# Segments A segment is a saved query over your audience. This page covers the three condition types, AND/OR and groups, the full operator catalog by field type, live segment size, dynamic vs static segments, the ready-made segment library, lists and tags, and the actions you can run on a segment. **Language:** en **Audience:** platform **TLDR:** A segment is a dynamic, filter-defined view over your audience, built from conditions on attributes, activity, or other segments combined with AND/OR and groups; it holds no contacts of its own and re-evaluates live as contacts change. Create one by saving a query, then use it to target campaigns and automations, scope analytics, or include/exclude audiences. **Translation key:** platform.audience.segments **Search keywords:** segment, segments, dynamic segment, static segment, automatic segment, suggested segment, filter builder, conditions, condition, filter by attribute, filter by activity, filter by segment, and, or, group, nested conditions, operators, between, relative date, anniversary, include segment, exclude segment, audience query, save segment, duplicate segment, delete segment, download stats, segment size, lists, tags **Related pages:** /platform/es/audience/segments, /platform/en/audience, /platform/en/audience/attributes-events, /platform/en/audience/audience-table, /platform/en/campaigns/audience-targeting **Docs index (every page):** https://docs.instasent.com/llms.txt **This zone's index:** https://docs.instasent.com/platform/en/llms.txt **This page:** https://docs.instasent.com/platform/en/audience/segments/ (HTML) · https://docs.instasent.com/platform/en/audience/segments.md (Markdown) **Other language (es):** https://docs.instasent.com/platform/es/audience/segments.md A **segment** is a group of contacts defined by rules, not a list you fill in by hand. You describe the conditions someone has to meet to belong — country, spend, what they've done — and the segment keeps the list current for you: each contact joins or drops out on its own as their data changes. You build it once, then target it from a campaign or automation. In short: you define the "who" once, and the segment always hands you back the contacts that match those rules right now. Segments are in **Audience › Segments**, alongside **Lists** and **Tags**. ## How a segment is built You build a segment from the **filter builder** — the same builder the [audience table](/platform/en/audience/audience-table) uses: creating a segment opens that same contacts view with the filters. Search for what you want to filter on and add conditions. Each condition is one of three types: - **Filter by attribute** — match on a contact field, such as country, total spent or any custom attribute. - **Filter by activity** — match on what the contact did: placed an order, clicked a campaign, abandoned a checkout. Activity conditions can be scoped to a specific event and data source. E-commerce activity only appears for e-commerce projects. - **Filter by audience segment** — include or exclude the members of another segment, so you can build on segments you already have. Each candidate is marked **Automatic** or **Custom**. ![The segment filter builder with two conditions combined with AND — Country is ES and Total spent between 100,00 € and 1.000,00 € — and a live count of matching contacts](/platform/en/audience/images/segments--1-filter-builder.png) *A multi-condition segment: attribute conditions combined with AND, with the contact count updating live as you build.* ### Combining conditions with AND / OR Conditions are organised into **groups**, and each group has a join: **AND** (a contact must match all conditions) or **OR** (any of them). The chip between two conditions shows the current join and toggles it when you click it. You can add a **New group** to nest conditions — for example, an outer AND group that contains an inner OR group — to express rules like "in Spain *and* (a recent buyer *or* a high spender)". The **contact count** updates as you add or change conditions, so you always see how many people the segment currently holds. This is how a richer segment comes together — activity and attribute conditions nested in groups, mixing what a contact *did* (placed an order, purchased a product) with what a contact *is* (their country): ![A multi-condition segment nesting activity and attribute conditions in AND groups — contacts with an order created and a product purchased, whose country is not ES](/platform/en/audience/images/segments--2-complex-segment.png) *A richer segment: activity conditions (ordered, purchased) and an attribute condition combined in nested groups, with the count updating live.