Email segmentation for ecommerce: the segments a consumable brand should start with

Why does email segmentation matter for ecommerce?

Because the same email means different things to different people. A first-time buyer, a customer on their sixth order and someone who signed up for a discount code two years ago shouldn't get the same message.

Here's the clearest example I have. A fitness tech brand sent one campaign to an engaged segment of 7,145 people and earned $0.19 per person. A full-list blast to 49,475 people earned $0.04 per person.

To be straight with you, the blast reached about 7x more people, so per person isn't the whole story. But sending to people who never click tells inbox providers your email isn't wanted. Over time that can hurt delivery to the people who do buy. Segmentation lets you send more often to your best people without dragging the whole list down.

What happens when you don't segment?

When I take over an account from a cheap freelancer, a few things show up again and again. Flows with no intention behind them. Flows that are missing or broken. And campaigns that go to everyone, with no segments at all.

That last one is the sneaky one. If every campaign goes to the whole list, nobody can analyze what worked. You can't see whether a bundle offer landed with repeat buyers or flopped with new subscribers. It's all one blended number.

So segmentation isn't only about sending better emails. It's how you learn anything from the emails you already sent.

The segments a consumable brand should start with

You don't need 40 segments. For a consumable brand, these five cover most of what matters. Here's how I'd set them up.

1. Engaged subscribers. Anyone who clicked or bought in the last 60 to 90 days. This is your default campaign audience. Most of your sends go here.
2. First-time buyers. People with exactly one order. They're the group most likely to fall off, so they need help getting to order #2. Think how-to-use content, reviews and a reorder nudge.
3. Repeat buyers. Two or more orders. These are your best customers. They get early access, new flavors or products first, and bundle or subscription offers.
4. Lapsed customers. People who bought before but are past the point where they'd normally run out. For a consumable, this is your winback audience.
5. Never-purchased subscribers. On the list, haven't bought. They need proof and a reason to try, not your fourth email about a new scent.

Once those are working, add a few that are worth it for consumables:

• Product-based segments. Bought a specific product or category. Useful for cross-sells and for restock news.
• Clicked but didn't buy. Clicked a product in the last few weeks but didn't order. A good audience for a restock or a launch.
• Unengaged. No clicks or purchases in a long time. Don't keep blasting them. Send them through a Klaviyo sunset flow and then stop.

How segments and flows work together

Segmentation isn't only for campaigns. Your flows should split too.

In the Bardown Flow System, every flow is split into separate paths for customers and for people who haven't bought yet. A customer who abandons a cart doesn't need the same pitch as someone who's never ordered. They already trust you. They need a nudge, not an introduction.

If your flows send everyone down the same path, that's usually the first fix I'd make, even before campaigns.

What tighter audiences do to your numbers

When you start segmenting, your metrics will jump. Some of that is real. Some of it isn't.

A diffuser wellness brand tightened its audiences, and its open rate went from 22% to 44%. That's a big move, but I'd treat it as directional. Opens are inflated by Apple Mail, which auto-opens emails for a lot of people.

Across 4 consumable brands I pooled data from, open rate tracked revenue at 0.32 and click rate at 0.65. For one brand, open rate tracked revenue negatively: more opens, less money. Apple Mail auto-opens pushed open rates past 85% on some segments.

So when you compare segments, look at:

• Click rate. It tracks revenue about twice as closely as opens in my data.
• Revenue per person. Not total revenue. Big segments always win on total. Per person tells you which audience actually responds.
• Unsubscribes and spam complaints. If one segment spikes, that audience is getting the wrong message or too much of it.

More on that in open rate vs click rate.

How often should each segment hear from you?

Not equally. Your engaged subscribers and repeat buyers can handle the most email. Your never-purchased and lapsed segments get fewer, sharper sends.

For what it's worth, sending more isn't as risky as founders think. In that same 4-brand sample, 3 of the 4 saw no rise in unsubscribes when they sent more. I break that down in does sending more emails increase unsubscribes.

The big moments, like BFCM, a restock or a launch, are when you widen the audience. If you're planning for this year's sale window, here's my BFCM email strategy.

Where these numbers come from

The pooled numbers come from 4 consumable brands, 2,897 campaigns and $17.7M in email revenue. It's a small sample, so read them as directional. The single-brand numbers each come from one brand I've worked with, described by category instead of name.

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WRITTEN BY Jack White

Founder of Bardown Digital, a Chicago-based Klaviyo email and retention agency for Shopify brands. He's worked with brands doing $500K to $100M a year, with $100M+ in email-attributed revenue across them.

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