--- title: "What are the conditions that I can set for my segment lists?" description: "Every condition available in the Mailercloud segment builder, the operators each one accepts and the values you can give it." url: https://help.mailercloud.com/en/articles/230-what-are-the-conditions-that-i-can-set-for-my-segment-lists collection: "Contact Segmentation" updated: 2026-10-21 language: en --- # What are the conditions that I can set for my segment lists? Every condition available in the Mailercloud segment builder, the operators each one accepts and the values you can give it. ## **What is a segment?** Segmentation lets you divide your audience into smaller, targeted groups based on who your contacts are and how they have engaged with your emails. A segment is **dynamic**: Mailercloud re-checks its conditions for you, so contacts join and leave the segment automatically as their data and behaviour change. This article lists every condition you can set in the segment builder, along with the operators and values each one accepts. ## **Part 1 · How to create a segment**

Audience › Segments › Create Segment

1. Log in to your Mailercloud account. 2. Select **Audience** from the left sidebar, then click **Segments**. 3. Click **Create Segment** at the top right. 4. Enter a **Segment name** (up to 60 characters). 5. Choose your **Audience source**. Select **All contacts** to include every contact in your account, or **Specific lists** to limit the segment to the lists you choose. 6. Click **Add Conditions**, then click **Choose filter** and select a condition. 7. Choose an operator and enter a value for the condition. 8. Click **Save segment**. ![](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/ghelparticle/MN1MF5RizpgQoEz7waOdOZth4aCALUjn5c099JiYjckenw44sIX0YzA720C5yTK2VP8yIBdXzt7.jpg) _The Create segment screen — name, audience source and conditions._

📝 Note: If you do not add any conditions, the segment includes everyone in your audience source.

📌 Tip: Start typing in the Choose filter box to search for a condition by name. This is the quickest way to find a condition without scrolling through the full list.

![](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/ghelparticle/TPin8w3gNtukZGK7BaRuQcEQYJIiq4IDwHOJxo9vx6OxzR5mUmFqDdXlMobCvipEujI6xxkix9U.jpg) _Typing in Choose filter narrows the list to matching conditions._ ## **Part 2 · How multiple conditions work together** When you add a second condition, an **AND** label appears between the two. Click it to switch between: - **AND** — a contact must satisfy every condition. Each condition you add makes the segment smaller. - **OR** — a contact needs to satisfy only one condition. Each condition you add makes the segment larger. ![](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/ghelparticle/CnXFpG7RdHvCuLUvsSTnIuyaJm7QEIkmpLZuJ3VsBQSQSCqvRL0Q8fpN2DwPkurHjJDu7DfgylK.jpg) _Click the AND label between two conditions to switch it to OR._

📝 Note: Using AND where OR was intended is the most common reason a segment returns no contacts. For example, Country is India AND Country is Germany matches nobody, because a contact cannot have two countries. Use OR for conditions like this.

## **Part 3 · Conditions you can set** Conditions are grouped by what they describe. Each group below lists the conditions available, the operators they accept and the values you can enter. ### **1\. Contact properties** These are the details stored on the contact record, including the default fields and any custom contact properties you have created. Custom fields appear under the names you gave them. **Default properties:** - Email Address, First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Phone - Mailbox Provider, Country, State, City, Postal Code - Company Name, Job Title, Department, Industry, Salary - Lead Source - Open Tracking Consent, Open Tracking Consent Source, Open Tracking Consent Date - Email Preference, Email Frequency ![](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/ghelparticle/zvW7tKGCGtFKwdfMrjintL4lqVUqe2VPWux2oV0GNTwSxdPbxmuI6rJyRtGIuZe32MKcYB76Kgh.jpg) _Contact properties appear in the Choose filter list, followed by the operators for that property type._ The operators available depend on the type of the property. **Text properties** (for example First Name, Company Name) - Is / Is not - Contains / Does not contain - Starts with / Ends with - Is known / Is unknown **Number properties** (for example Salary, Postal Code) - Equal to - Greater than / Less than - Between - Is known / Is unknown **Date properties** - On a specific date - Is before / Is after - Between - In the last / Not in the last - Is not - Is known / Is unknown **Dropdown and Radio properties** - Is / Is not - Is any of / Is none of - Is known / Is unknown **Multi-select and Checkbox properties** - Is any of / Is none of - Is known / Is unknown **Boolean properties** - Is / Is not - Is known / Is unknown

📝 Note: Email Address also offers Doesn't end with, which is the quickest way to exclude an entire domain. Mailbox Provider uses Was / Was not and Is known / Is unknown. Is known / Is unknown check whether the property holds any value at all — for example, First Name is unknown finds every contact you cannot personalise an email to.

