19 Feb 2026: Segment-based triggers

Raquel Updated by Raquel

You can now start journeys only for people who belong to a specific Segment.

When a trigger fires (for example “message received” or a scheduled time), the journey runs only for contacts in the chosen segment, so you can target pre-defined audiences more precisely.

What you can do

  • Message-based triggers

Start a journey when a message is received, but only for people in a selected segment (e.g. “VIP customers”, “Trial users”). Everyone else is ignored.

  • Time-based triggers

Schedule a journey and restrict it to a segment, so only people in that audience receive it. You still get the usual “people estimator” for how many will be affected.

  • Combine with other rules

Use segments together with other rules (e.g. message content, profile fields). For example: “When message received” and “Person is in segment: Newsletter subscribers” and “Message contains keyword X”.

Dynamic audiences: Segments are evaluated in real time. If you add or import contacts that match the segment later, they will also get the journey when the trigger fires—no need to recreate the trigger.

How it works:

  • When setting up a trigger, you choose “Person is in…” and pick a segment from a searchable dropdown.
  • The UI shows the segment name and an approximate audience size (cached count). Because segments update as contacts change, the actual number of people who receive the journey can be higher or lower when the trigger runs.
  • In the journey canvas, the trigger is shown with the segment name and audience size so you can see at a glance who the journey targets.

Things to keep in mind

  • Segment in use

If a segment is used by one or more journey triggers, you can’t delete it until you remove it from those triggers. The product will tell you that the segment is in use and must be removed from the triggers first.

  • Editing segments

Changing a segment’s rules (who is in it) can affect journeys that already use it (including scheduled ones).

Extra safeguards or warnings for editing segments that are linked to triggers may be added in a later update.

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