How to create a non-opener segment

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When sending an important email campaign, it is useful to know who in your audience does not open your message. With this knowledge, you can retarget non-openers on other channels (e.g., social media) or resend key content that they won’t want to miss out on. This article will walk you through how to build a non-opener segment and best practices for retargeting these subscribers.

Creating a non-opener segment

When building a non-opener email segment, consider who you want to include. Do you want to target subscribers who received but did not open a specific campaign? Do you want to target those who received emails this month but have not opened any? Build the definition of your segment accordingly.

1. Go to Lists & segments and select Create > Segment. If you have no lists or segments yet, select the Segment card.
2. Enter a name for your segment in the builder or in the Create segment drawer, if shown. In the drawer, click Create segment to open the builder.
3. Add the following conditions, joined with AND:
   • What someone has done (or not done) > Received Email > at least once, AND
   • What someone has done (or not done) > Opened Email > zero times, AND
   • What someone has done (or not done) > Clicked Email > zero times

1. Refine the segment for the audience you want to retarget. For example, if you send a campaign for a new product launch, you can use the segment to reach recipients who did not open or click that campaign. For a specific campaign, set all 3 conditions to over all time. In each condition, click Add filter and set Campaign Name equals to the same campaign name.

To find non-openers across a period instead, use the same timeframe for all 3 conditions and leave out the campaign filter. For example, use the last 30 days to find recipients who received an email during that period but did not open or click any emails during it.

1. If you plan to resend by email, limit the segment to current subscribers. Add another AND condition: If someone can or cannot receive marketing > can receive > email marketing. Click Add filter and set because person to Subscribed. The activity conditions alone do not check whether someone is still subscribed.
2. Click Create segment to save the definition and let Klaviyo populate the segment.

Once you have created your non-opener segment, you are ready to retarget this audience with content pertaining to what they may have missed out on in the unopened email. Avoid resending your campaign unless absolutely necessary; instead, retarget on a different channel (e.g., signup forms or social media).

If you want to target subscribers who received multiple emails over an extended period of time (e.g., in the last 60 days) but have not opened any, head to our documentation on creating an unengaged segment.

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