**Consent and preference properties** - **Open Tracking Consent** — Is / Is not / Is known / Is unknown. Values: Granted, Denied. - **Open Tracking Consent Source** — Is / Is not / Is known / Is unknown. Values: Form, Preference center, Revocation link, Import, API, Manual. - **Open Tracking Consent Date** — uses the date operators listed above. - **Email Preference** — Was / Was not. Values: your own preference categories. - **Email Frequency** — Is / Is not / Is known / Is unknown. Values: Daily, Weekly digest, Monthly.

📝 Note: Contacts whose tracking consent is Denied or unknown still receive your emails. Only the individual attribution of their opens is affected.

### **2\. Contact details** - **Email Status** — Valid subscriber, Unknown subscriber, Bounced, Suppressed, Unsubscribed, Blacklisted, Account level bounced. You can select more than one value. - **Email Domain** — Is / Is not, Contains / Does not contain, Starts with / Ends with. - **Created Date** — On a specific date, Is before / Is after, Between, In the last / Not in the last, Is not. - **Modified Date** — same operators as Created Date. - **Signup Source** — Was / Was not. Choose from the sources listed in the dropdown. - **Contact Rating** — Equal to, Not equal to, Greater than, Less than, Between. ![](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/ghelparticle/YsliSZUBxi62GkX0rOlxK14x1PfFg7YHjm0FgTL0vUMl0bBQMtg7FDQBvLDkQjfUYjHP4SQw35l.jpg) _Email Status lets you pick one or more statuses._

📝 Note: Suppressed, Bounced, Unsubscribed and Blacklisted contacts are already excluded from your sends automatically, so you do not need a condition to keep them out. Use these values when you want to review those contacts — for example, to size a re-permission campaign.

### **3\. Email verification** These conditions use the results of Mailercloud's email verification and apply only to addresses that have already been verified. - **Verification Result** — Is / Is not / Is known / Is unknown. Values: Valid, Invalid, Risky, Unknown. - **Verification Detail** — Is / Is not / Is known / Is unknown. Values: Deliverable, Mailbox not found, Dead server, Invalid MX, Invalid syntax, Typo, Email disabled, Catch-all, Mailbox full, Disposable, Spamtrap, Role-based, Antispam system. - **Deliverability Score** — Equal to, Greater than, Less than, Between, Is known / Is unknown. - **Risk Level** — Is / Is not / Is known / Is unknown. Values: Low, Medium, High. - **Email Type** — Is / Is not / Is known / Is unknown. Values: Personal, Business, Role, Disposable, Unknown. - **Verification Source** — Is / Is not / Is known / Is unknown. Values: List upload, Single verify, Signup form, Automation, Import API. - **Verification Status** — Is / Is not / Is known / Is unknown. Values: Never, Verifying, Verified, Stale, Failed. - **Email is Valid**, **Email is Deliverable**, **Role-based Email**, **Free Email Provider**, **Catch-all Domain**, **Disposable Email** — Equal to (Yes / No), Is known / Is unknown. - **MX Server** — Is / Is not, Contains / Does not contain, Is known / Is unknown. - **Last Verified** — uses the date operators. ### **4\. Activity-based conditions** **a) Contact activity** - **Subscriber Opened** — In the last, Not in the last, Count, Count between, Order by count, Between date, After, Before, Between time. - **Subscriber Clicked** — In the last, Not in the last, Count, Count between, Order by count, Between date, After, Before. - **Subscriber Sent** — In the last, Not in the last, Count, Count between, Order by count, Between date, After, Before. - **Engagement Status** — Opened, Clicked, Not opened, Not clicked. - **Subscriber In Portion** — Between. - **Global Engagers** — Equal to, Not equal to, Greater than, Less than, Between, Order by, In the last, Not in the last. ![](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/ghelparticle/y0kkZsa5Zb5IQfQrOFkUbnnbXrUnzUQ1sEYFYExCpkzxwTg0tPXbdjgGXRSSxHEO9RE8GFZbd4M.jpg) _Operators available for Subscriber Opened._ - **In the last / Not in the last** take a number of days and move forward with time — “Opened in the last 30 days” always means the most recent 30 days. - **Count** and **Count between** filter on how many times the activity happened, which helps you separate regular clickers from one-time clickers. - **Between time** is available for opens only and filters by time of day. - **Subscriber In Portion** takes a percentage range and returns an even slice of your audience. Use it to build a holdout group or split a list for testing.

