A Segment is a saved group of users, defined by rules or by an uploaded list of user IDs. Build it once in Audiences > Segments and use it to target Flows, Checklists, NPS surveys, Banners, Pins, Embeds, Launchpads, and Workflows, or to filter dashboard charts. Change a Segment's rules and everything that uses it updates.

Prerequisites

• Anyone can view Segments.
• Creating, editing, activating, deactivating, cloning, exporting, uploading, and deleting Segments needs the Admin or Publisher role.

Create a Segment from rules

1. Click Audiences in the left sidebar, then Segments.
2. Click Create segment. A new Segment opens.
3. Under Details, enter a Name and, optionally, a Description.
4. Click Add audience rule and set the rule, for example role equals admin. The rules work the same way as audience targeting on an experience. See Configure Audience Targeting.
5. Add more rules, or click Add audience group to combine rules with AND or OR.
6. Check Who's in this segment to see which users match right now.
7. Click Save segment. "Segment created" appears.

A new Segment is active, and an active Segment needs at least one rule. The page warns you if your rules match every user or no one.

You can also save an experience's audience rules as a Segment from its Settings tab, under Who sees this. Segments can also be created with the Public API.

Create a Segment from a list of user IDs

To target a fixed list of hundreds or thousands of users, upload a CSV instead of listing them in a rule. It's faster for Appcues to evaluate and easier to manage.

1. Prepare a CSV with a single column of Appcues user IDs: no header row, and no empty rows or columns.
2. On the Segments page, click Import from file.
3. Enter a Segment name and, optionally, a Description.
4. Choose the file under User IDs file.
5. Click Upload. Appcues processes the list, which can take a few minutes.

Activate the Segment when you're ready to use it. An uploaded Segment stays inactive until you turn it on.

Keep in mind:

• Only Appcues user IDs work. Uploading email addresses creates users keyed by email that won't match your real users. If your list uses another identifier, map it to user IDs first.
• You can't edit the list after upload. To change it, create a new Segment, or combine two Segments with an OR rule.

Find and view Segments

The Segments page lists every Segment with its status, number of users, where it's used, its source, and who created and last edited it.

• Type in Search segments to find one by name.
• Turn on Active only to hide inactive Segments.
• Users: click Calculate to count the Segment's users, or Refresh to update the count. Large Segments can take a few minutes.
• Used in: how many experiences, Checklists, Workflows, and other Segments use the Segment in their targeting.

Click a Segment to open it. Where this is used lists the content and dashboard charts that use it, and Who's in this segment lists its users. Who changed this shows who created and last edited it, and the Segment ID.

Edit a Segment

1. Click the Segment, or choose Edit from its row menu.
2. Change the name, description, or rules.
3. Click Save segment. If something uses the Segment, Appcues asks you to confirm: Save changes to a segment in use?

Changes apply right away to every experience, Workflow, and Segment that uses it. You don't need to republish anything.

Activate or deactivate a Segment

Inactive Segments aren't evaluated, so nothing can use them. Open the Segment's row menu and choose Activate or Deactivate, or use the Active toggle on the Segment.

• Your plan sets how many Segments can be active at once. If you reach the limit, deactivate or delete one first.
• You can't activate a Segment whose rules reference an inactive Segment. Activate that one first.
• You can't deactivate a Segment while something uses it. Appcues lists what uses it.

Clone a Segment

Open the Segment's row menu and choose Clone, then confirm. The copy has the same rules and status. A copy of an active Segment is active too, so it counts toward your plan's limit.

Export a Segment

1. Open the Segment's row menu and choose Export, or click Export on the Segment.
2. Under Select the columns you want to export, keep User ID and Last Seen At and add any other properties.
3. Enter the email address to send the file to.
4. Click Export. A CSV of the users who currently match arrives by email.

Exports include users who match now, looking back 2 years.

Delete a Segment

Open the Segment's row menu and choose Delete, then confirm. "Segment deleted" appears.

You can't delete a Segment that content or dashboard charts use. Appcues lists what uses it: remove the Segment from each one, then delete it.

Common Segment examples

Use an internal-users Segment to test experiences before you publish them, or to keep your team out of production experiences.

Combine a Segment with other rules

In an experience's Settings tab, under Who sees this, choose Users in a Segment, pick the Segment, and click Add criteria to add rules on top of it for that experience only. See Configure an experience's settings.

Keep Segments fast

A Segment that's too complex can fail to evaluate. When that happens, the Segments page shows an error instead of a user count, Workflows can't process its users, and experiences that use it don't show, because Appcues can't check membership fast enough when the page loads.

Two things cause this most often:

• Long lists. An "is one of" rule with hundreds or thousands of values. Keep these to a few hundred values, and upload a file for anything longer.
• Chained Segments. A Segment that references another Segment, which references a third. Keep nesting to one level, two at most, and never have two Segments reference each other.

Build small, focused Segments and combine them on the experience instead of packing everything into one.

Common questions

Can I use Segments in goals? No. Goals don't support Segments.

Does sending a new property change my Segments? No. A Segment only changes when you change its rules.

What happens when I change a Segment that other Segments use? Every Segment that references it updates right away.

Can I manage Segments with the API? Yes. You can create, edit, and delete Segments with the Public API.

If a Segment doesn't match the users you expect

See Troubleshoot Segments and audience targeting.

Still stuck?

Collect the following and contact support:

• The Segment ID, from Who changed this.
• A user ID you expect in the Segment, and whether they show as a Member on their profile's Segments tab.
• A screenshot of the Segment's rules.