Segmentation in marketing involves organizing customers into groups (segments) based on shared characteristics, such as gender, location, or purchase history. It enables targeted messaging, improves campaign relevance, and strengthens engagement, loyalty, and retention.

Omnisend's segmentation solution is continuously improving with new filters and data points. In this guide, you'll learn how to create and use segments effectively to optimize your marketing efforts. 

To create a segment, go to the Audience tab → Segments → click on the Create segment button.

From there, you can pick one of the prebuilt segments or create a custom segment by clicking Create from scratch.

Each rule set in the segmentation menu provides a variety of filters designed to help you target your audience more effectively. These filters are organized by priority, starting from broad categories, such as general contact properties, and narrowing down to more specific attributes like behavior or custom events.

Omnisend's segment filters cover a wide range of data points, including contact profile, engagement history, subscription and channel preferences, website interactions, shopping behavior, and more. You can build your segment by choosing any of the available filters based on your preference and objectives.

A segment can have a simple or complex structure based on the following:

On the scheme below, you can see a more detailed description of the parts of the Segment by name.

AND and OR operators combine different rules for a single segment.

AND makes the Segment more exclusive, while the OR is more inclusive.

If you want to mix different types of filters or even two different segments and still stay flexible with AND and OR logic, you can create multiple filter groups. Each filter group has its own operator (either AND or OR). You can read more here.

To achieve that, create the first group of filters → click on the small arrow sign → Add a group of filters and create another set of rules.

One of the main benefits of using segments in Omnisend is that they update automatically in real time. As a contact’s data changes, they are automatically added to or removed from a segment based on whether they meet the defined filter conditions.

When setting up a segment, you’re essentially defining the entry and exit criteria. As soon as a contact meets the filters, they enter the segment. If they no longer meet those filters, they exit.

There are two types of segment updates, depending on how the filter conditions are defined:

Conditional segments update instantly. Whenever new data is added to the contact's profile, it is checked against the rule, and the contact is added to or removed from the segment.

If information is synced from your ecommerce store with a delay, it will be checked against the rule in the Segment as soon as it hits Omnisend.

This type of segment also updates in real time based on the date conditions you set.

For example, if your segment is designed to include contacts who viewed a page in the last 30 days, it will automatically update each day to reflect the most recent data.

Segments with date-based filters are refreshed daily at 12:00 AM in your store’s time zone. You can adjust this time zone in Store Settings → Store Information → Time Zone.

If you want to update an existing Segment, you should open that segment, change the filter or add a new one, and click the Update segment button.

If you update the rules of a segment that is used in an automation workflow (either for entry/exit triggers, splits, or audience filters), you’ll see a notice indicating that the segment is used in a specific workflow. This allows you to review the change and decide whether to proceed.

If you choose to update the segment, it means that the automation will send messages to contacts who meet the new rules by exiting or entering the segment.

If contacts are already in the middle of an automation flow (e.g., they’ve received 2 out of 5 messages) and still meet the conditions of the updated segment, they will continue receiving the remaining messages. However, if they no longer qualify based on the new filters, they will exit the flow and will not receive the remaining messages.

What happens if a contact no longer meets the segment criteria?

How do I create a segment for contacts who haven’t performed an action (e.g., not purchased)?

You can use negative filters, such as "haven't placed an order" to filter contacts that haven't placed any orders yet in your store. 

What is the best way to segment users based on their country?

Segmentation based on the country uses the "country" property in contact data. You can also see their geolocation based on the contact's IP address and segment based on the last detected city and country. 

The screenshot below shows you how to view geolocation and country information on the contact page.

To ensure accuracy, we recommend using the following filter combination:

“Country exists” AND “Country is/is not [Country Name]”

You can also segment contacts based on their geolocation, which is detected through their IP address during tracked events (e.g., viewed page or placed order). This allows you to segment contacts based on the last detected country or city.