What Is a Segmented Campaign? Who Gets What

Quick Definition

A segmented campaign, also called a targeted campaign, is a marketing message or offer sent to one group of shoppers instead of your whole list. Its members have something in common, like past purchases, total spend or location. Each group can get its own wording, products or discount. Some groups don't get a discount at all.

What Turns a Campaign Into a Segmented One

Most store emails start as a blast: one message, one offer, every subscriber. A segmented campaign starts with a rule instead. You decide who's in, then write for those people only.

A few you'll see a lot:

A win-back email to people who bought once and haven't returned in six months.
Early sale access for customers with three or more orders.
A refill reminder for buyers of something that runs out, like coffee or vitamins.
A shipping update sent only to customers in one country.

Building the groups has its own name: customer segmentation. The segmented campaign is what you send once those groups exist.

Why Not Just Email Everyone?

Two reasons: margin and attention. A code sent to your whole list also reaches people who were about to pay full price. Every one of them who uses it is profit you gave away for nothing.

Attention runs out too. A loyal buyer who gets three "we miss you" emails in a month may stop reading, or unsubscribe. Send less, and only to the group it's meant for, and your list stays worth mailing.

Myth: If the Segment Bought More, the Campaign Worked

You pick a segment because it behaves differently. So its numbers can look great before you send a thing. The cleanest check is a hold-out group: people from the same segment who get nothing.

Example: A Coffee Roaster's Win-Back Email

A coffee roaster has 2,400 customers who ordered once, more than 90 days ago. The owner sends 2,000 of them a 15% off code and holds back the other 400. An average order is $50, and the coffee costs the store $20. So a full-price order earns $30.

Emailed group: 80 orders from 2,000 people, or 4%.
Hold-out group: 8 orders from 400 people, or 2%.
So about 40 of the 80 orders would have come anyway (2% of 2,000).
With 15% off, each order earns $50 − $7.50 − $20 = $22.50.

Profit with the email: 80 × $22.50 = $1,800. Profit with no email: 40 × $30 = $1,200. The real gain is $600. A report may credit the email with $3,400 in sales (80 × $42.50), but that counts orders you'd have gotten anyway.

Careful with the hold-out, though. It only had 8 orders, which is a tiny sample, so treat that 2% as a rough read, not a firm number.

When Splitting Your List Backfires

The group is tiny. A segment of 50 people brings a handful of orders. You can't tell a good result from luck.
Segments overlap. One shopper can sit in three groups and get three different prices in one week. Decide which campaign wins before you send.
The code leaks. A code meant for lapsed buyers can end up on a coupon site. Then anyone can use it, and your targeting is gone.

Where Segmented Campaigns Live in Shopify

Shopify builds segments from your customer records. In your admin, head to Customers, then Segments. You can filter by things like amount spent, number of orders, location, customer tags and email subscription status.

Shopify's own email app can send a campaign straight to a segment. You can also limit a discount to specific customer segments, so the code isn't open to everyone who finds it. For setup and strategy, see our guide to customer eligibility for segmented discounts.

Email is only one channel. On the store itself, Growth Suite, our app, can target offers to visitor groups like cart abandoners, return visitors or one device type. It only shows offers to visitors who look less likely to buy, so shoppers ready to pay full price don't see a discount. Grouping live shoppers like this is visitor segmentation.