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MarketingCommunityVIP7 min read· Updated Aug 3, 2026

Build and Use User Segments

A segment is a saved definition of a group of users — paying players, people who have not logged in for a month, everyone in the UK. Once saved, you point broadcasts and marketing messages at it instead of describing the audience again each time.

This tutorial covers the User segments page, the three ways to define a segment, and — importantly — what the user count it reports does and does not mean.

Watch the full walkthrough, or follow the step-by-step guide below.

Before you start

  • Access to a Dynamo workspace with User segments under Audience.
  • A connection to the Dynamo Audience API — segments match on the user data it sends, so without it there are no properties to build rules from.
  • For a conditional segment: user properties already flowing in through that API, since those are what you match on.
  • For a CSV or S3 segment: a file with one column of user IDs.
Audience API documentation
  1. 1

    Open User segments

    From the left sidebar under Audience, click User segments. The page has two tabs: Segments, which is the list of saved segments, and Keys & values, which is the raw property data behind them.

    Each segment card shows its thumbnail and name, how many users matched, and when it was last updated. A badge marks how it was built — CSV, or Keys & Values for a conditional one. Search and the All filter narrow a long list.

    The User segments list, with New Segment and How segments work.
  2. 2

    Understand what the count means

    Before building anything, read this — the How segments work? button in the top right explains it. You define a segment, Dynamo searches for matching users, and it reports how many it found across your entire organization, meaning all workspaces, not just the one you are in.

    The panel states the catch plainly: those users do not represent your reachable, opted-in users. The number is how many people match your definition, not how many you can actually message.

    Tip: For VIP workspaces the system searches only your VIP property, so keeping that property up to date is what determines whether you reach your full potential audience.

    How segments work: matching runs across the whole organization.
  3. 3

    Start from a preset or from scratch

    Click New Segment. Dynamo offers presets first: VIP, Gold, Silver and Bronze users, Paying users, inactivity windows like "3 days no see" and "2 months no see Payer", LTV tiers from Over 250$ to Over 3000$, User balance = 0, User level X, and country segments.

    Pick the one closest to what you need and adjust it, or click Create your own at the bottom to start empty.

    Segment presets, with Create your own at the bottom.
  4. 4

    Name it and pick a thumbnail

    The New Segment dialog opens on "Define who belongs to this segment and preview its reach." Give the segment a name that says who is in it, since this is what you will be choosing from a dropdown later.

    Click the pencil on the hexagon to pick a thumbnail from the icon grid — VIP crowns, medals, currency and LTV symbols, inactivity icons, country flags. It is decorative, but it makes a long segment list far quicker to scan.

    The New Segment dialog before a type is chosen.
    The thumbnail picker.
  5. 5

    Choose how the segment is defined

    Segment Type offers three routes. Conditional builds the audience from rules about user properties — the flexible option, and the one that stays current as user data changes.

    CSV Upload takes a fixed list: upload a CSV with one column of user IDs. S3 Bucket pulls the list from a connected Amazon S3 bucket, which is the option to use when another system owns the list.

    Tip: A CSV segment is a snapshot of the IDs you uploaded. A conditional segment re-evaluates, so use conditional whenever the membership should change over time.

    The three segment types, with CSV Upload selected.
  6. 6

    Build the conditional rules

    With Conditional selected, add a User Property rule: pick the property, a comparison, and a value. The property picker is searchable and shows each type — "Paying · boolean", "Country · string", "lastLogin · date" — and the value picker offers the valid values for that property, so a boolean gives you true and false.

    The Property and Retention buttons below add further rules. Property adds another user-property condition; Retention matches on recency, such as when someone was last seen. The trash icon removes a rule.

    A conditional segment with one User Property rule.
    The property picker, with each property’s type.
    The value picker for a boolean property.
  7. 7

    Narrow it with user filters

    User Filters apply on top of whichever type you chose. Only reachable limits the segment to users you can actually message — the filter that closes the gap between the matched count and the sendable one.

    Only unidentified keeps just anonymous users, and With external browser and Without external browser split the audience by how they open links.

    Tip: Turn on Only reachable when you are sizing an audience for a send. Leave it off when you want the true size of a group regardless of whether you can message them.

    The four user filters.
  8. 8

    Save it and check the insights

    The right side of the dialog reads "No insights yet — Insights will appear once the segment is saved and processed." Nothing is calculated until you save.

    Click Save Segment. Dynamo processes the definition, and the segment then appears in the list with its user count and last-updated date.

    Insights arrive only after the segment is saved.
  9. 9

    Manage a saved segment

    Each card carries its own actions. Refresh re-runs the match so the count reflects current data. Edit reopens the definition, Duplicate copies it as a starting point, and Export downloads the members. Archive retires a segment you no longer need.

    Every card also has a note field with basic formatting and Reset and Save buttons — a good place to record why a segment exists and who it is for.

    Tip: Refresh before a big send. A count from weeks ago is a count from weeks ago, and nothing re-runs automatically at send time.

    A segment card: counts, note field, and row actions.
  10. 10

    Use the segment in a broadcast

    The second page of the explainer covers sending. You create a broadcast, choose a segment, and Dynamo searches for users matching that segment across all topics related to your workspace, then sends.

    Two limits are worth knowing before you plan a campaign around a segment size: only users who have opted in to one of your workspace topics can be reached, and you can restrict which topics the system searches and exclude specific segments from the selected one.

    Tip: This is where the earlier caveat lands. A segment matching 10,000 people organization-wide may reach far fewer once opt-in and topic scope are applied — always sanity-check against the broadcast’s own audience estimate.

    Sending a broadcast to a segment, and what limits the reach.

Your audience is defined and reusable!

Saved segments show up wherever you pick an audience — broadcasts, marketing messages, journeys. Refresh one before a big send so its membership is current, and duplicate a working segment as the starting point for the next variation.

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