Create a Segment

Segments should be built from a clear business question. A good segment is specific enough to act on and broad enough to measure.

Before you create a segment

Define:

• Audience purpose.
• Inclusion criteria.
• Exclusion criteria.
• Lookback window.
• Destination channel.
• Success metric.
• Review owner.

Example: high-intent non-converters

Business question: Which visitors showed purchase intent but did not convert?

Possible criteria:

• Included: viewed pricing or product detail page in the last 7 days.
• Included: at least two sessions or one add-to-cart event.
• Excluded: completed purchase in the last 30 days.
• Excluded: unsubscribed or not eligible for the selected channel.
• Optional: conversion likelihood is medium or high.

Build steps

1. Open the segment builder.
2. Select the customer population.
3. Add behavior filters.
4. Add profile or lifecycle filters.
5. Add predictive filters if approved for the use case.
6. Add exclusions and suppression rules.
7. Set the lookback window.
8. Preview audience size and sample profiles.
9. Save the segment with a clear name and description.

Naming convention

Use names that explain intent:

[Lifecycle] - [Behavior] - [Window] - [Destination]

Examples:

• Trial - Feature Active No Purchase - 14D - Email
• Acquisition - Pricing View No Signup - 7D - Paid Retargeting
• Retention - Churn Risk High - 30D - Lifecycle

QA checklist

Before activation, check:

• Audience size is reasonable.
• Sample profiles match the segment definition.
• Exclusions work as expected.
• Consent and suppression rules are applied.
• The segment updates at the right frequency.
• The destination channel can use the available identifiers.
• The success metric is defined.

tip

Preview a few profiles before launching. Profile-level review often catches event naming or exclusion mistakes faster than aggregate charts.

Common issues

Issue	Cause	Fix
Audience is empty	Conditions conflict or event is missing	Remove filters one by one to isolate the issue
Audience is too broad	Lookback window or event rule is too loose	Add intent depth, lifecycle stage, or exclusions
Customers receive the wrong message	Segment purpose and journey branch are misaligned	Review channel mapping and creative rules
Segment changes unexpectedly	Upstream data source changed	Check sync logs, event definitions, and recent releases

After launch

Track conversion rate, revenue impact, opt-outs, complaint rate, match rate, and segment fatigue. If the audience is always active, review it on a recurring schedule.