In some cases, the same results can be achieved when segmenting either by field or by query. For example, assume that the AcctType field in your database divides your customer accounts into Standard, Preferred and Premier levels. Segmenting by the
AcctType field will create three segments for these account types.
For this example, assume that you want to segment your customers into age ranges. Your database contains the field AgeRange, which assigns one of six age ranges (such as 26-30) to each customer. Segment by the
AgeRange field to create six segments.
You could then use these six segments as input to another Segment process that further divides customers by another field or query. For example, assume that your database contains a field called PreferredChannel, which specifies each customer's preferred contact channel: Direct mail, telemarketing, fax, or email. Using the six age range segments as input, you could then create a second Segment process to segment by the
PreferredChannel field. Each of the six age range segments is further segmented into four preferred channel segments, to produce a total of 24 output segments.