Segments

Creating a Segment

Head to Segments in the sidebar and click Create Segment. You'll land on the segment builder, which has two parts: the condition builder on the left and the preview panel on the right.

Name and Description

At the top, give your segment a Name (required) and an optional Description. The description is just for your own reference — something like “Active buyers from Q4” helps you remember the purpose later.

The Condition Builder

This is where the magic happens. You build rules that describe which subscribers should be included.

How groups work:

Conditions are organized into groups.
Within a group, you choose whether subscribers must match ALL conditions (AND logic) or ANY condition (OR logic) using the toggle at the top of the group.
You can have multiple groups, and groups themselves are connected by AND or OR.

Think of it like this: “Match subscribers who (are subscribed AND are in the Newsletter list) OR (have the VIP tag).”

Adding a condition:

Click Add Condition inside a group, then pick from one of the condition categories below.

Condition Categories

1. Subscriber Data

Rules based on core subscriber information.

Condition	What it checks	Example
Status	Whether the subscriber's status is or isn't a specific value.	Status is “Subscribed”
Subscribed Date	When the subscriber was added. Options: within last X days, older than X days, before a date, after a date.	Subscribed Date within last 90 days
Custom Field	Any custom field you've created, with operators like equals, contains, starts with, greater than, is set, and more.	“Country” equals “Germany”

2. List & Tags

Rules based on list membership and tags.

Condition	What it checks	Example
List Membership	Whether the subscriber belongs to (or does not belong to) a specific list.	Belongs to “VIP Customers”
Tag	Whether the subscriber has (or does not have) a specific tag.	Has tag “webinar-attendee”

3. Campaign Activity

Rules based on how subscribers interacted with your campaigns.

Condition	What it checks	Example
Campaign Sent	Whether a specific campaign was or wasn't sent to them.	Has been sent “Summer Sale”
Campaign Opened	Whether they opened (or didn't open) a specific campaign.	Has not opened “Re-engagement Email”
Campaign Clicked	Whether they clicked (or didn't click) in a specific campaign.	Has clicked “Product Launch”
Link Clicked	Whether they clicked (or didn't click) a specific URL.	Has clicked “https://example.com/pricing”

4. Engagement Metrics

Rules based on aggregate performance numbers.

Condition	What it checks	Example
Open Rate	The subscriber's overall open rate (percentage).	Open Rate greater than 50%
Click Rate	The subscriber's overall click rate (percentage).	Click Rate greater than 10%
Total Emails Sent	How many emails they've received in total.	Total Emails Sent at least 5
Total Opens	How many times they've opened any email.	Total Opens at least 3
Total Clicks	How many total clicks across all emails.	Total Clicks greater than 0

5. Activity Timing

Rules based on when a subscriber last did something.

Condition	What it checks	Example
Last Opened	When they last opened any email. Options: within last X days, older than X days, before/after a date.	Last Opened within last 7 days
Last Clicked	When they last clicked a link in any email.	Last Clicked older than 60 days
Last Email Sent	When they were last sent any email.	Last Email Sent within last 30 days
Subscriber Inactive	Whether they've been inactive for at least X days (no opens or clicks).	Inactive for 90 days

6. List Engagement

Rules based on engagement within a specific list (greater than or less than a threshold).

The “Human Only” Toggle

Some engagement conditions include a Human Only checkbox. When enabled, Punchmail excludes bot traffic (automated opens and clicks from email security scanners) from the calculation. This gives you a more accurate picture of real human engagement. It's a good idea to enable this for most engagement-based segments.

Previewing Your Segment

As you build conditions, use the preview panel on the right side of the screen. Click Update Preview to see how many subscribers currently match your rules. This is a great way to sanity-check your logic before saving — if the number looks way too high or too low, you probably need to adjust a condition.

The Segment Index

Back on the main Segments page, you'll see a table listing all your segments:

Column	What it shows
Name	The segment name (click to edit).
Description	Your optional description.
Conditions	A compact preview of the rules.
Subscribers	The current count, or a Calculate button to refresh it on demand.
Created	When the segment was first created.
Actions	Edit and Delete buttons.

Since segments are dynamic, the subscriber count may change every time you calculate it. That's by design — the segment always reflects reality.

Where Segments Are Used

Segments plug into two key areas of Punchmail:

Campaigns — When creating a campaign, you choose a mailing list first, then optionally narrow the audience with a segment. Only subscribers who are both in the list and match the segment rules will receive the email.
Automations — Automation entry conditions can use segments to control which subscribers enter a flow.

Tips for Building Great Segments

Start simple. A single condition like “Status is Subscribed AND Last Opened within last 30 days” is a perfectly good “active subscribers” segment.
Use preview often. Check the count after each condition you add, so you can see exactly how each rule narrows (or widens) the audience.
Name segments descriptively. “Active US Buyers - Last 90 Days” is much more useful than “Segment 14.”
Combine with suppression lists. Even if a segment matches certain subscribers, your campaign's suppression lists will still exclude anyone who shouldn't be contacted.
Enable “Human Only” for engagement rules. Bot clicks can inflate your numbers and lead to segments that don't reflect real interest.
Remember: segments are live. A subscriber who matches today might not match tomorrow if their data changes. That's the whole point — segments keep your targeting fresh.