Not every contact on your list is at the same stage — and sending the same email to everyone rarely gets the best results. Pre-built segments let you quickly target the right people based on how they have been engaging with your emails, so every campaign lands with more relevance and less effort.
What are pre-built segments?
Pre-built segments are ready-made groups of contacts, automatically organised based on their email engagement. Instead of manually filtering your list every time you send a campaign, you simply pick a segment and Alvéya does the sorting for you.
Each segment uses real behaviour data — specifically, whether a contact has opened or clicked an email you've sent through a campaign, workflow, or bulk action. That interaction is what Alvéya counts as 'engaged'.
Here's what that looks like in practice:
You want to promote a new offer — send it to your most engaged contacts from the last 30 days.
You're running a re-engagement push — target contacts who haven't interacted with your last five campaigns.
You have a time-sensitive announcement — focus on your hottest audience with the 7-day engaged segment.
💡 Subscribers and contacts mean the same thing in Alvéya. The terms are used interchangeably across the platform.
Available segments at a glance
You can choose from five pre-built segments when setting up your campaign send or schedule:
Engaged – last 7 days: Contacts who opened or clicked an email in the past 7 days. Great for time-sensitive offers or announcements to your most active audience.
Engaged – last 30 days: Contacts who have engaged in the past month. A solid general-purpose segment for regular campaign sends.
Engaged – last 60 days: A broader active audience — ideal for promotions or content you want maximum reach on, without emailing completely cold contacts.
Engaged – last 5 campaigns: Contacts who opened or clicked in at least one of your last five campaigns. Use this when you want to reward your most consistent readers.
Disengaged – last 5 campaigns: Contacts who did not interact with your last five campaigns. Use this for re-engagement sequences — a targeted nudge to see who is still interested.
Why targeted sending matters
Sending to everyone on your list every time is a shortcut that usually backfires. Contacts who aren't ready to hear from you are more likely to ignore your emails, unsubscribe, or mark them as spam — all of which hurt your deliverability over time.
Pre-built segments help you avoid that by making it easy to:
Send to the right people — your most engaged contacts are the ones most likely to act.
Win back lost interest — a well-timed re-engagement email to your disengaged list can recover clients you thought were gone.
Protect your sender reputation — fewer emails to uninterested contacts means better deliverability across the board.
💡 Re-engagement campaigns work best when you give the reader a reason to click — a relevant resource, a question that prompts a reply, or a clear call to action. Keep it human and low-pressure.
How to send a campaign using a pre-built segment
Before you start: You will need an email campaign already created in Alvéya. If you haven't set one up yet, head to Email Marketing > Campaigns and build your campaign content first, then come back to this guide.
Go to Marketing in the left-hand sidebar, then select Emails > Campaigns.
Open an existing campaign or create a new one. Once your content is ready, click Send or Schedule in the top right corner.
Choose how you would like to send — Send Now, Scheduled, Batch Schedule, or RSS Schedule.
Complete the sender details: your email address, display name, and subject line.
In the Recipients section, select Pre-Built Segments from the recipient type options.
Use the dropdown menu to choose the segment that fits your goal.
Alvéya will display a contact count showing how many people match that segment. Review this number, then click Send or Save to finalise.
⚠️ Segmentation is calculated at the time you create or schedule the campaign — not when it sends. The contact list is locked from that point. If you schedule something in advance, keep this in mind: contacts who engage after you schedule won't be added automatically.
💡 Not sure which segment to pick? Start with 'Engaged – last 30 days' as a reliable default for most campaign types. Move to the 7-day segment for high-priority sends, or the disengaged segment when running a dedicated re-engagement sequence.
Frequently asked questions
Can I edit the criteria for a pre-built segment?
No — the criteria are fixed. If you need something more tailored, head to the Contacts section and create a Smart List. Smart Lists are fully customisable and work similarly.
When is the segment calculated?
At the time you create or schedule your campaign, not when it sends. The contact list is locked at that point. Dynamic updates at send time are coming in a future release.
Can I create my own segments?
Not as pre-built segments — but you can build Smart Lists from the Contacts section to achieve the same result with custom filters.
What counts as 'engaged'?
A contact is considered engaged if they opened or clicked an email sent through a campaign, workflow, or bulk action. It does not include contacts who only received an email without interacting.