraising events
- Relationship: extract customer's based on their relationship to other customers
- Soft Credit: extract customers based on purchases that have been soft credited to them
Once you've chosen a Segment Type, you'll be shown a list of metrics which can be used to specify the criteria for the Segment. For example, here's a list of metrics in a Booking Segment:
By default, you'll see only the most commonly used metrics, but you can untick the Only show commonly used criteria check box to see more:
Drag the appropriate metric into the dotted area marked Drop to add to criteria and the options for that metric will appear in the criteria area – please note that these will differ depending on the metric selected. You can add in as many metrics as you wish at this stage; just bear in mind that, to be included in a Segment, the customer must meet all of the criteria specified.
You can make your Segments as simple or as complex as you wish. For example, you could create three individual Customer Segments that find customers who have agreed to email contact, have an email address, and have a Tag that marks them as a potential member. Alternatively, as these are all criteria that are held at the level of the customer record, you could create a single Customer Segment that finds customers who meet all three criteria:
For more info on how to combine Segments and/or criteria within a Segment using the AND and OR rules, read our article on the Customer List Builder.
Once you've added the metrics you require, click Next (or OK in a Customer Segment). Most Segments have a second screen where can add more details and statistics – complete these as appropriate and click Save.
Using your Segments in a Customer List
Once you have saved a Segment you can use it in a Customer List by dragging it into the dashed box marked drop criteria here.
Remember that different types of Segments can be combined in Customer Lists. You could, for example, combine a Marketing Segment looking for everyone who clicked a book now link in an email promoting Macbeth with a Booking Segment that looks for everyone who hasn't yet booked for Macbeth; this would give you a Customer List of everyone who clicked the book now link in your emails but never actually got around to booking - you can then send those people a follow up email to try and nudge them into booking.
For more info on how to use Segments in a Customer List, read our article on the Customer List Builder.
Editing a Global Segment
Global Segments can be edited from the Segment Explorer. Select the Segment in the left-hand Segment Explorer pane and the details will appear in the right-hand pane. You can then make your changes and hit OK to save.
Remember that changing a Global Segment will cause it to change everywhere it's being used. If you wish to see which Lists any Global Segment is currently being used in, click Usages in Customer Lists:
To delete a Global Segment, select it in the left-hand pane and click the dropdown arrow next to its name, then click Delete. You cannot delete a Global Segment that is in use in any Customer Lists.
Editing a Local Segment
Local Segments can be edited in the Customer List by clicking the pencil next to the Segment name in the bottom left-hand pane. Note that, if the Segment is in use in the List, you'll see a number next to it that shows you how many times it appears. In this example, we're using this particular Marketing Segment twice, so this is reflected next to the Segment in the Local Segment pane:
Once you've edited a Segment, you'll have changed it everywhere it's being used. If it's not in used, a red delete button is displayed, allowing you to delete the Local Segment if you wish:
You cannot delete Local Segments when they're in use in a List.
Audit trails are held against Global Segments, detailing the date and time of any changes made, plus the user who made the changes.
Checking the audit trail of a Global Segment
Select the Segment in the left-hand Segment Explorer pane and the details will appear in the right-hand pane. You can then select Audit trail to see this information:
You can then choose whether to view the audit in order of the most recent changes first, or the oldest.
Hopefully this guide has given you a better understanding of Segments in Spektrix. We'd also recommend having a read of these articles:
- Customer List Builder: a guide to creating and editing Customer Lists, and putting your Segments into action
- Customer List Schedules: a guide to using Customer List Schedules to automate the running of Customer Lists, to deliver a Customer List or send automated emails
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If you have any further questions about Segments and Customer Lists, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Spektrix Support team.