Segments and contact groups

Use a rule-based Segment for people who match conditions, a contact group for people you select, and an Audience for an explicitly maintained source or cohort list. They stay separate, even when some of the same people appear in each.

Which one you're making

• Segment — you set rules once, and people join and leave as they match. Under Audience → Segments.
• Contact group — a manual Segment whose members you add or remove yourself. Under Audience → Groups.
• Audience — you name a source or cohort, and Contacts are added explicitly. Under Audience → Audiences.

Audiences are explicit cohorts. Segments are for behavioral or fact-based targeting.

Pick a Segment when membership follows a fact or system event — *paid customers*, *nobody's replied to them in a fortnight*. Pick an Audience for a source cohort — *2024 sign-ups* or *Clinic contact form 2005-2010*.

You choose when you create it, and you can't switch afterwards. If you picked the wrong one, create the right kind and review anything using the old list before archiving or deleting it. Do not delete a list merely to change its type.

Working with an Audience

Choose New Audience in Import CSV / Excel and name it there, or pick one you already have. The import creates or matches Contacts, applies the mapped Contact columns and adds imported tags, and records explicit Audience membership. Reimporting into the same Audience is additive; at the review step, choose Update them from this file to apply non-empty mapped values to matches. It does not create or update a Segment.

Working with a segment

For a rule-based Segment, there's no add or remove button, because the rules decide. To change who's in it, change the rules — see Build a segment rule.

Check the latest evaluation and any incomplete-data notice when reviewing membership. A stored list can be waiting for an update, and unavailable information cannot prove that someone does not match.

Working with a contact group

A contact group is a manually maintained Segment. Add or remove Contacts from the group when you need a fixed list. Contact imports do not add people to groups; choose an explicit Audience in the import flow for a source or cohort list.

Archiving or deleting

Archiving through Qyra makes a Segment or contact group inactive. It keeps the saved rules and membership information and does not delete the contacts. Review the exact Segment or group before approving.

Deleting takes it off your list. Your contacts stay exactly where they were, and campaigns you've already sent aren't affected.

Use a group inside a segment

A segment rule can read a group: In a contact group asks whether somebody is on a list you built, and you pick which list.

That's how you combine the two without turning one into the other — *in the Investment Clients list, and overdue on a plan* is one segment, and the list stays a list. Nobody joins or leaves the group by matching rules; they're in it because you added them to the group.

When a change does not appear

Reopen the exact list and check the saved rules or selected members. If a save result is uncertain, inspect it before repeating an add, remove or delete. Check any campaign or Journey separately: membership does not prove consent to send or successful enrollment. See Where you can use a segment.

Related

• How segments work
• Create a segment or group
• Build a segment rule
• Import contacts
• Manage contacts