# SendQL cookbook

> Segments worth stealing — engagement, lifecycle, revenue, hygiene.

Source: https://www.sendlang.com/docs/sendql/cookbook
Section: SendQL

Every query on this page is type-checked against a registry when this site is
built, so all of them parse and analyze. Adjust the attribute and activity names
to match your own account.

## Engagement

**Engaged in the last month.**

```sendql
count(open within 30d) >= 3
```

**Clicked a specific page this week.**

```sendql
exists(click where url contains "/pricing" within 7d)
```

**Opened a specific email.** Not a special construct — a property filter.

```sendql
exists(open where template = "welcome")
```

**Received it, never opened it.** The two halves of a reminder's audience.

```sendql
exists(delivery where template = "welcome")
  and not exists(open where template = "welcome")
```

**Gone quiet — including the people who were never loud.** The `or count(...) = 0`
is not optional. See [absence](/docs/sendql/absence).

```sendql
last(open) < now - 90d or count(open) = 0
```

## Lifecycle

**Mid-trial.** Signed up between three and fourteen days ago, still on trial.

```sendql
attr.plan = "trial" and now - attr.signup_date between 3d and 14d
```

**Activated but not converted.** Used the product, has not bought.

```sendql
attr.plan = "trial"
  and count(activity.login within 14d) >= 2
  and not exists(activity.order)
```

**Never activated.** Signed up over a week ago and never once logged in.

```sendql
now - attr.signup_date > 7d and count(activity.login) = 0
```

**Upgrade intent.** Looked at the upgrade page, has not upgraded.

```sendql
exists(click where url contains "/upgrade" within 14d)
  and attr.plan in ["free", "trial"]
  and not suppressed
```

## Future dates are not a segment

Notice what is missing from the list above: "trial ends in three days", "renewal
is next week". You cannot express those in SendQL, and it is worth knowing why
rather than fighting it.

`now - attr.x` measures the time **since** `x`. Durations are unsigned, so the
age of a date in the *future* is not something the term can produce. A segment
answers "who matches, right now" — and "renews in seven days" is not a property
of a contact, it is an *appointment*.

Appointments are SendFlow's job:

**Syntax form, not a complete program:**

```sendflow
enter on 3d before attr.renewal_date
```

That is a [date-relative trigger](/docs/sendflow/settings), and it enrols each
contact exactly three days before their own renewal date. Reach for it whenever
you catch yourself trying to subtract `now` from a date that has not happened
yet.

## Revenue

**High-value customers.**

```sendql
sum(amount of activity.order where status = "paid" within 365d) > 5000
```

**Bought once, never came back.**

```sendql
count(activity.order) = 1 and last(activity.order) < now - 90d
```

**Average order value above a threshold.**

```sendql
avg(amount of activity.order where status = "paid") > 80
```

**Abandoned a cart in the last hour and did not check out.**

```sendql
exists(activity.cart_updated within 1h) and not exists(activity.checkout within 1h)
```

## Hygiene and deliverability

**Safe to send.** The preamble that belongs on nearly every marketing segment.

```sendql
subscribed to "marketing" and not suppressed and not unsubscribed from all
```

**Recently bounced.** Candidates for review before they harm your reputation.

```sendql
count(bounce within 30d) >= 1
```

**Hard bounces only.**

```sendql
exists(bounce where type = "Permanent")
```

**Ever complained.** No window — once is enough, forever.

```sendql
count(complaint) = 0
```

**A clean, engaged, sendable marketing audience**, combining most of the above:

```sendql
subscribed to "marketing"
  and not suppressed
  and count(complaint) = 0
  and count(bounce within 90d) = 0
  and (count(open within 60d) >= 1 or count(click within 60d) >= 1)
```

## Composition

**Build on a saved segment** rather than copying its predicate around:

```sendql
in segment "power-users" and not exists(activity.login within 30d)
```

**Exclude a list** — a manual do-not-contact bag, say:

```sendql
attr.plan = "pro" and not in list "vip"
```

## Idioms worth internalising

| You want | Write |
|---|---|
| Never did X | `count(X) = 0` or `not exists(X)` — never `last(X)` |
| Did X, but a long time ago | `last(X) < now - 90d or count(X) = 0` |
| Signed up more than N ago | `now - attr.signup_date > 7d` |
| Opened *this* email | `exists(open where template = "welcome")` |
| Something in your product | `activity.` — not a bare name |
| Safe to send | `and not suppressed` |