Managing Segments in XM Directory

Suite
Customer Experience Strategy & Research
Product
Qualtrics
What's on this page

Qtip: Segmentation is not available to all licenses. If you are a Brand Administrator who is interested in this feature and you do not see a Segments tab in your directory, reach out to Account Services.

About Managing XM Directory Segments

Segmentation is the process of dividing the contacts in your XM Directory into different groups, based on demographics, needs, priorities, common interests, and other criteria. Once a segment is created, the members of your directory are automatically added and removed based on whether they match its criteria, meaning less maintenance required of your team, and more time to focus on insights.

Qtip: Segments can only be created and edited by users who have the permission Manage Directories enabled. Any user with Access XM Directory enabled can distribute to existing segments.

Qtip: You cannot opt a contact out of a segment without opting them out of the entire directory. See opting contacts out of the directory.

Distributing to XM Directory Segments

Once you’ve created your segments, you can distribute to them using the same methods of distribution you would for mailing lists. That means you can send the following kinds of distributions to segments:

Qtip: If you are distributing to a segment, contacts must remain in the segment to get a reminder. If they are removed from the segment they won’t receive reminders.

Start in the Distributions tab of XM Directory. When you get to the step where you choose recipients, select All Segments, then select your specific segment, as shown below.

Distributions tab; distributing, segments is in the dropdown for recipient types, along with lists and samples
Distributions tab; distributing, segments is in the dropdown for recipient types, along with lists and samples

You can also distribute to segments from inside the Distributions tab of a survey, using methods like email, SMS, and personal links. For example, in a survey email invite, select the To field, then highlight Segments to see a list of segments you can distribute to.

When choosing a contact list, also have the option to choose from segments in the directory
When choosing a contact list, also have the option to choose from segments in the directory

You can also automate distributions to your segments, sending regular messages to them on a schedule. These solutions include the following workflows:

The segment trends chart makes it easy to identify segment membership trends including new contacts and lost subscribers over time.

Displays segment trend areas in XMD
Displays segment trend areas in XMD
Segment trend visualization: This chart displays the number of segment members over time.
Length of Time: Select for which window of time you would like to view segment membership trends.
Percent Growth: This figure calculates the percentage of growth over the length of time selected in the segment trend visualization.
Amount of Growth/Churn: The right of the chart displays the number of new contacts added to the segment and the number of contacts who were removed from the segment for the selected period of time.

Rebuilding Existing Segments

Segments are refreshed within 24 hours. This means that as you add new contacts to the directory that meet the segment’s criteria, or as contacts are updated so that they no longer meet criteria, the segment will take note of these changes and incorporate them once a day by default.

However, if you do not want to wait, you can rebuild the segment at any time.

Attention: Changes made in your directory that affect segment membership will not instantly be applied, even if you manually rebuild your segment. For example, rebuilding your segment immediately after updating a contact will not immediately remove that contact from your segment.

Go to the Segments & lists tab.
Image shows the segments and lists tab of the directory, specifically the segments section
Image shows the segments and lists tab of the directory, specifically the segments section
Make sure you have Segments selected to the left. (This is the default page you will land on.)
Click the name of the segment you want to rebuild.
Click Segment Options.
Once inside segment, "segment options" button
Once inside segment, "segment options" button
Select Rebuild Segment.

The segment may take some time to rebuild. Feel free to leave this page while it loads.

Qtip: There may be a little bit of time between when your tasks are shown as Complete and when the updates are actually shown in your segment.

Completed message highlighted at the top right of the screen
Completed message highlighted at the top right of the screen

Changing the Criteria for an Existing Segment

You can change the criteria for an existing segment. Once you do this, the segment will automatically rebuild itself, incorporating the appropriate contacts and removing those that do not fit the new criteria.

You can edit a segment’s criteria by using the dropdown and selecting Edit.

Dropdown next to segment expanded, first option to edit it
Dropdown next to segment expanded, first option to edit it

Or, if you’re inside the segment, click Segment Options and select Edit Segment.

Inside a segment, first option in segment options dropdown is to edit it
Inside a segment, first option in segment options dropdown is to edit it

Copying Segments

Copying segments can be useful if you plan to make a lot of similarly-formatted segments, and only need to change a few criteria at a time.

You can copy a segment by using the dropdown and selecting Copy.

Dropdown next to segment expanded, second option to copy it
Dropdown next to segment expanded, second option to copy it

Or, if you’re inside the segment, click Segment Options and select Copy Segment.

Inside a segment, third option in segment options dropdown is to copy it
Inside a segment, third option in segment options dropdown is to copy it

From there, you will be given the exact same criteria and can edit it before you finish creating your new segment. Don’t forget to give your segment a new name.

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Deleting Segments

Warning: Once you delete a segment, it is irretrievable. Do not delete a segment unless you are absolutely sure that is what you want to do!

You can delete a segment by using the dropdown and selecting Delete, or, from inside the segment, by clicking Segment Options and selecting Delete Segment.

Dropdown next to segment expanded, third option to delete it
Dropdown next to segment expanded, third option to delete it
Inside a segment, fourth option in segment options dropdown is to delete it
Inside a segment, fourth option in segment options dropdown is to delete it

Marking Segments as Favorites

Clicking the star icon to the left of a segment will mark it as a favorite. This will display the segment within the Favorites section of the Summary tab. For more information, see Favorites.

icons to add segments to favorites section within summary tab
icons to add segments to favorites section within summary tab

Using Segments in CX Dashboards

You can use segment membership in your CX Dashboards, making decisions and gathering insights based on which contacts belong to which segments.

To learn more, see Using Segment Data in Dashboards.

Creating Workflows for Segment Membership Changes

As contacts are added to or removed from your segments, you can automatically set off different tasks, such as sending notifications (such as emails or Slack messages), creating tickets (in Qualtrics, Freshdesk, or elsewhere), and much, much more. You can also set workflows when a contact opts into or out of a segment.

See Experience ID Segments Events for more details.

Projects That Can Use Segments

Qtip: The features discussed in this section are not necessarily included with every license. If you’re interested in getting access, please reach out to your Account Executive.

You can use XM Directory to create segments you can then use to distribute to several types of Qualtrics projects. However, not every Qualtrics project type is compatible with XM Directory.

XM Directory can be used to send the following:

In contrast, XM Directory cannot be used to distribute any Employee Experience (EX) projects. That means that no EX projects can be used with XM Directory, including Engagement, Pulse, 360, and more.

XM Directory contact data is completely separate from the employee / participant information saved in the Employee Directory. That means that data edited in one directory will never affect the other, and employee directory information cannot be used to build segments.

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