Behind-the-scenes: how our Segmentation Engine works

RightMessage includes a centralized Segmentation Engine that drives pretty much every facet of the product.

Segmentation is at the heart of RightMessage. You can't personalize content without knowing about your visitors, and we handle this through two distinct yet connected features: Segment Groups and Questions.

We segment users in three different ways:

1. 1st/3rd party data. This might be information you have about someone in your ESP/CRM (i.e. whether they’re a customer), or 3rd party data exposed from a product like Clearbit Reveal.
2. Behavior signals. What pages has this person viewed? What ad campaign brought them first to your website? What kind of content are they most reading on your website?
3. Survey data. Our Flow editor allows you to ask questions to visitors on your website. When a question is answered, a visitor is segmented accordingly.

How Segments are Organized in RightMessage

RightMessage organizes segments in two ways:

1. Segment Groups: These automatically categorize visitors based on behavior, data, and attributes. For example, a "Website Activity" Segment Group might include segments like "Read Blog" or "Visited Pricing."

2. Questions: These are special Segment Groups that can be answered through surveys. For example, a "Job Role" Question might include segments like "Marketer" or "Developer" that visitors can select.

Both types typically have one active segment at a time - someone is either a "Marketer" or a "Developer," not both. While multiple selections are technically possible, we don't recommend it as it complicates personalization.

How Auto-Segmentation Works

We (re)segment visitors on every page view. This happens differently for Segment Groups and Questions:

For Segment Groups, this automatic segmentation makes sense - if a segment is "Currently viewing pricing page," this status changes as visitors navigate your site.

For Questions, once someone has provided an answer (like selecting their industry), we'll persist that data. Their response won't change unless they explicitly update it through another survey.

This dynamic nature is particularly important when you're using our Flows and Visual Personalization Editor, as content can adapt in real-time based on visitor behavior and attributes.

How RightMessage Determines Segments: A Step-by-Step Process

Let's use an example of a Question called "Favorite Color" with segments "Red," "Green," and "Blue." Here's how RightMessage determines which segment a visitor belongs to:

1. Check ESP/CRM Data (If Enabled)

If the visitor is a known contact and data synchronization is enabled in RightMessage, we'll check their ESP/CRM record first. For example, if their contact record shows favorite_color=red , they'll be automatically segmented as "Red."

2. Apply Auto-Segmentation Rules

If no ESP/CRM data exists, we'll check any Segment Groups you've set up. For instance, if you've configured "Red" to match visitors from peoplewholovered.com, visitors from that domain will be segmented accordingly.

3. Ask Through Flows

If neither automatic method works, relevant Flows will ask the question directly. Importantly, these Flows will skip the question if the visitor is already segmented through steps 1 or 2.

Data Synchronization

When a visitor answers a Question, and you have synchronization enabled, their response will be sent to your ESP/CRM (once they're identified as a contact). If they're not yet identified, we'll store the response and sync it when they become a contact.