Segment rules

Last updated: May 04, 2026 14:42

Segment rules in Pendo allow you to create highly targeted groups of users based on product usage, visitor metadata, account metadata, and mobile data. These rules are essential for customizing your analysis, guide targeting, and user research.

This article provides an overview of the types of segment rules available, guidance on how metadata values work in segmentation, and information about segments ineligible for guide targeting. For information about segment creation and management, see Segments and Manage segments.

Overview of rules

Pendo offers several types of segment rules to help you group visitors and accounts based on behavior, metadata, and in-app interactions. These rules allow for precise targeting, analysis, and experimentation across guides and analytics. They include:

Product usage rules, such as visitors who clicked a specific Feature in the last 30 days, have never viewed a particular Page, or experienced frustration indicators like rage or error clicks with a specific Feature.
Visitor data rules, such as browser language, device type, number of days active within a selected timeframe, or the number of frustration indicators recorded for a visitor (for example, number of rage clicks).
Account data rules, such as accounts with more than 100 events, at least five active visitors, no recorded activity in the past week, or aggregated frustration indicators like total U-turns across all visitors in the account.
Mobile data rules, such as app version, SDK version, or device model captured in the last recorded event.

These rules include metadata passed through your install script (for example, Visitor ID, title, isTrial), data from integrations like Salesforce, and standard event tracking in Pendo. Some rules aren’t eligible for guide targeting due to processing limitations. For more information, see Segments ineligible for guide targeting later in this article.

Rule-specific operators

Within each individual rule, you can refine conditions using specific operators, such as:

Equals or does not equal
Contains or does not contain
Greater than, less than, or between

These operators allow you to tailor each rule to meet your needs with precision. For example, you can create a rule that targets visitors whose browser language equals "English" or whose time on site is greater than 10 minutes.

Combining rules with AND/OR logic

You can combine multiple rules using AND and OR logic:

Use AND to require all rules to be true (e.g., visitors who clicked a specific Feature AND viewed a specific Page).
Use OR to include visitors who meet any of the rules (e.g., visitors who speak English OR Spanish).

Nested groups

For more complex segments, you can group rules together and apply AND/OR logic between those groups. This allows you to construct advanced logic, such as targeting visitors who meet multiple conditions in one group while meeting any of the conditions in another.

Product usage rules

Segment rules based on product usage allow you to group users based on specific interactions within your app. These include:

Application usage. Visitors who used or didn't use a specific application.
Feature. Visitors who did or didn't interact with a tagged Feature, or who experienced frustration such as rage clicks, error clicks, or dead clicks.
Page. Visitors who did or didn't view a tagged Page, or who experienced frustration such as a U-turn or dead click on the Page.
Segment. Visitors who are or aren’t included in an existing saved segment.
Track Event. Visitors who did or didn't generate a specific Track Event.

All product usage rules can be eligible for guide targeting, depending on the selected criteria. For example, segmenting by whether a Page was ever viewed is eligible, but segmenting by the number of rage clicks within a time period is not.

New usage rules

Segment rules based on product usage allow you to group users based on when they first visited your application. These include:

First visit by visitor. Date of the first recorded event for a visitor.
First Identified Visit. Date in which a visitor was first identified. If a visitor was anonymous before being identified, this is the date of their first identified activity in your application. This is only present on identified Visitor IDs. For more information, see Identity mapping overview.
First visit by account. Any visitor within an account who first recorded an event in your application in a specific time period.

All new usage rules are eligible for guide targeting.

Guide interactions

Segment rules based on guide interactions allow you to group users based on when or how they interacted with messaging created in Pendo Guides. These include:

Guide. Visitors who viewed or didn't view a Pendo guide.
Guide element. Visitors who selected or didn't select an element within a Pendo guide.
Poll response. Visitors who responded or didn't respond to a specific guide poll, including NPS surveys.
Resource Center. Visitors who viewed or didn't view a module in your Resource Center.

All guide interaction rules can be eligible for guide targeting, depending on the selected criteria. For example, segmenting by the number of clicks on a guide element isn't eligible for guide targeting, but segmenting by whether a guide element was ever clicked is eligible.

Orchestrate

Segment rules based on Orchestrate allow you to group users based on when or how they interacted with messaging created in Orchestrate. These include:

Email. Visitors who received, viewed, or opened a specific email (or didn't).
Journey. Visitors who entered or didn't enter a specific messaging journey.

All Orchestrate rules are eligible for guide targeting.

Product feedback

Segment rules based on product feedback allow you to group users based on feedback and ideas they've submitted or voted for. These include:

Feedback request. Visitors who voted or didn't vote on a feedback request in classic Feedback.
Idea. Visitors who voted or didn't vote on an idea in Listen.

