Segment Flows

Anatomy of a Segment Flow

A segment flow can include:

• A schedule that controls when the flow sends messages. Send messages immediately or at a scheduled time.
• A segment that identifies the audience that receives your messages. Create a segment or use an existing one.
• Exit rules that remove people from the flow and stop them from receiving messages.
• Message elements that send emails, SMS messages, or other communications. You can include one or more message elements in your flow.
• Wait elements that delay messages.

When to Use Segment Flows

Use a segment flow to reach a specific audience all at once, such as for a marketing campaign. A segment flow can send messages such as:

• A promotional email for all customers who made a purchase in the last 30 days.
• A new product announcement for leads who showed interest in a specific product category.
• A series of onboarding emails for new customers who joined this month.
• A special offer for high-value customers in a specific region.

How Segment Flows Work

Here's what happens when you create and activate a segment flow:

1. You define your audience by creating or selecting a segment.
2. You publish the segment so it includes the most current data about who qualifies.
3. You create your messages and configure when they send.
4. You activate the flow and decide when to start sending.
5. At the scheduled time, if you selected to republish the segment immediately before the flow runs, the segment republishes.
6. The flow sends messages to everyone in the segment.
7. If your flow includes multiple messages with wait elements, segment members receive the messages according to the timing you configure.
8. If you set the flow to run on a recurring basis, the flow runs on the configured schedule.

Note If you set the re-entry conditions to After completion, a unified individual can’t join the next scheduled occurrence of the flow until they exit the current occurrence. Learn more about occurrences in Flow Status Reference.

After you activate a segment flow, it begins sending messages at the scheduled time. To change a scheduled or active flow, deactivate it first.

When you deactivate the flow, either cancel all occurrences and immediately exit all segment members or let running occurrences finish without starting new ones.

Managing Segment Members

• When you republish the segment, Salesforce updates its membership for the next scheduled flow run.
  • The flow adds individuals who meet the segment criteria.
  • The flow removes members who no longer meet the segment criteria from the segment and excludes them from new flow runs. Those members stay in active flow occurrences that are still in progress. To remove members from active flow occurrences, configure an exit rule.
• If you update the segment on the segment's publish schedule, Salesforce refreshes the segment at the scheduled time. If you set the publish schedule to Do not refresh, Salesforce doesn't refresh the segment population.
• If you update the segment immediately before the flow runs, Salesforce republishes the segment immediately before the flow runs regardless of the segment's publish schedule.
• An exit rule acts as a filter that identifies people who should no longer be in a flow. For example, you can create a rule that sends someone to the end of a flow after they renew a contract.
• The flow evaluates the exit rules each time a segment member enters the flow or resumes after a pause. If a segment member meets the exit rule criteria, the flow removes that member and stops sending messages.

Getting Started with Segment Flows

Create segment flows through an audience flow in Flow Builder. Select Audience Flow, then select Segment as your audience source.

In Marketing Cloud Next, start from a campaign to connect the flow with the campaign automatically. When you create a message-based campaign, choose a template that includes a segment flow or build one from scratch.

To access more elements and configuration options, open Flow Builder. Learn more in Create a Segment Flow.

For more information, see Audience Flows.

Managing Your Segment Flows

After you activate a segment flow, monitor its progress and change it as needed:

• Pause a flow to fix an issue or make changes
• Deactivate a scheduled flow before it starts sending
• Create another version of a paused flow with updates
• View performance metrics to see how your campaign is performing

When you pause a flow, the flow keeps segment members at their current position until you resume. After you resume, the flow continues from where it paused and accounts for the time that elapsed during the pause.

Debugging Segment Flows

Keep Run automation in rollback mode selected when you debug a segment flow that contains Create Records, Update Records, or Delete Records elements. You must also use rollback mode when the flow contains invocable actions other than messaging actions, such as actions that send email, SMS, or WhatsApp messages.

If you clear Run automation in rollback mode, Flow Builder can't debug the flow. It shows an error that the flow contains elements that debug doesn't support. With rollback mode selected, Flow Builder rolls back the flow's record changes after the debug run.

For other considerations when debugging flows, see Flow Builder Debugger Considerations.

Tips for Success

• Publish your segment before activating the flow so that the flow uses the most current data.
• Preview segment membership to confirm that the segment includes the intended people.
• Test your message content before activating the campaign.
• Consider your segment's publish schedule. For the most up-to-date data, select to republish the segment immediately before running the flow.
• Use wait elements to pace message delivery for your segment.