If you’re sending swag, gifts, or mailers with Postal and want to avoid wasting postage on the wrong people, you’re in the right place. This guide is for ops folks, marketers, and anyone tired of blasting physical mail to every contact in their CRM. We’ll walk through how to actually use advanced filters in Postal to target the accounts that matter—without overcomplicating things or falling for buzzwords.
Let’s get your sends working smarter, not just louder.
1. Know Your Real Goal (and Don’t Overthink It)
Before you get lost in filters and options, get clear on why you’re segmenting. Are you trying to:
- Win new business from a specific industry?
- Re-engage cold accounts?
- Reward top customers or partners?
- Run a time-sensitive campaign (like an event follow-up)?
Write this down. It’ll save you from building segments just because you can. The best Postal sends are focused—don’t spray and pray.
Pro tip: If you’re not sure who to send to, talk to sales or support. They’ll tell you fast who’s worth the postage.
2. Get Your Data in Shape First
None of Postal’s filters will help if your account and contact data is a mess. Garbage in, garbage out. Check these basics before you start:
- Are your account fields up to date? (Industry, location, account owner, last activity, etc.)
- Do you have key contacts tagged properly? (Decision makers, existing customers, etc.)
- Are duplicates cleaned up? Postal counts what’s in your system, not what’s in your head.
If you’re syncing from Salesforce, HubSpot, or another CRM, double-check that the fields you want to filter by are actually coming over. Don’t assume—they often aren’t.
What to ignore: Don’t obsess over perfect data. Just make sure the main filters you care about are usable.
3. Map Out Your Segmentation Criteria
Decide what makes someone “in” or “out” of your campaign. This is where Postal’s advanced filters come in. The main types you’ll use:
- Firmographics: Industry, company size, region, revenue.
- Engagement: Last activity date, opened emails, past event attendance.
- Lifecycle stage: Customer, prospect, churned, partner.
- Custom fields: Anything unique you track—product type, renewal date, etc.
Don’t get stuck: Start with 2-3 criteria max. You can always refine later.
4. Using Postal’s Advanced Filters (Step-by-Step)
Now let’s get into the nuts and bolts. Here’s how to actually use the advanced filters in Postal to build a good segment.
Step 1: Go to the Accounts or Contacts Section
- Log in to Postal. Head to either the Accounts or Contacts tab, depending on who you want to target.
- Most campaigns start with Accounts, since that’s where company-level info lives.
Step 2: Click “Advanced Filters”
- Look for a filter or funnel icon—usually labeled “Advanced Filters” or just “Filters.”
- The filter panel should pop out, showing all the fields you can filter by.
Step 3: Add Your Filters
- Pick your first criterion (ex: “Industry is SaaS”).
- Add more filters as needed (ex: “Location is United States,” “Account Owner is Jane Doe”).
- Use AND/OR logic smartly. “AND” narrows your list; “OR” widens it.
- If you want to target only new prospects, add something like “Lifecycle Stage is Prospect.”
- For engagement-based sends, try “Last Activity Date is before 90 days ago.”
Things that actually work: - Combining firmographic and engagement filters. For example: “Tech companies in California who haven’t responded in 6 months.” - Filtering by custom fields that mean something to your sales team.
Things that usually don’t:
- Overly complex filters no one else understands. If you need a whiteboard to explain it, it’s too much.
- Relying on fields that aren’t reliably updated (like “Last Contacted” if sales doesn’t log activity).
Step 4: Preview and Adjust
- Don’t just trust the count Postal gives you—browse the actual list.
- Spot-check a few accounts. Are these really the people you want to mail?
- If not, tweak your filters. It’s normal to go back and forth a few times.
Pro tip: Save your filter settings as a segment for future use if you’ll send to this group again.
5. Exclude Who You Don’t Want (Seriously)
It’s easy to focus on who should get your send, but just as important to exclude the wrong people:
- Current customers (if this is a prospecting campaign)
- Competitors
- Unresponsive accounts you’ve already tried 10 times
- People who’ve opted out of mail
Most advanced filters let you use “is not” logic (ex: “Account Status is not Customer”). Use it.
Don’t skip this. Every irrelevant mailer is wasted budget and can annoy people.
6. Test with a Small Batch First
Once your segment looks right, resist the urge to send to everyone at once.
- Pull a list of 10–20 accounts and run a pilot send.
- Watch delivery, engagement, and responses closely.
- Fix any weird data issues or edge cases that come up.
You’ll catch mistakes now—before you blow your whole budget on the wrong audience.
7. Launch, Monitor, and Adjust
If your pilot batch looks good, go ahead and scale up.
- Monitor sends, bounces, and replies.
- Check if you’re hitting the right people (ask sales for feedback).
- Refine your segment as you go. Maybe you notice certain industries never respond—cut them out next time.
Don’t automate everything immediately. Let it run manually a time or two before you build it into a workflow.
What to Ignore (and What Not to Fall For)
- Don’t chase “AI-powered” segmentation unless you really know what it’s doing. Most of the time, a few well-chosen filters beat a black box.
- Ignore vanity metrics like total sends. Focus on engagement and actual pipeline or customer results.
- Don’t make this someone else’s problem. If you’re the one sending, own the segment. Otherwise, you’ll waste time blaming the data.
Fast FAQs
Q: Should I use Postal’s pre-built segments or build my own?
A: Pre-built is fine for common cases, but custom segments are usually better. Use advanced filters to slice your list how you actually want.
Q: What if I’m missing a key filter?
A: Check your CRM sync. You might need to add or map a field. If all else fails, export and filter in Excel, then import back.
Q: How often should I update my segments?
A: At least quarterly. More often if you’re running frequent sends or if your business changes fast.
Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Don’t let “advanced” filters fool you—they’re just tools to help you send smarter, not harder. Start with clear goals, use a handful of filters that make sense, and always double-check your list before hitting send. You’ll avoid wasted budget, angry contacts, and that sinking feeling when 500 mailers go to the wrong place.
Keep it simple. Adjust as you go. Real-world feedback will beat theory every time.