📝 Note: Global Engagers is available on request. Contact support if you do not see it in your account.

**b) Campaign activity** Conditions: **Opened**, **Clicked**, **Sent**, **Not opened**, **Not clicked**, **Not sent**. Operators: - **Specific campaign** — choose one or more campaigns by name - **Any of the last 5 campaigns** - **All of the last 5 campaigns** - **Any of the campaign sent in the last 7 days** - **Any of the campaign sent in the last 1 month** - **Any of the campaign sent in the last 3 months** ![](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/ghelparticle/j6W5dQGNgeIC8dc4QeLSEEbxI7JZYPRwJNmxsumklxnx3XZJDujKz1yYAJWpey1DcvKgqbMbng2.jpg) _A campaign-activity condition with the Specific campaign operator._

📝 Note: Not sent offers Specific campaign, Any of the last 5 campaigns and All of the last 5 campaigns only.

📌 Tip: The rolling operators keep working as you send new campaigns, so you do not need to edit the segment each time. Not opened — All of the last 5 campaigns is a common way to define lapsed subscribers.

**c) Sender ID activity** Conditions: **Opened**, **Clicked**, **Sent**, **Not opened**, **Not clicked**, **Not sent**, each using the **Specific** operator. These are scoped to the sender address a campaign was sent from, which is useful when your account sends under more than one brand. **d) Automation activity** - **Started automation** / **Not started automation** - **Completed automation** / **Not completed automation** - **Currently in automation** / **Not currently in automation** - **Dropped off automation** - **Entered via trigger** ![](https://staticfiles.gleap.io/ghelparticle/XzhdVCCc44Jaiawihwpq21enklzCjoLq5nhn3mJHy5Ly6SrUniY4EuDEu3d03kqG44GXR5woYRk.jpg) _Automation conditions in the Choose filter list._ Each uses the **Specific** operator, where you choose the automation. **Entered via trigger** also asks you to choose which trigger added the contact to the automation.

📝 Note: Automation conditions are available on plans that include automation.

**e) Conversion activity** - **Has happened** — Specific, In the last, On, After, Between. - **Not happened** — Specific. ### **5\. Contact tag** - **Is tagged** — Any of, All of. - **Is not tagged** — Any of, All of.

📝 Note: Any of matches a contact with at least one of the selected tags. All of requires every selected tag.

### **6\. Campaign tag** - **Opened** — Is. - **Clicked** — Is.

📌 Tip: Campaign tags let you segment by theme instead of by individual campaign. A condition such as “Clicked campaigns tagged pricing” keeps working as you add new campaigns under that tag.

## **Part 4 · Example segments** - **Engaged subscribers** — Subscriber Opened in the last 30 days AND Email Status is Valid subscriber. - **Lapsed subscribers** — Subscriber Opened not in the last 90 days AND Email Status is Valid subscriber. - **New contacts** — Created Date in the last 7 days. - **Interested but not converted** — Campaign tag Clicked is _pricing_ AND Conversion Not happened. - **Business addresses only** — Free Email Provider equal to No. - **Two regions** — Country is India OR Country is Singapore. - **10% holdout group** — Subscriber In Portion between 0 and 10. ## **Things to keep in mind** **1\. Number of conditions** — A segment can hold a limited number of conditions, depending on your plan. Once you reach the limit, no further conditions can be added. **2\. Activity conditions and OR** — Contact activity conditions such as Subscriber Opened, Clicked and Sent cannot be combined using **OR**. Use **AND** when your segment includes one of them. **3\. Segment counts** — The contact count shown is from the last refresh, not a live count. Refresh the segment from the segment list to update it. **4\. Empty segments** — If a segment returns no contacts, check whether you have used **AND** where **OR** was intended. **5\. Audience source** — If your segment is scoped to specific lists, activity from contacts outside those lists is not considered. **6\. Verification conditions** — These return no contacts if the addresses in your account have not been verified yet. ## **Need help?** If you have any questions or need assistance, contact us at **support@mailercloud.com** — the Mailercloud support team is ready to help. Happy emailing! 🚀