Happy Monday, and Happy Labour Day to everyone celebrating!

If you’re anything like me, the end of a long weekend always feels like a reset (but it’s never long enough). Back to the inbox, back to the campaigns, and back to finding those hidden issues that quietly chip away at performance.

This week’s deep dive covers one of my favourite topics: segment overlaps. These silent conflicts can turn carefully planned journeys into chaos, but the fixes are surprisingly straightforward once you know where to look.

Here’s what you’ll find in today’s email:

• A simple audit to uncover overlap issues

• Three types of overlap (and which ones are acceptable)

• Five practical fixes to stop segment conflicts

• A hierarchy you can use to prioritize journeys across industries

• Fresh lifecycle quick hits to inspire your next experiments

Are your segments fighting each other? How to spot and fix overlaps

Deep Dive

Raise your hand if a customer replied to your campaign with a screenshot showing they'd received three different emails from you in two hours, each with conflicting offers.

"Make up your mind," they wrote. "Which deal do you actually want me to use?"

If you've ever worried about bombarding customers with too many messages or sending mixed signals, you might have a segment overlap problem. Here's how I fixed ours, and how you can fix yours too.

The segment collision problem you might not know you have

Most of us build segments and journeys individually, focusing on one customer scenario at a time. We create flows for:

Each might work perfectly in isolation, but problems emerge when customers qualify for multiple segments simultaneously.

The result? Communication chaos:

• Message overload (too many emails too quickly)

• Conflicting offers (40% off vs. free shipping)

• Brand confusion ("I thought you just told me something else")

• Campaign cannibalization (which offer actually worked?)

When I audited my client’s automation, I discovered one loyal customer had received 12 emails in a single week because they'd triggered multiple journeys. No wonder they unsubscribed! (We’ll talk about frequency capping below)

The quick overlap audit that saved our deliverability

To understand if you have overlap issues, try this simple audit I used:

1. List all your active segments: Create a complete inventory of every segment that can trigger communications.

2. Create a matrix to spot potential collisions: Draw a simple grid with segments on both axes to identify where people might qualify for multiple segments.

3. Sample test your customer base [EASIEST]: Pull 10 random customers and check how many segments each belongs to right now.

Three types of segment overlap to watch for

Not all overlaps are created equal. In my experience, they fall into three categories:

Intentional overlaps: Sometimes you want people in multiple segments (like "high-value customer" AND "birthday this month")

Acceptable overlaps: Some overlaps make sense but need coordination (like "abandoned cart" AND "browse abandonment")

Problematic overlaps: These create genuine conflicts (like "new customer welcome" AND "win-back campaign")

The key is distinguishing between them and managing each type appropriately.

Five practical fixes for segment conflicts

Here's how I resolved our segment overlap issues, from quickest to most comprehensive:

1. Create mutual exclusivity rules

Add "NOT IN [segment]" conditions to your segment definitions to prevent overlap:

• "Cart abandoners NOT IN welcome sequence"

• "Browse abandonment NOT IN cart abandonment"

2. Implement send frequency caps

Set maximum send limits across your entire program:

• No more than one promotional email per 48 hours

• Cap of 3 total emails per week per customer

• Minimum 24-hour gap between automated sends

^These are just examples. The rules would largely differ by industry. Most modern marketing platforms offer frequency management features so they’re pretty easy to set up.

3. Establish journey priority rules

Decide which journeys take precedence when conflicts occur:

• Conversion journeys (abandon cart) override awareness journeys

• Transaction-specific journeys trump general campaigns

• Active purchase intent trumps passive browse behavior

For us, establishing that cart abandonment emails always override general promotional campaigns eliminated our most problematic message conflicts.

This is generally very difficult to manage, though. Some tools allow you to set message priorities, but most don't. You can manage that by scheduling journeys according to message priorities.

4. Create mutually aware journeys

Design journeys that check if customers are in other journeys before sending:

• Journey entry conditions that verify no conflicts

• Decision splits that check for other active journeys

• Exit conditions when more important journeys begin

This approach requires more setup but creates much more coordinated communication.

5. Build a unified customer journey map

The most comprehensive solution is rebuilding your approach around a holistic customer journey rather than isolated segments:

• Map all possible customer paths

• Identify key decision points

• Build coordinated, not competing, messaging strategies

It's an activity that I enjoy. You may also brainstorm the map with your team. Could definitely do a 1 hour video on this topic. Does that interest you?

The journey hierarchy that works across industries

If you're wondering which segments should take priority, here's the hierarchy I've found works for most businesses:

Highest Priority

1. Transactional messages (order confirmations, shipping notices)

2. Direct customer service responses

3. Cart/checkout abandonment

4. Active consideration journeys (product views, strong buying signals)

Middle Priority 

1. Welcome/onboarding sequences

2. Reactivation/win-back campaigns

3. Loyalty and retention programs

Lowest Priority

1. General newsletters

2. Promotional broadcasts

3. General awareness content

When conflicts arise, the higher priority journey should typically win.

You don't need to rebuild everything at once. Just fixing your most problematic overlaps can dramatically improve customer experience.

Best of all? No more embarrassing screenshots from confused customers.

What segment overlaps are potentially confusing your customers right now? Take 15 minutes today to check; you might be surprised by what you find.

That’s all, folks

Segment overlaps might feel invisible until a customer calls you out, but once you fix them your campaigns instantly feel more coordinated and professional.

Until next week,

Arsalan - Lifecycle Mechanics