You’ve got a list of contacts. Maybe it’s huge, maybe it’s a few hundred people. Either way, blasting the same message to everyone is a fast track to the spam folder. If you want your outreach to actually work, you need to get serious about segmentation. This guide is for anyone using Hypertide who wants their emails to land, not just arrive.
We’ll get into what works, what you can skip, and how to set up segments that help you send the right message to the right people—without getting lost in endless tagging and list-juggling.
Why Segmenting Contacts Actually Matters
Let’s be blunt: segmentation isn’t about showing off how many lists you can make. It’s about sending stuff people care about, so they don’t tune you out or, worse, hit “unsubscribe.” When you segment well, your open and reply rates go up, and your audience doesn’t start to hate you.
The catch? Too many people overthink it. You don’t need a PhD in database theory or to tag every possible behavior. Just focus on what’s useful.
Step 1: Get Your Data in Order (Don’t Skip This)
Before you can segment, you have to trust your data. Garbage in, garbage out.
- Import contacts cleanly: Make sure you don’t have duplicate emails, missing names, or random symbols in your fields. Hypertide can handle imports pretty well, but it won’t fix your CSV for you.
- Standardize fields: Decide how you’ll use fields like “Company,” “Industry,” or “Location.” Stick to one format (e.g., “San Francisco” not “SF” or “San Fran”).
- Remove obvious junk: If you’ve got old addresses or catch-all inboxes (like “info@” or “sales@”), weed them out. They drag down your results and skew your segments.
Pro tip: Don’t trust that old Excel sheet from 2019. Run a quick spot-check before uploading.
Step 2: Decide What Actually Matters for Your Outreach
Not every data point is worth segmenting by. Here’s what’s often useful—and what’s usually a waste of time:
What Usually Works
- Recent activity: Last opened, clicked, or replied. People who haven’t engaged in 6+ months? Treat them differently.
- Customer status: Lead, prospect, current customer, churned, VIP.
- Industry or role: If your message changes for different industries or job titles, segment by these.
- Location/time zone: Good for local offers or timing sends.
- Source: How they got on your list (conference, signup form, referral).
What’s Often Useless
- Tiny behavioral signals: Opened one email three months ago? Probably not worth a segment.
- Overly granular tags: “Likes blue widgets AND is left-handed AND signed up on a Tuesday.” Don’t go down this rabbit hole.
- Demographics you can’t act on: If you won’t actually send a different message, skip it.
Honest take: If you have to ask, “Will I ever email just this group?”—you probably don’t need that segment.
Step 3: Map Out Segments Before You Build Them
Grab a notepad or open a doc. List out:
- The main groups you actually need (e.g., “Warm Leads,” “Current Customers,” “Old Prospects”).
- What makes someone belong in each group (fields, tags, activity).
- If you’re doing multi-step outreach, sketch out which segment gets which message.
This helps you avoid the classic mess of “segment sprawl,” where you have 37 micro-lists and no idea who’s where.
Step 4: Create Segments in Hypertide, the Right Way
Hypertide gives you flexible filters. Here’s how to use them without making a mess:
- Go to Contacts > Segments.
- Create a new segment. Name it something you’ll actually recognize in three months.
- Use simple, clear rules. Stack filters like:
- “Status is ‘Lead’”
- “Last activity within 90 days”
- “Industry is ‘SaaS’”
- Save and test. Check a few contacts in each segment. Does it make sense? If not, tweak the rules.
- Document your logic. Leave a quick note (or use naming conventions) so teammates get what this segment is for.
Pro tip: Start broad. You can always get more specific later. Over-complex segments break when your data changes even a little.
Step 5: Use Tags and Custom Fields (But Don’t Go Tag-Crazy)
Tags are great for binary stuff (“Attended March Webinar”) or for temporary campaigns. Custom fields are better for stuff that’s always true (“Industry,” “Account Owner”).
- Use tags for events and behaviors: Registered for a course, downloaded a guide, etc.
- Use custom fields for permanent info: Company size, customer type, etc.
- Avoid tag bloat: If you have more tags than contacts, it’s out of hand.
Remember: every new field or tag is another thing to manage. Only add them if you’ll actually use them.
Step 6: Clean Up Regularly
No one likes this part, but it’s necessary. Set a reminder every quarter (or month, if you’re ambitious):
- Purge dead contacts: If someone hasn’t engaged in a year, it’s safe to let them go.
- Merge duplicates: Hypertide helps, but it’s not magic. Run a quick search for obvious repeats.
- Review segments: Are you still using all of them? Archive the ones that are just gathering dust.
Pro tip: Less is more. A few solid, active segments beat a graveyard of stale ones.
Step 7: Actually Use Your Segments for Targeted Outreach
This is where the payoff comes:
- Write messages for each segment: Don’t just swap out a name. Reference what makes this group different (recent activity, customer status, etc.).
- Test and tweak: Run small campaigns to each segment and see what lands. Open rates, replies, even unsubscribes—all give you feedback.
- Don’t be afraid to merge or split segments: If you find two groups acting the same, combine them. If a segment is too broad, split it.
What to ignore: The urge to hyper-personalize every tiny detail. Most people don’t notice, and it eats up your time.
Step 8: Keep It Simple—And Get Feedback
Ask your team (or even a few trusted customers) if your segments make sense. If people are confused, your audience probably is too.
- Share your segment logic: If you can’t explain it in one sentence, it’s too complicated.
- Automate where possible: Hypertide has workflows—use them to add/remove people from segments automatically based on activity.
- Iterate: Don’t treat your segments as permanent. The best ones evolve as your business and audience do.
A Final Word: Don’t Overthink It
Segmenting contacts in Hypertide isn’t rocket science. Focus on what actually helps you send better messages. Clean up your data, build a few meaningful segments, and use them. If a segment isn’t working, kill it. If you see a new pattern, create one.
Keep it simple, stay curious, and don’t let “best practices” get in the way of actually connecting with people. The best segmentation is the one you’ll use.