Introduction to Segments & Audiences

What is a Segment?#

A segment is a group of records — usually contacts — that all share something in common. You define the rules once, and AI Engage CRM gathers everyone who matches into a reusable audience you can target with campaigns.

For example:

"All contacts in Mumbai who have not been contacted in 30 days"
"All leads whose Lead Source is Facebook Ads and who signed up this month"
"All companies in the Healthcare industry with more than 50 employees"

Why use Segments?#

Sending the same message to your entire database rarely works well. A segment lets you target the right people with the right message — which lifts open rates, reduces unsubscribes, and protects your sender reputation.

Send a win-back discount to contacts who have not purchased in 90 days
Send a welcome series to everyone who signed up this week
Follow up with leads from a specific campaign who did not respond

Two kinds of segments#

AI Engage CRM gives you two segment types:

Dynamic — auto-updates based on filters. Records join and leave automatically as their data changes. Perfect for "always current" audiences like "Active customers" or "Inactive for 30 days".
Static (List) — a fixed list. Records are added at the moment you save, and the list does not change on its own. Perfect for a one-off group like "Trade show booth visitors — March 2026".

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Not sure which to pick? Start with a Dynamic segment — it keeps itself up to date so you never have to rebuild it. See Dynamic vs Static Segments for a full comparison.

Segments, Lists, and Views — what's the difference?#

When you pick an audience for a campaign, you will see three groups. Here is how they differ:

Segments — the rich, filter-based audiences described in this collection. Can be dynamic or static, and can be built on any module (Contacts, Companies, Deals, and more).
Lists — a simpler, contacts-only grouping. A contact is either on the list or not; there is no filter builder behind it.
Views — a saved, filtered view of a module's records that you can also reuse as a campaign audience.

Where are Segments used?#

Campaigns — choose a segment as the Send to audience (or as an Exclude audience) for an email or WhatsApp campaign.
Reports & exports — open any segment to view, search, and export its members as a CSV.

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You build a segment once. Every time you use a dynamic segment, it automatically includes whoever currently matches the conditions — no manual upkeep.

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Next: Dynamic vs Static Segments: Which to Use — understand the two types before you build your first one.

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