Example Audience Rules for WasteNot
WasteNot audiences are built from rules — sets of conditions that describe which customers belong in an audience based on behavior, purchase history, subscription status, or engagement.
This guide gives you practical starting points for common audience rules.
What is an audience rule?
An audience rule is a set of conditions that defines a group of people.
Examples:
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People who purchased at least once
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People who purchased in the last 30 days
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People who are current subscribers
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People who clicked an email in the last 14 days
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People who viewed your site multiple times but have not purchased
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People who unsubscribed from email communications
WasteNot uses connected data sources to keep these audiences updated automatically.
Start with simple rules
A good rule is easy to understand, easy to validate, and tied to a clear campaign decision. Every rule should answer: Who is in the audience? Why should they be included or excluded? Which campaigns should use it?
Common audience rules
Rule 1: Past customers
Definition: People who completed at least one purchase.
Apply to: Exclude from prospecting and new customer acquisition campaigns. Include in retention, loyalty, win-back, and cross-sell campaigns.
Why it helps: Prospecting budget should focus on new customers. Existing customers are better handled through owned channels and dedicated retention campaigns.
Rule 2: Recent purchasers
Definition: People who purchased within a recent window, such as the last 7, 14, or 30 days.
Apply to: Exclude from broad prospecting. Include in post-purchase onboarding and product education campaigns.
Why it helps: Recent purchasers don't need acquisition messaging — they need onboarding. Owned channels (email, SMS, in-app) are more effective for post-purchase engagement than paid media.
Window to choose (typical ecommerce):
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Fast repeat purchase business: 7–14 days
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Standard ecommerce: 30 days
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Long consideration or durable goods: 60–180 days
Rule 3: Current subscribers
Definition: People with an active subscription.
Apply to: Exclude from subscription acquisition campaigns. Include in upgrade, loyalty, and retention campaigns.
Why it helps: Current subscribers don't need to be sold a subscription they already have. Paid media for them should focus on upsells and retention, not acquisition.
Rule 4: Lapsed customers
Definition: People who purchased before but have not purchased recently.
Apply to: Include in win-back campaigns only. Exclude from general prospecting (they're not net-new prospects).
Why it helps: Lapsed customers already know your brand and deserve different messaging than cold prospects. Win-back campaigns can use different offers and creative than prospecting.
Example rule:
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Purchased at least once
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Has not purchased in 120 days
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Is not a current subscriber
Rule 5: Engaged non-purchasers
Definition: People who have not purchased but show strong engagement (multiple site visits, email clicks, etc.).
Apply to: Exclude from cold prospecting. Include in retargeting and warm audience campaigns.
Why it helps: Engaged prospects are warm enough to retarget. Cold prospecting budget is better spent on true cold audiences. This prevents budget waste on people who are already close to converting through owned channels.
Example rule:
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Has not purchased
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Visited the site at least 3 times in the last 7 days
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Clicked an email in the last 30 days
Rule 6: Product-specific purchasers
Definition: People who purchased a specific product or product category.
Apply to: Exclude from that product's acquisition campaigns. Include in cross-sell campaigns for complementary products.
Why it helps: Customers who already bought Product A don't need acquisition ads for Product A. Paid media for them should focus on cross-sell and upsells to other products.
Rule 7: Email unsubscribers and spam
Definition: People who unsubscribed from email or whose emails are marked as spam.
Apply to: Exclude from all campaigns where email is a key channel for follow-up.
Why it helps: Unsubscribers and spam-flagged addresses indicate people who don't want to receive communications. Reaching them through paid media when they've explicitly opted out can worsen brand perception.
How to choose the right rule
Start with the rules where impact is easiest to measure. For most ecommerce teams, past customers is the first rule to test. Once you've validated that pattern, add more specific rules based on your business model.
If you have high repeat purchase behavior, recent purchasers may matter more than past customers alone. If you're subscription-based, current subscribers is your primary rule. If you have a long purchase cycle, lapsed customers matters more.
For brands with high engagement but low conversion, engaged non-purchasers is often an underutilized rule — excluding them from cold prospecting and moving budget to true cold audiences can improve overall efficiency.
Best practices
Start with simple rules.
If your team can't explain it in one sentence, it's too complex.
Use different audiences for different jobs.
Don't use one catch-all exclusion list for every campaign. Prospecting, retargeting, retention, and win-back need different logic.
Review audience size.
If an audience is too small, broaden the rule or connect more data sources.
Revisit rules regularly.
Your customer journey changes over time. Review exclusion windows, purchase cycles, subscription behavior, and product categories periodically.