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Understanding segments and target audience

Create segments to target specific customer groups who can enroll in your referral program

Adam avatar
Written by Adam
Updated yesterday

Using segments is a great tool to target a specific audience for your referral program based on the conditions you set, or the specific contacts you select. For example, you can target loyal customers whose lifetime spend is more than $500 so you can send them bigger rewards.

Using Klaviyo? Learn how to use ReferralCandy segments with Klaviyo.


Segments and target audience

Segments and target audience are two different mechanisms that work together to scope the audience of your campaign.

  • Segments (Account level) - When customers make a purchase, sign up via a form, or are imported manually, they are registered as contacts in your account. ReferralCandy uses your contacts list to assign qualified contacts to segments based on conditions. Segments are either static or dynamic:

    • Dynamic - Contacts are added to a segment based on conditions you set. For example, a segment based on a lifetime spend greater than $150.

    • Static - Only the selected contacts you import are added to the segment. For example, a list of affiliates you manually add to a segment. The All Customers segment is also a static segment.

  • Target audience (Campaign level) - The target audience is how you configure your campaign to target or exclude segments. When you target a segment, the qualified contacts in those segments are enrolled as advocates in your campaign. Once enrolled, advocates obtain their campaign-specific referral link, and can begin referring friends and earning rewards.

How do segments affect campaign enrollment? Read the Campaign enrollment article for more information on how customers enroll in your referral program and the expected behavior for each enrollment state.

Affiliate campaign segments

When you create an affiliate campaign, you choose between 3 campaign types with their assigned segments:

  • Instant access - Any contact who registers through the affiliate campaign's signup form is automatically enrolled in your campaign.

    • Target audience: A dynamic segment that uses the Signup form submitted criteria. Anyone who signs up on the date you set is enrolled as an affiliate.

    • Example segment: Signed-up Affiliates - Affiliate 1 Campaign

  • Curated - Review each affiliate signup first before approval. You'll have an affiliate management dashboard where signups are listed for your review.

    • Target audience: A dynamic segment that uses the Signup approved criteria. Anyone who's approved on the date you set is enrolled as an affiliate.

    • Example segment: Approved Affiliates - Affiliate 2 Campaign

  • Invite only - Upload a hand-picked list of affiliates. You can upload a CSV file or Mailchimp list, or add an individual's email address.

    • Target audience: A static segment where you can import a list of contacts from a CSV file, Mailchimp list, or by adding an individual's contact details. Learn more

    • Example segment: Invited Affiliates - Affiliate 3 Campaign

Managing segments in your account

To manage the segments in your ReferralCandy account, on the dashboard, go to the Contacts > Segments page in the ReferralCandy web app or Shopify app. Here you see a list of existing segments in your account.

  • A. View contacts. To view the contacts in a segment, click the segment name.

  • B. Edit segments. Click the three-dot menu and select Edit (Non-Shopify) or click the note icon (Shopify) to edit. On the segment editor page, you can change the name and the segment criteria.

    Note: If you modify the criteria of a segment targeted by a live campaign, advocates are automatically enrolled or unenrolled based on the new conditions set.

  • C. Create segments. To create a new segment:

    1. Click Create new segment.

    2. Choose either a Dynamic or Static segment.

    3. Enter the Segment name.

    4. Save the changes.

Setting a target audience for your campaign

Once your segments are set up, you can start targeting or excluding those segments in your campaign.

  1. Go to your campaign's Target audience page:

    • From the ReferralCandy dashboard, go to Campaigns > Select your campaign > Target Audience.

    • From your Shopify admin, go to Campaigns > Select your campaign. In the Get started section, click Target audience.

  2. In the Target these segments section, select one or more segments from the options.

  3. Optionally, you can exclude segments by selecting one or more values in the Exclude these segments dropdown.

  4. Save the changes.

Note: Your campaign must be live for the target audience to take effect. Learn more


πŸ’¬ Need help? Click the chat widget on the right to start a conversation. Learn more


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