We are separating segmentation and triggers to provide clearer and more effective targeting.
Segments define who the visitor is and what characterizes them. They help you target users based on their attributes, behaviors, and past interactions. Triggers define where and when the visitor is exposed to the experiment—based on specific actions or conditions.
As part of this change, certain conditions currently found in the segment builder (specifically those related to how, where, and when a user interacts with your website) will be moved to the trigger builder.
Timeline
- Since February: You can create Triggers from a dedicated dashboard in the app and use them during the finalization step by selecting the “Target specific visitors” option in the targeting section. This allows you to combine both Segments and Triggers for more precise targeting.
- Since April: All segments that use criteria that will be moved from the existing Segment Builder to the new Trigger Builder are now labeled as “deprecated”. You can filter your dashboard by deprecation status to easily view the affected segments. To assist with the transition, we’ll soon be deploying a feature that will help you automatically recreate deprecated segments and triggers.
- End of June/July (exact date to be confirmed): A brand-new version of the Segment and Trigger builders will be released. At that point, conditions will be fully separated, and deprecated segments will no longer be editable. To ensure continuity, please make sure that any segments and triggers you wish to keep using are re-created before this update.
What does this mean for you?
- Clearer roles for segments and triggers, reducing confusion about their purposes
- Deprecated segments require updates – you must re-create any segments or triggers labeled as deprecated according to the new separation of conditions. We will assist you in this process.
Segments that include targeting criteria which will now belong to triggers are automatically marked as “deprecated”. Does this require action? Not necessarily! You only need to take action if:
- these segments are currently used in an active experiment, and/or
- these segments will be used in an active experiment between now and end of June/July
Refer to this table for guidance on properly re-creating your segments and triggers.
Important: Any deprecated segments that aren’t migrated before summer (exact date to be announced) will become non-editable—but don’t worry, experiments using them will continue to run.
This update introduces clearer roles for segments and triggers, helping reduce confusion about their respective purposes. We believe it will significantly improve the experiment creation process by eliminating the need to create multiple segments for similar scenarios.
For example, if you want to target returning visitors with 5 different experiments across various pages, you’ll now be able to create a single segment and define one trigger per experiment—rather than building five separate segments as previously required. This change will also enhance the performance of our AI Opportunity Detection. Currently, segments containing conditions that should be defined as triggers are excluded from the AI engine. By separating the two, the system will be able to detect more opportunities and deliver smarter recommendations.
If you’re using Feature Experiments or Personalization campaigns, no action is needed for now. Additionally, Finalization for Web Experiments, Personalizations, and Flags will be updated to reflect these changes. Future communications will provide a more detailed timeline.