* ## Operators by field type The operators available depend on the field's data type. The full catalog: | Field type | Operators | | ---------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Any field | **Has any value**, **Is unknown** (no value needed) | | Yes/No | **Is** (True / False) | | Text | **Is**, **Is not**, **Contains**, **Does not contain**, **Starts with**, **Does not start with**, **Ends with**, **Does not end with** | | Number | **Is**, **Is not**, **Between**, **Not between** | | Date | **Is**, **Between**, **Not between**, **Relative**, **Anniversary**, **Time is**, **Weekday is** | | Location | **Near to** (longitude, latitude and a distance in km) | | Segment | **Include**, **Exclude** | A few deserve a note: - **Between / Not between** (number and date) take two bounds. Provide both for a closed range. - **Relative** (date) matches a window relative to now — for example, the last 30 days — which is what keeps time-based segments current. The unit can be minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years. - **Anniversary** matches the same day of the year (a birthday), and **Time is** / **Weekday is** match a time of day or a day of the week — handy for sends tied to office hours or weekends. - **Include / Exclude** reference another segment, which is how the *Filter by audience segment* condition works. ## Live segment size Every segment shows its current **size and share of your audience** — a contact count and the percentage of the total it represents, computed live. The baseline is **All audience** ("Contacts from all data sources"). This is the same count you see updating in the builder as you add conditions. ## Dynamic by default Segments are **dynamic**: they're a saved query, not a frozen list. A contact joins the segment the moment they start matching its conditions, and drops out the moment they stop — with nothing for you to do. That's why a "purchased in the last 90 days" segment always reflects today's last 90 days, with no manual refresh. The Segments screen separates two kinds: - **Your segments** — the ones you saved. They're editable, duplicable and deletable. - **Suggested segments** — a ready-made library Instasent maintains, each badged **Automatic**. You can't edit or delete these, but you can use them as-is to create a campaign or automation, or as a starting point. The suggested library is broad. A sample of what's available: *Recently seen contacts*, *Contacts with recent campaigns*, *Contacts without recent campaigns*, *Recent contacts not having purchases*, *Latest updated contacts*, *Has purchased anytime*, *Has not purchased anytime*, *Has purchased but not recently*, *Top customers by total spent more than €500*, *Top customers by total spent from €100 to €500*, *Periodic customers*, *Office-hours customers*, *Weekend customers*, *Nightly customers*, *Black Friday purchases*, *Next month predicted purchases*, *Predicted purchases lost*, *Automation recently triggered*, *Automation recently sent*, and *SMS Marketing consent NO / UNKNOWN*, among others. > **Tip**: To pin a fixed set of contacts that won't change on its own, use a **List** or a **Tag** > instead of a segment. Lists and tags are managed from the same **Audience › Segments** screen, > on their own tabs. ## Lists and tags The Segments screen has three tabs — **Segments**, **Lists** and **Tags**: - **Tags** are free labels you apply to contacts. They're listed read-only; opening one filters the audience to the contacts that carry it. - **Lists** are memberships, usually populated by a data source, and can be faceted by data source. - **Segments** are the dynamic queries described above. The difference that matters: a segment recomputes itself from rules; a list or tag is a fixed membership you control. ## Acting on a segment For your own (non-dynamic) segments, the available actions are: - **Save segment** — saves the current builder as a segment. Naming rules: the **name is required, 5 to 50 characters**, and the **description 5 to 80 characters**. - **New segment** — start a fresh segment. - **Edit** — change a saved segment's conditions. - **Duplicate** — copy a segment as "*{name}* (copy)". - **Delete** — remove a segment, with a confirmation. - **Download stats** — export the segment's stats as a CSV. - **Create campaign / automation** — target the segment directly. Suggested (Automatic) segments can't be edited, duplicated or deleted — only used to create a campaign or automation. {/* VERIFY: exact segmentsLimit per plan */} > **Note**: The number of segments you can save depends on your plan. The attributes and events you filter on are defined in [Attributes & events](/platform/en/audience/attributes-events). To use a segment as a campaign's audience, see [Audience & targeting](/platform/en/campaigns/audience-targeting). --- This is one page of the Instasent documentation. For the complete machine-readable index of every guide and API reference, fetch https://docs.instasent.com/llms.txt — start there for full context.