Segmenting your audience

Split your audience into segments to target specific users.

A Segment is a grouping of audience members selected by unique or shared identifiers. Multiple identifiers can be combined within a Segment.

Send an announcement about a new app version and encourage users to upgrade. — Identifier: app version
Send messages to a list of users created from your CRM data. — Identifier: Audience list
Send a re-engagement message based on users’ likelihood to stop using your app or website. — Identifier: Predicted to Churn status
Display different in-app messages based on your users’ language and country settings. — Identifier: Locale

Identifiers you can use for segmentation

You can create single-use segments when:

Targeting specific users in the Message, A/B Test, In-App Automation, and Scene composers
Adding trigger conditions for sequences
Using the /api/segments endpoint

You can create and save reusable segments, with the option of including a saved segment in another segment, using our segment builder tool and with the API.

This table lists available identifiers per creation method.

Segment builder, Message and A/B Test composers, Sequence trigger and message conditions, API In-App Automation and Scene composers

Segment builder, Message and A/B Test composers, Sequence trigger and message conditions, API	In-App Automation and Scene composers
AttributesMetadata used for audience segmentation and personalization. They extend the concept of Tags by adding comparison operators and values to determine whether or not to target a user, helping you better evaluate your audience. Audience ListMessaging recipient groups based on either your own data or automatically-generated app user lifecycle information. You can use audience lists to target specific users. AutogroupA default tag group. When devices are registered in Airship, they are automatically assigned a tag within the `autogroup` tag group; the tag is a numeric value of 1 to 100. Some uses for autogroup tags are creating a control group, and to randomly Segment your audience. Autogroup must be enabled for your account — contact Support or your account manager. Channel IDAn Airship-specific unique identifier used to address a channel instance, e.g., a smartphone, web browser, email address. Channel CoordinationA group of strategies for targeting users where they are most likely to receive your message. — Last active, Priority channel, and User preference Device PropertiesMetadata representing the default attributes and property tags of a device, such as language and time zone settings, OS and browser versions, and notification opt-in status. Device properties are used for audience segmentation. The data used for the tags and attributes is collected automatically from the Airship SDKs, and are updated daily. EventsEvents represent activities in the Airship system, as well as user behavior in your app or website. You can also send external activities (e.g., POS transactions) into the Airship system as events. Events power Airship data products and can be used in audience segments, as Automation triggers, and for partner integrations. Named UserA customer-provided identifier used for mapping multiple devices and channels to a specific individual. NPS CategoryA category based on the score a user submits in an NPS survey. Ratings 9 and 10 have category Promoter, 7 and 8 are Passive, and 6 or lower are Detractor. They are available in survey reporting and are also a text attribute assigned to a user. NPS ScoreThe score (0-10) a user submits in an NPS survey. It is available in survey reporting and is also a number attribute assigned to a user. Predicted to Churn statusAnalyzes your audience for users that exhibit behaviors indicating they are likely to become inactive, and tags the users as High, Medium, or Low Risk. TagMetadata that you can associate with channels or Named Users for audience segmentation. Generally, they are descriptive terms indicating user preferences or other categorizations, e.g., `wine_enthusiast` or `weather_alerts_los_angeles`. Tags are case-sensitive.	App version Device PropertiesMetadata representing the default attributes and property tags of a device, such as language and time zone settings, OS and browser versions, and notification opt-in status. Device properties are used for audience segmentation. The data used for the tags and attributes is collected automatically from the Airship SDKs, and are updated daily. LocaleThe combination of a language and country. A user’s locale is determined by their device settings. Location opt-in status New users Platforms Predicted to Churn statusAnalyzes your audience for users that exhibit behaviors indicating they are likely to become inactive, and tags the users as High, Medium, or Low Risk. Push opt-in status Tag GroupAn array of tags that you can associate with both channels and Named Users. AttributesMetadata used for audience segmentation and personalization. They extend the concept of Tags by adding comparison operators and values to determine whether or not to target a user, helping you better evaluate your audience.¹ Audience ListMessaging recipient groups based on either your own data or automatically-generated app user lifecycle information. You can use audience lists to target specific users.¹ Channel IDAn Airship-specific unique identifier used to address a channel instance, e.g., a smartphone, web browser, email address.¹ EventsEvents represent activities in the Airship system, as well as user behavior in your app or website. You can also send external activities (e.g., POS transactions) into the Airship system as events. Events power Airship data products and can be used in audience segments, as Automation triggers, and for partner integrations.¹ Named UserA customer-provided identifier used for mapping multiple devices and channels to a specific individual.¹ TagMetadata that you can associate with channels or Named Users for audience segmentation. Generally, they are descriptive terms indicating user preferences or other categorizations, e.g., `wine_enthusiast` or `weather_alerts_los_angeles`. Tags are case-sensitive.¹

— Last active, Priority channel, and User preference

App version

Location opt-in status
New users
Platforms

Push opt-in status

AttributesMetadata used for audience segmentation and personalization. They extend the concept of Tags by adding comparison operators and values to determine whether or not to target a user, helping you better evaluate your audience.¹
Audience ListMessaging recipient groups based on either your own data or automatically-generated app user lifecycle information. You can use audience lists to target specific users.¹
Channel IDAn Airship-specific unique identifier used to address a channel instance, e.g., a smartphone, web browser, email address.¹
EventsEvents represent activities in the Airship system, as well as user behavior in your app or website. You can also send external activities (e.g., POS transactions) into the Airship system as events. Events power Airship data products and can be used in audience segments, as Automation triggers, and for partner integrations.¹
Named UserA customer-provided identifier used for mapping multiple devices and channels to a specific individual.¹
TagMetadata that you can associate with channels or Named Users for audience segmentation. Generally, they are descriptive terms indicating user preferences or other categorizations, e.g., wine_enthusiast or weather_alerts_los_angeles. Tags are case-sensitive.¹

Cannot be targeted directly. You must first create a segment that includes this data, then select that segment when configuring your audience. See Segments in Targeting Specific Users.

Client-side vs server-side data

Airship client-side data mostly comes from apps and websites that use our SDK. This is the source of client-side data used for targeting. Client-side data includes Device PropertiesMetadata representing the default attributes and property tags of a device, such as language and time zone settings, OS and browser versions, and notification opt-in status. Device properties are used for audience segmentation. The data used for the tags and attributes is collected automatically from the Airship SDKs, and are updated daily. and AttributesMetadata used for audience segmentation and personalization. They extend the concept of Tags by adding comparison operators and values to determine whether or not to target a user, helping you better evaluate your audience.. See reference: Default Attributes.

You can also group users and add attributes and tags yourself — this is considered server-side data. CRM and POS systems are common sources. For segmentation, you can create:

You can then set attributes or tags on channels and named users, or group channels into named users. See:

Note

Channel registration is asynchronous, so it may take up to an hour before you can target newly-created channels.

Creating single-use segments

In the dashboard, select Target Specific Users in the Audience step when creating a message and use the same procedure as Building Segments.

You can also create a Segment to filter audience members entering SequencesA series of messages that is initiated by a trigger. Airship sends messages in the series based on your timing settings, and you can also set conditions that determine its audience and continuation. Sequences can be connected to each other and to other messaging components to create continuous user experiences in a Journey.. See Configuring a Sequence trigger.

In the API, target specific users via the "audience" object. See API: Audience Selection.

Creating reusable segments

You can create reusable segments instead of having to recreate your audience selections.