Create and Use People Segments

Neelke Stadler Updated by Neelke Stadler

People segments are dynamic collections of contacts that match criteria defined by you. Making it easier to manage scaled services.

Create subsets of People and interact with these dynamic collections as needed. For example, you can set up segment so that you can send targeted messaging to mothers with high risk pregnancies due for an antenatal visit.

Create a segment

Navigate to the People page. Click the Filter button in the top right corner. Use the drop downs to define your criteria. Once you have the correct segment of people you can save it as a segment, giving it a name and colour (optional).

When ever you view a segment, you can view or change its criteria in the filter box.

Now that you have a segment, let's see how to use it in Reminders to send precisely targeted messaging to that subset of people.

Understand the relationship between a segment and a reminder

Before we show you how to use a segment in Reminders, let's first look at the relationship between a segment and a reminder.

Reminders always use the most recent segment criteria to ensure reminders are consistent with latest segment definitions, reducing the risk of outdated or incorrect reminders. This reduces the need for manual updates, as changes to segments are automatically reflected in future Reminders.

This means that if a segment is changed between setting up a Reminder and it executing, the reminder will use the segment definition at the time of sending. If a segment is deleted prior to sending the reminder, the reminder is cancelled.

Use segments in Reminders

When you set up a new Reminder all available segments will show in the selection list, making it easy to select the one you need. Once the audience is selected the rest of Reminders works as per standard, prompting you to select the template, fill in any placeholder and specifying the time for when it should be send.

Alternatively, you can specify custom rules in the filter box to define once off criteria for a Reminder. This segment will not be saved, but only apply for this once-off Reminder.

Edit and/or delete a segment

When a reminder is sent it evaluates the audience that should get the message right before the send starts. Therefore any changes to segments should be carefully considered.

When changing the filter criteria of a segment or deleting it, pay attention to the warning messaging telling you where the segment is in use.

How to use the search bar vs the filter box

The search box at the top temporarily narrows down a segment. The results of a search isn’t saved on the segment. This can for example be used to find a person inside a segment.

Hide profile fields in the table display

By default you see all profile fields in the People table. If you scroll all the way to the right of the table you can use the hamburger menu to unselect any columns you do not need to display, allowing you to manage the table that at times can become an endless scrolling object.

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