- About this Article
- Step 1: Navigation
- Step 2: Segment Creation
- Step 3: Segment Utilization
- Appendix A: Rule Logic – How rules are processed
- Need Help?
About this Article
This article details how to effectively set-up a segment in the Salesforce Audience Studio UI.
Step 1: Navigation
Go to the "Segments" menu item in Audience Studio, click "+New Segment" and choose the type of segment you want to create.
In most cases, select "Standard."
"Real-Time" segments are used to capture users immediately without looking at historical activity. For example, delivering an ad immediately after users submit a registration or perform a search.
Step 1: Segment Creation
Segments can be built from first, second, and third-party attributes, events, and existing segments. The left-margin of the segment builder displays all available options. Note that your team may have configured your display differently than what is shown, but this represents how your data can be organized in the platform.
Step 2: Segment Creation
Step 2 - Part 1: Using Attributes to Build a Segment
First-party data, including keywords and all attributes listed above, can be used to create segments.
EXAMPLE SEGMENT An RFP for a video streaming company with a new device that allows consumers to view their content on TV requests "males in the 18-29 range who consume a high volume of video content". |
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There are 3 ways to connect rules and fulfill a segment:
AND |
both rule X and Y must be satisfied (narrows the segment pool) | ![]() |
OR |
either rule X or Y must be satisfied (expands the segment pool) | |
AND NOT |
rule X must be satisfied, and anyone who qualifies for rule Y must be excluded (narrows the segment pool) |
Step 2 - Part 2: Using Third-party Data to Build a Segment
Salesforce Audience Studio has many third-party data options - use the search field or expand the third-party data provider folders to find an appropriate segment.
Step 2 - Part 3: Using an Existing Segment to Build a Segment
Segments can also be built from existing segments. This is a great option if you have core segments already built (i.e., basic demographic information or site/section visits) to add to for more complex segments.
Step 2 - Part 4: Creating Rule Groups
Rule Groups link sets of attributes together using an "AND" or an "OR" conjunction.
EXAMPLE To target Men with HHI of $60k+ or women who live in Boston, use a Rule Group like this: |
To complete a Rule Group
After clicking 'Add Group', follow the same steps to create a new rule, repeating until you have added all attribute values. Your layered first and third-party data allows for increased reach.
Step 2 - Part 5: Naming & Saving a Segment
The final step in creating your segment is to name it.
Classify your segments by Type, Category, and Subcategory in whatever way works for your team, but we strongly recommend following a consistent taxonomy so that segments can be easily managed. |
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Finally, enable it for the Salesforce Audience Studio Interchange and save it.
See below for an example:
Type
Recommended Types | Description |
Behavioral | Based on the user's recent activity |
Geographic | Based on a user's location |
Psychographic | Based on user mindset, lifestyle, attitudes, personality |
Lookalike | Similar to the existing audience target |
Category
Recommended Category | Type | Description |
Age | Demographic | |
Auto | Behavioral | Visitors in-market or near-market for a vehicle or vehicle parts |
Arts & Entertainment | Behavioral | Visitors who've shown interest in books, music, movies, TV |
Business | Behavioral | Visitors who've shown interest in business news or topics |
Education | Demographic | The education level of the visitor (e.g., high school, college, grad school) |
Ethnicity | Demographic | |
Family & Parenting | Behavioral | Visitors who've shown interest in parenting or family topics |
Food & Drink | Behavioral | Visitors who've shown interest in food or drink content (e.g., recipes, wine tasting) |
Gender | Demographic | |
Health & Fitness | Behavioral | Visitors who've shown interest in health topics or products |
Hobbies | Behavioral | Visitors who've shown interest in very specific, niche activities. Think needlework, bird watching, roleplaying games, comic books, etc. |
Home & Garden | Behavioral | Visitors who've shown interest or shopping intent in appliances, gardening, home theater, or repair products |
Income | Demographic | Household income (HHI) |
Lifestyle | Psychographic | Meant to call out specific mindsets as expressed by visitor's lifestyle (e.g., Green Lifestyle) |
Marital Status | Demographic | |
Net Worth | Demographic | |
Personal Finance | Behavioral | Visitors who've shown interest in personal finance topics |
Pets | Behavioral | Visitors who've shown interest in pet topics or products |
Politics | Behavioral | Visitors who've shown interest in legal, government & political topics |
Profession | Demographic | Visitors belonging to a particular profession, industry, or functional area |
Real Estate | Behavioral | Visitors in-market for a new apartment or home or interested in real estate content |
Religion & Spirituality | Behavioral | Visitors interested in religion or spirituality topics |
Science | Behavioral | Visitors interested in topics including astronomy, weather, physics, biology, etc. |
Sports | Behavioral | Visitors interested in sports content & news |
Style & Fashion | Behavioral | Visitors interested in fashion, jewelry, clothing, and beauty topics or products |
Technology & Computing | Behavioral | Visitors interested in technology-related content (includes networking technology, software, databases, consumer tech, etc.) |
Travel | Behavioral | Visitors interested in travel, business, or personal |
Sub-Category
Recommended Sub-Category | Description |
First-Party | Segments made entirely with first-party data |
Third-Party (data provider used) | Segments made entirely with third-party data |
Blended | Segments made with a mix of first- and third-party data |
Step 3: Segment Utilization
Once the segment has been saved, segments will populate within approximately 3-4 hours. New segments will appear in the Segments > Manage Segments list.
