When to Use Segments vs. Tags

Segments automatically narrow down friends by conditions, while tags let you manually apply labels to friends. Both are used to organize your friends, but they differ in purpose and in how they update — knowing which to use helps you target the right people at the right time.

When you are unsure which to set up and how, just tell the agent your goal — for example, "I want to broadcast to repeat customers" or "I want to group the people I met at the trade show" — and the agent will propose and prepare the Segments or tags you need. If you prefer to set things up yourself, follow the steps in each section.

The Difference Between Segments and Tags

A Segment automatically groups the friends who match its conditions, while a tag is a label that a person applies by hand. The biggest difference is whether the group "changes automatically" or stays "fixed manually."

Segments and tags are separate concepts. "Applying a tag" and "narrowing down by conditions" serve different roles, so be careful not to confuse them.

When to Use Segments

Use a Segment when you want to broadcast to "the friends who meet a condition at this very moment." Because the matching friends change automatically, you do not need to reselect the target every time you broadcast.

Recommended Ways to Use

• Narrow down recipients: Broadcast only to "friends who purchased recently"
• Split by purchase status: Send a repeat-customer offer to "friends with a high number of purchases"
• Split by activity level: Re-engage "friends who have not purchased for a certain period"

You can combine conditions such as a friend's date added, number of purchases, and existing tags. Multiple conditions can be built with AND or OR, and the friends who match the conditions you set are always kept up to date as a group.

When to Use Tags

Use a tag when you want to record information about a friend that data alone cannot determine. Once applied, it remains until you remove it manually, which makes it well suited for labeling attributes that do not change.

Recommended Ways to Use

• Record attributes: Keep information that a person has judged, such as "VIP customer" or "Trade Show 2026 attendee"
• Apply automatically with a Workflow: Apply a tag automatically through a Workflow, triggered by actions such as scanning a QR Code or answering a survey
• Use as a Segment condition: Incorporate the tags you apply into a Segment's filtering conditions

Tags are managed manually by default. Unlike Segments, which grow and shrink automatically, an applied tag stays exactly as it is.

Using Them Together

Tags and Segments are even more effective when combined. By adding an attribute recorded with a tag to a Segment's conditions, you can have both manual classification and automatic filtering at once.

For example, among the friends who have the "VIP customer" tag, you can use a Segment to narrow down to "friends who purchased in the last 30 days" and broadcast to them. This enables fine-grained targeting that is difficult to achieve with tags alone or Segments alone.

You Can Also Add and Remove Tags from the Chat Screen

Tags are a single kind of label attached to friends, and you can work with the same tags from several screens. A tag you apply while viewing a conversation in Chat (the inbox) is the same tag you would apply from the friend list or the tag management screen.

Because tags are shared across screens, a tag you apply while handling a chat can be used as a Segment condition for broadcasts as is.