Segments vs Audiences

These terms are often used interchangeably, but there's a subtle distinction:Segment = The rule/definition (the logic)

• "Give me all customers who have an unpaid bill and haven't made a payment"
• It's like a SQL WHERE clause

Audience = The resulting group of people who match that rule

• The actual list of profiles: Alice, Bob, Carol, Frank, Grace, Iris
• This is what gets used in journeys and campaigns

In AEP, when you create a "segment definition," it automatically produces an "audience." Adobe has been migrating terminology from "Segments" to "Audiences" — so in the UI you'll mostly see Audiences.

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2. Types of Audiences

a) Batch Audiences (Segment Builder)

• Evaluated periodically (once every 24 hours by default, or on-demand)
• Uses the Segment Builder UI with drag-and-drop rules
• Best for: campaigns, scheduled sends, large audiences
• Example: "All customers with unpaid bills" — evaluated daily

b) Streaming Audiences

• Evaluated in real-time as data flows in
• Profile qualifies/disqualifies the moment an event arrives
• Best for: time-sensitive triggers, journeys
• Example: "Customer just received a bill" — triggers instantly

c) Edge Audiences

• Evaluated on the edge network (CDN level)
• Ultra-low latency (milliseconds)
• Best for: same-page personalization, web/app experiences

For your capstone, you'll use Streaming for the journey trigger (react to events in real-time).

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3. Segment Builder — How It Works

The Segment Builder UI has these components:

Key concepts in the builder:

• Attributes = Profile fields (firstName, accountStatus, churnRiskScore)
• Events = ExperienceEvents (bill_generated, payment_received)
• Include = Profiles that MUST match these conditions
• Exclude = Profiles that must NOT match these conditions
• Time window = "In last 30 days", "In last 7 days", "Any time"

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4. Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO)

AJO is the tool that orchestrates the customer experience — it decides who gets what message, when, and through which channel.

Core Components of AJO:

a) Journeys

A journey is a multi-step, automated workflow triggered by an event or audience qualification.

Trigger ──► Action ──► Wait ──► Condition ──► Action ──► End

Journey building blocks:

Block	Purpose	Example
Entry	How profiles enter	Segment qualification, event trigger
Action	What to do	Send email, send SMS, send push, custom action
Wait	Pause	Wait 1 day, wait until specific date
Condition	Branch logic	If paid → exit, if not → remind
End	Exit point	Journey complete

b) Channels (messaging)

AJO supports multiple channels:

• Email — rich HTML content
• SMS — text messages
• Push Notifications — mobile app alerts
• In-App Messages — messages inside your app
• Direct Mail — physical mail triggers
• Web — on-site personalization

c) Messages / Content

Each action uses a message template with:

• Subject line / body — static + dynamic content
• Personalization — using profile attributes like {{profile.firstName}}
• Content decisions — powered by Offer Decisioning

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5. Journey Entry Types

Read Audience (Batch)

• Takes a pre-built audience and pushes all members through the journey
• Can be one-time or recurring (daily, weekly)
• Example: "Every day at 9am, push all unpaid-bill customers through the reminder flow"

Audience Qualification (Streaming)

• Triggers when a profile enters or exits an audience
• Real-time: as soon as profile qualifies, they enter the journey
• Example: "The moment a customer's bill is generated, start the payment reminder flow"

Unitary Event (Streaming)

• Triggers on a specific event for a profile
• Most real-time option
• Example: "When a bill_generated event arrives for CUST003, enter CUST003 into the journey"

For your capstone, you'll likely use Unitary Event (triggered by bill_generated) or Audience Qualification.

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6. How It All Connects — Your Capstone Flow

Audience Compositions

When you click Create Audience in AEP, you see two options:

1. Build rule — Segment Builder (what we discussed)
2. Compose audience — Audience Composition

Here's the difference:

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Build Rule (Segment Builder)

• Define rules based on profile attributes and events
• Example: "Customers where eventType = bill_generated AND no payment_received"
• Produces a single audience from raw data
• Supports streaming (real-time) evaluation

Compose Audience (Composition)

• Combines existing audiences using set operations
• Think of it as working with audiences as building blocks
• Does NOT read raw profile/event data directly — it works with already-built audiences

Composition building blocks:

Block	What it does	Example
Audience	Start with an existing audience	"All Bill Generated customers"
Union	Combine two audiences (OR)	"Unpaid customers" + "High churn risk customers"
Intersect	Overlap of two audiences (AND)	"Unpaid customers" who are ALSO "High usage"
Exclude	Remove one audience from another (MINUS)	"All billed" MINUS "All paid" = Unpaid
Rank	Sort and keep top N profiles	Top 100 by churnRiskScore
Split	Divide into sub-audiences by percentage or attribute	50/50 A/B test split
Enrich	Add lookup attributes from a dataset	Add offer details to each profile

7. Key AJO Terms Quick Reference

Term	Meaning
Journey	Automated multi-step workflow
Campaign	One-time or scheduled message blast to an audience (no branching logic)
Surface	Channel endpoint — email address, phone number, push token
Channel Configuration	The sender config (email domain, SMS number)
Personalization	Dynamic content using {{profile._acsultimatesupport.dinakara_cs_cust_firstName}}
Offer Decisioning	AI-powered system to pick the best offer for each customer
Throttling	Rate limiting to avoid overwhelming channels
Capping	Max messages per profile per time window
Consent	Respecting customer opt-in/opt-out preferences