Step 3 - Part 1: Activation
To change the activation partners a segment is being sent to, click theicon (action menu) next to the segment end select "Update Partners" from the dropdown. This brings you to the same screen as in Step 2 - Part 5.
Step 3 - Part 2: Lookalikes
Using lookalikes (from the Actions menu above) is a valuable way to expand your segment size by finding people who are nearly similar to the segment population. Note that lookalikes process over the weekend. If a segment is created during the week, lookalike modeling will be available the following Monday.
This example shows a Dynamic Dress Buyers segment using first-party data. By using the lookalikes functionality, we can increase the population size of this valuable segment by finding a pool of users who are 80% similar across first and third-party attribute to their known Healthy Moms.
To use this new segment, you simply click on the point on the graph you want to use and then click the "Create Lookalike" button, following the same steps outlined earlier to save the new segment.
Step 3 - Part 3: Overlap Report
Another valuable tool to gain insight into your segment's audience makeup is the Overlap Report, which allows you to view segments that overlap with a given segment. For example, if a publisher had a segment made up of subscribers, it could be impactful to find out what other characteristics subscribers have. Like the lookalike function, it also lets you expand a segment by adding site visitors who fall into different segments but are similar across thousands of attributes.
To access the overlap report, click "Segment Overlaps" shown above. See below for more information about the report.
Using the example “Dynamic Dress Buyers” segment, you can hover over each circle on the overlap report to see details about the overlapping segments—the larger the circle, the more overlap between the segment populations.
These segments can be combined to expand the original segment size. For example, the existing segment has a 16.5% overlap with the Vail Season Ticket holder segment. By combining these similar segments, you would open the population to over 19M users and could provide an advertiser with a new, potentially interesting target group.
Step 3 - Part 4: Audience Profile
The Audience Profile for a segment displays User Activities and Uniques, followed by Audience Profile details. Clicking the Download button at the top right of the chart allows exporting a logo-branded PDF report.
Step 3 - Part 5: Site Distribution
The Site Distribution for a segment displays the distribution of that segment across all the sites you manage. It lists the Total Uniques per site and each site’s Index. Below the chart, the data is presented in a sortable table.
Step 3 - Part 6: CDIM
CDIM is for Cross Device Identity Management. Salesforce Audience Studio allows you to create a larger segment out of one of your segments, including devices that we believe belong to the users. To do so, click the action menu item and select CDIM. Click on the "high," "medium," or "low" similarity bar and then on "Create Segment."
Deterministically matched users are always added to your segments. The similarity setting controls our probabilistic algorithm. Please find more info on CDIM segments here:
Appendix A: Rule Logic – How rules are processed
1. Segment without a Rule Group
If you create a segment which looks like the following:
The above rules are processed as follows: (Rule1 OR Rule2 OR Rule4) AND (Rule3)
Segment without a Rule Group using "AND NOT"
If you create a segment which looks like the following:
The above rules processes as follows: Rule 1 or Rule 2 or Rule 4 AND NOT Rule 3
2. Segment with a Rule Group using "OR"
If you create a segment which looks like the following:
The above rules are processed as follows: (Rule1 OR Rule2) OR (Rule3 AND Rule4)
3. Segment with a Rule Group using "AND"
If you create a segment which looks like the following:
The above rules are processed as follows: (Rule1 OR Rule2) AND (Rule3 AND Rule4)
4. Segment with Rule Groups using "OR" and "AND"
If you create a segment which looks like the following:
The above rules are processed as follows: ((Rule1 OR Rule2) OR (Rule3 AND Rule4) OR (Rule7 OR Rule8)) AND (Rule5 OR Rule6))
Need Help?
If you need help building segments, don't hesitate to contact the Salesforce Audience Studio Support team at kruxhelp@krux.com.
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