If you’ve ghosted your email list for months and now you’re nervous about hitting “send” again, here’s the hard truth: the worst thing you can do is blast your entire list. That one click could damage your email deliverability, waste money, and leave you even more discouraged. But don’t worry—there’s a simple fix.

In this post, I’ll walk you through the two core ecommerce email segments every business should set up—Engaged and Unengaged. These segments are the foundation of healthy email marketing and will help you confidently reconnect with your audience.

Why Email Segmentation Matters

Email segmentation is one of the most effective ways to protect your sender reputation and make sure your campaigns actually land in the inbox. Without it, you risk:

• Poor deliverability: Inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook flag you as “low interest” if too many people ignore your emails. That means more of your campaigns go to Spam or Promotions.

• Wasted costs: Most email service providers charge by the number of subscribers or emails sent. If you’re paying to send to people who never open, you’re throwing money away.

• Skewed data: A dirty list makes it harder to tell what’s really working. When you only email engaged subscribers, your numbers reflect real interest.

👉 Mindset shift: Don’t fear unsubscribes. They bring clarity. For example, a pregnant mom may sign up for baby product updates, but once her kids grow up, she no longer needs them. That’s not a failure—it’s alignment.

What Are Engaged and Unengaged Segments?

The beauty of this system is its simplicity. You only need two core groups:

Engaged Segment

An engaged ecommerce email segment is subscribers who can receive marketing emails and have recently interacted (opened, clicked, or subscribed).

Recommended settings (Klaviyo example):

• Can receive email marketing, AND
• Opened at least one email in the last 30 days, OR
• Clicked at least one email in the last 30 days, OR
• Subscribed in the last 15 days.

👉 If you send less frequently, extend the window to 60 days.

How to use it: Send your regular campaigns only to this group. Adjust the timeframe based on your sending frequency—30 days for weekly senders, 60 days for monthly.

💡 Case Study: A skincare shop that emailed monthly used a 60-day engaged segment instead of 30. Their open rates jumped to 36%—just by matching their send frequency.

Unengaged Segment

An unengaged ecommerce email segment is subscribers who can still receive email, have been sent multiple campaigns, but haven’t opened or clicked in the last 90 days—and haven’t purchased recently.

Recommended settings (Klaviyo example):

• Can receive email marketing, AND
• Received at least 5 emails all time, AND
• Opened = 0 in the last 90 days, AND
• Clicked = 0 in the last 90 days, AND
• Has not placed an order in the last 90 days.

How to use it: Exclude this group from your campaigns. They can stay in automations like abandoned cart or re-engagement flows, and you may include them for big events like Black Friday—but otherwise, keep them out.

💡 Case Study: A jewelry brand had 18,000 subscribers, with 7,000 marked unengaged. By excluding that group, their open rate rose from 17% to 33% and revenue per send doubled—all without sending a single extra email.

What About “Never Engaged” Subscribers?

There will always be a smaller group who’ve never opened or clicked any of your emails. For these people, send one final sunset email asking if they still want to hear from you. If they don’t respond, suppress them. This step helps keep your list clean and protects your deliverability.

Quick Wins With Prebuilt Segments

If you’re using Klaviyo, you don’t have to build everything from scratch. New accounts already include prebuilt 30-, 60-, and 90-day engaged segments. These are perfect for warming up your list and making sure you’re only sending to people who want to hear from you.

💡 Case Study: A coffee brand that paused for four months restarted by sending only to the 30-day engaged segment. Then, once they had momentum, they widened to 60-day. Spam complaints were nearly zero, and revenue per recipient more than doubled.

Key Ecommerce Email Segment Takeaways

• Engaged Segment: Opened or clicked in the last 30 days (or subscribed in the last 15). Stretch to 60 days if you email less often.
• Unengaged Segment: No opens or clicks in 90 days and no orders in 90 days. Exclude from most campaigns.
• Never Engaged: Send a sunset email, then suppress.
• Pro Tip: Never lump recent buyers into unengaged—message them separately through flows.

By starting with these two core segments, you’ll protect your deliverability, save money, and get results you can trust.

If you prefer to watch the episode on YouTube click here.

Free Guide: Copy-Paste Segment Recipes

Want the exact Klaviyo segment settings I use with clients? Grab my free guide here:

If you’re ready to go beyond just cleaning your list and actually create a rhythm with your email marketing, check out my Ecommerce Email Rhythm Playbook. Inside, I’ll walk you through a simple 6-week system that helps you stay consistent, boost sales, and finally feel confident about showing up in your subscribers’ inboxes. You can learn more here 👉 shecommercesimplified.com/rhytm.

Until next week friend,
Cheering you on
Liezle | Ecommerce Email Marketing Coach