AI Segments

Updated 08 August 2023 16:50

This article applies to all paid subscriptions (Customer Data Studio is not available on Free subscriptions).

We love actionable data because it helps us make informed decisions that grow our business. However, data that is not actionable can cloud our decision-making and lead to ‘analysis paralysis’. We want data that speaks clearly and concisely. We want to avoid data that is noisy and not informative.

Customer Segmentation is a great tool for carving actionable information out of your data. For online businesses, “know your customer” has never been more important.

However, we know that while you’re awesome at running your business, maybe you’re less awesome at creating Customer Segments. To help you gain actionable insights straight away we have created a set of AI-driven Customer Segments. These AI Segments are designed to deliver key actionable insights from your data as soon as it is available in Distil.

These AI Segments are visible in the Customer Data Studio on the Segments tab, alongside any Segments that you have created yourself. There's also an article on creating your own Segments.

We've given a simple description of the Attributes and Segments below. If you would like more detail, head over to the Attributes and also Glossary and Definitions articles.

AI Segment Rules and Data

You can see the rules and data behind each AI Segment by clicking that Segment within the Segments tab in the Customer Data Studio, and then selecting the Analytics and then Rules tabs.

We've included a handy Reference table nearer to the bottom of this article explaining how each AI Segment is created. The following two sections in this article explain the most common Attributes used in AI Segments.

Customer Types

Knowing whether a Customer is New, Active or Lost is the first step towards actionable outcomes. While New Customers could be targeted with messages explaining how to get the most from their purchase, a Lost Customer may be enticed back with special offers or new product offerings.

We combine Customer Types and Value to create actionable AI Segments out of the box, for example A.I. Active Customers - High Value.

When we talk about Customers 'engaging with your business' below, we mean using your app, visiting your website, opening an email, logging into your application or any of the events that you have set up in Distil Tracking. For more detail, look up Engagement Recency in our Attributes Article.

New Customers were first seen in the data within the past 90 days (see below for more information)

Active Customers have engaged with your business or made a purchase within the last 90 days

Lost Customers have not engaged with your business or purchased anything for at least 180 days.

So, a single Customer may appear in both the New Customers and Active Customers AI Segments.

For New Customers, in the Rules tab you will see reference to an Attribute called Newness. Newness is determined by when a customer was First Seen in the data available to Distil. This quickly gets complex to explain, so if you want more detail head over to the Attributes article, and search for Newness.

Customer Value

Knowing a Customer's value to you is very useful for prioritising next steps. High value Customers typically receive the majority of your attention. However, Low value Customers may represent low hanging fruit: easily targeted with messages designed to grow their value.

Customer Value is calculated by summing the total spend of a Customer, and then comparing this to the total spend of all other Customers. Each Customer is ranked and assigned a quartile result.

We combine Customer Types and Values to create actionable AI Segments out of the box, for example A.I. Active Customers - High Value.

Best Value customers spend in the top quartile (76% - 100%) of all of your customers.

High Value Customers spend in the second quartile (51% - 75%)

Average Value Customers spend in the third quartile (26% - 50%)

Low Value Customers spend in the bottom quartile (<=25%)

Customers with no recorded spend receive a value of 'None'.

Loyalty

Which Customers purchase from you regularly? Loyal Customers may deserve rewards or other benefits. A growing Loyal Segment is a sign that you are doing well. Or, maybe you choose to spend your marketing budget on those Customers who are not Loyal, and need extra encouragement to spend.

To determine if a Customer is Loyal, first we take the available period of Customer purchase history and divide it into quarters. For example, if four years is available then each quarter would be one year. A Customer is Loyal if they have made a purchase in two of the four quarters.

This is the simple explanation, there is actually a bit more to it. If you want to know more then look up Loyalty in the Attributes article.

At Risk

Knowing which Customers are likely to leave gives you the opportunity to try and save them. This may be a targeted campaign with special offers, or even an outreach to understand why they may be leaving.

High risk Customers are those who have not made a purchase in the last 90 days, but have made purchases in each of the last two years.

This is the simple explanation, there is actually a bit more to it. If you want to know more then look up Risk of Leaving in the Attributes article.

Recent Engagements

This attribute is used to add an extra dimension to the 'Active Best Customers' AI Segment. This attribute is calculated in a similar way to Customer Value, but using number of engagements instead of purchase value.

The number of engagements with this customer is totalled for the last 90 days, and this is compared to all other Customers to give a ranking. 'Best' Customers are those that are in the top half by number of engagements.

For more detail, look up Recent Engagements in the Attributes article.

Reference

Where a definition is marked with a asterisk *, this means that this is a simple explanation, and that more detail is available in the Attributes article.

AI Segment	Definition
Active Customers	Customers who have engaged with your business or made a purchase within the last 90 days.
Active Best Customers	Customers who have engaged with your business or made a purchase within the last 90 days, and have a total spend in the first or second quartile (51%-100%) of all of your customers, and ranked in the top two quartiles (51% - 100%) for number of engagements in the past 90 days.
Active Customers - High Value	Customers who have engaged with your business or made a purchase within the last 90 days, and have a total spend in the first or second quartile (51%-100%) of all of your customers.
Active Customers - Average Value	Customers who have engaged with your business or made a purchase within the last 90 days, and have a total spend in the third quartile (26%-50%) of all of your customers.
Active Customers - Low Value	Customers who have engaged with your business or made a purchase within the last 90 days, and have a total spend in the bottom quartile (<=25%) of all of your customers.
Active Customers - No Purchase	Customers who have engaged with your business within the last 90 days, and have no made a purchase.
Active Customers - At Risk	Customers who have engaged with your business within the last 90 days, and have not made a purchase in the last 90 days, but made purchases in the last two years.*
Active Loyal	Customers who have engaged with your business or made a purchase within the last 90 days, and (if we were to divide up the time period over which they have been a customer into four quarters, then) have made a purchase in two of the four quarters.*
Lost Customers	Customers who have not engaged with your business or purchased anything for at least 180 days.
Lost Customers - High Value	Customers who have not engaged with your business or purchased anything for at least 180 days, and have a total spend in the first or second quartile (51%-100%) of all of your customers.
Lost Customers - Average Value	Customers who have not engaged with your business or purchased anything for at least 180 days, and have a total spend in the third quartile (26%-50%) of all of your customers.
Lost Customers - Low Value	Customers who have not engaged with your business or purchased anything for at least 180 days, and have a total spend in the bottom quartile (<=25%) of all of your customers.
New Customers - High Value	Customers who were first seen in the data in the past 90 days, and have a total spend in the first or second quartile (51%-100%) of all of your customers.
New Customers - Average Value	Customers who were first seen in the data in the past 90 days, and have a total spend in the third quartile (26%-50%) of all of your customers.
New Customers - Low Value	Customers who were first seen in the data in the past 90 days, and have a total spend in the bottom quartile (<=25%) of all of your customers.

FAQs

Why can't I see any information for my AI Segments?

If you don't see any information in your AI Segments, this is most likely because either you have not loaded any data, or you have recently loaded data (Distil.ai will take a little while to create the AI Segments).