Filter contacts and save a segment

Getting here

Contacts → the funnel button beside the search box, which carries the number of rows your filter has. On the app, the Contacts tab → Filters; saved segments are the chips above the list.

Before you start

• Owners, admins and agents can save, rename and delete a segment. A viewer can apply one; the save itself is refused by the database rather than hidden.
• Saving a segment sends nothing; it is a saved question about your contacts. Run a workflow beside the filter is different: that workflow can message the people the filter matches.

Fields

Category

What the row asks about: Contact Field, Lifecycle, Channel, Contact Tag, Last Interacted Channel, Time Since Last Incoming Message or From ad.

Contact field

Only for Contact Field. Your own fields appear here beside Name, Phone Number, Email Address, Country, Language, Bot Status, Assignee, Collaborators, Conversation Status and the three time fields.

Operator

How to compare. Text offers is equal to and contains with their opposites, plus exists and does not exist. A list offers has any of, has all of and has none of.

Value

A typed value, a picked value, or several chips.

Limits: exists and does not exist take no value.

Timestamp / From / To

For a comparison against a date.

Unit

For a "time since" comparison: seconds, minutes, hours or days, counted back from now or forward from now.

And / Or

How the rows join. A filter group is a box of rows carrying its own And or Or.

How it works

• Opening an empty panel starts one row and opens its category menu, so there is always something to fill in.
• The list behind the panel reloads about half a second after you stop editing, so the table and the count follow the rows you build.
• The count in the panel header is how many contacts the rows match. A broadcast built on the same rows sends only to people with marketing consent and a usable number, so its audience can be smaller.
• A row you have not finished is ignored, and rows you never filled in are dropped when the panel closes.
• Save as Segment opens Save New Segment: a name, up to 64 characters, and nothing else. The segment stores the rows, not the people.
• Because it stores the rows, who is in a segment changes as your contacts change. Somebody who earns a tag tomorrow is in it tomorrow.
• Saving from the list opens the new segment, so what you see next is the segment rather than unsaved rows.
• Opening a segment from the rail opens the panel on it. Changing a row then marks the header Unsaved and offers Save and Save as new Segment.
• Reset Filter puts the rows back to the segment's saved version, or clears them when you are not in a segment.
• A segment's ⋮ menu holds Rename and Delete. Deleting asks first, and removes it for the whole workspace.
• Leaving the page with unsaved rows asks Discard unsaved filters?, with Discard filters and Keep editing.
• Filter rows are written once and copied to the app, so a row built on a phone means the same thing as the same row built on the web.
• The app's sheet holds the same Category, Contact field, Operator, Add value, Timestamp, From, To and Unit, and can save a new segment or save over the one you opened.

When it fails

• A row missing its value leaves the filter unfinished, and Save as Segment stays greyed out until it is complete.
• A name another segment already uses: A segment with this name already exists.
• An empty name: the dialog says This field is required and will not save.
• A save the server refuses: Could not save the segment.
• A deleted segment does not stop a draft broadcast that used it. The draft keeps the rules it copied when you picked the segment, and its Segment box then shows All.
• A segment whose rows no longer make sense is listed in the rail by name with only a delete action, so you can read it and get rid of it.
• On the app, a segment built from something the phone cannot run yet says: “This segment uses filters the app cannot run yet. Open it on the web.”
• On the app an unfinished filter says This filter is not complete yet.

Limits

• A segment is never a frozen list of people. If you need the exact people of one moment, export the filtered rows instead.
• A segment does not check marketing consent. That check happens when a broadcast works out who it may send to.
• The VIP only control is not part of a segment. While it is on, the Add segment button beside the filter steps aside.
• A comparison on one of your own fields compares text, not numbers, so no greater-than is offered for one.
• The search box and a filter row are different things. The box reads name, phone and email; a row reads the field you picked.

Best practices

• Build the filter first and watch the count. A segment saved from a filter you have not looked at is a broadcast you have not checked.
• Name a segment after the action you will take with it, not after the rule inside it.
• Use has none of on a tag to leave out people you have already contacted, rather than keeping a separate list.
• Re-open a segment before a broadcast. It is a question, and the answer has moved since you saved it.

Use cases

• Everyone tagged for a product launch who has not bought yet: one Contact Tag row and one Lifecycle row, joined by And.
• People who went quiet: Time Since Last Incoming Message with is greater than (time) and a number of days.
• Everyone who arrived from an ad: a From ad row, saved as a segment you can broadcast to.
• A one-off clean-up: filter on Email Address with does not exist, then tick rows and fix them by hand.

FAQ and troubleshooting

Does saving a segment copy the contacts into it?

No. It saves the rules. Who is in it changes as your contacts change, which is why a broadcast works the rules out again the moment it publishes.

Can I share a segment with a teammate?

Every segment belongs to the workspace, so your teammates already see it in the rail and in a broadcast's Segment picker.

Why is Save as Segment greyed out?

A row is unfinished. Finish the row or remove it. Separately, Add segment beside the filter is hidden while VIP only is on.

What happens to a broadcast if I delete its segment?

A broadcast that has already published carries its own list of recipients, so it is unaffected. A draft reads the segment's rules as they are when it publishes, so editing a segment changes the draft. Delete the segment and the draft falls back to the rules it copied when you picked it, with Segment showing All.

Can I filter on something a workflow saved?

Yes, if it was saved into one of your own contact fields. Pick Contact Field and choose that field by name.

Related

• The contacts list — One table of everyone who has ever messaged you, with the headings, sort and saved field setups you choose.
• Choose who receives a broadcast — Pick the number or numbers you send from, and the segment of contacts you send to.
• Tags and lifecycle stages — A tag labels a person or a single conversation. A lifecycle stage says where that person is in your funnel.
• Marketing consent, and blocking a contact — A broadcast only reaches people who agreed to marketing. Blocking takes somebody out of your active inbox.
• Save to Contact Field — Write a value onto a custom contact field, so an answer collected in the conversation lives on the record, not only in the transcript.