All product feedback rules are eligible for guide targeting.

Visitor data rules

Segment rules based on visitor metadata include both custom fields (configured in Settings > Metadata) and the following default fields:

Account IDs. All accounts associated with a visitor.
Device type*. Device used in the last recorded event.
First Mapped Anonymous Visit*. Date in which an anonymous visitor first visited your application and was then mapped to an identified Visitor ID. This value is only present on an identified Visitor ID, where anonymous visitor data was merged to. For more information, see Identity mapping overview.
Identified visitor ID*. The Visitor ID that a previously anonymous visitor was mapped to. This value is only present on an anonymous Visitor ID after the visitor is identified. For more information, see Identity mapping overview.
Language*. Last browser language metadata used in the last recorded event.
Last Visit. Date of the last recorded event.
Most recent browser name*. Browser name in the last recorded event.
Most recent browser version*. Browser version in the last recorded event.
Most recent operating system*. Mobile operating system (OS) used in the last recorded event.
Most recent server name*. Domain of the last recorded event.
Number of days active. Number of days the visitor has generated events.
Number of dead clicks. Total number of dead clicks recorded for the visitor within the selected time frame.
Number of error clicks. Total number of dead clicks recorded for the visitor within the selected time frame.
Number of events. Total events generated by the visitor.
Number of rage clicks. Total number of rage clicks recorded for the visitor within the selected time frame.
Number of u-turns. Total number of times the visitor returned to the previous Page shortly after visiting a new Page.
Sample Group*. Random value between 0 and 99 for random sampling. For more information, see Set up an A/B test using Pendo.
Time on site. Total time in minutes that a visitor has generated events within a specific time period.
Visitor ID*. Unique Visitor ID from your install script.
Visitor identified at*. Date in which a previously anonymous visitor was mapped to an identified Visitor ID. This value is only present for an anonymous Visitor ID after the visitor is identified. For more information, see Identity mapping overview.

*Eligible for guide targeting.

Account data rules

Segment rules based on account metadata also include custom fields specified in Settings > Metadata and the following default fields:

Account ID*. Unique Account ID from your install script.
Last Visit. Date of the last recorded event for any visitor in the account.
Number of days active. Total days any visitor in the account have generated events.
Number of dead clicks. Total number of dead clicks recorded across all visitors in the account.
Number of error clicks. Total number of dead clicks recorded across all visitors in the account.
Number of events*. Total raw events generated from the account.
Number of rage clicks. Total number of rage clicks recorded across all visitors in the account.
Number of u-turns. Total number of U-turns across all visitors in the account.
Number of visitors. Total visitors in the account.
Time on site. Total time in minutes that visitors in the account have generated events.

*Eligible for guide targeting.

Mobile data rules

Segment rules specific to mobile data include the following:

App version. Mobile app version used in the last recorded event.
Device model. Mobile device model visitors used in the last recorded event.
OS version. Mobile operating system (OS) version used in the last recorded event.
SDK version. Pendo SDK version used in the last recorded event.

Metadata values in segmentation

Metadata fields configured as text types are searchable in segment rules. Pendo provides a dropdown list of known values for these fields, up to 400 entries in alphanumerical order. You can search for additional values or add new ones as needed. These metadata values are case-sensitive, and the dropdown list is only available for metadata fields configured as text.

Text-based metadata fields are case-sensitive.
For "contains" rules:
- Text fields allow partial matches. For example, the rule contains employee includes both "Pendo employee" and "Mind the Product employee."
- List fields require exact matches. For example, contains employee would only include values matching "employee" exactly. Variations like "Pendo employee" and "Mind the Product employee" wouldn't be eligible for the segment.

Admins can review metadata configurations in Settings > Metadata. For more information, see Configure visitor and account metadata.

Note: If you see confusing or duplicate metadata fields in the segment builder, they might have been automatically created by the web SDK. You can block new metadata fields and remove fields you no longer want to use from your metadata settings.

Segments ineligible for guide targeting

Some segment rules aren't eligible for guide targeting due to calculations or time-bound usage values that might not process fast enough for responsive guide activation. Segments with Only Me visibility are also ineligible.

When creating or viewing a segment, you can view whether the segment is Guides eligible. If it isn't eligible, you can hover over the tooltip icon to understand what rule makes the segment ineligible for guide targeting. Each ineligible rule is reviewed below.

Rules that are incompatible with guide targeting include the following:

Time on site.
Number of days active.
Last visit.
Number of events.
Account IDs (All accounts a visitor is associated with, found under Visitor Data).
Number of Page views, Feature clicks, Track Events, or frustration indicators (rage clicks, dead clicks, error clicks, or U-turns) within a specific time period. See examples below for which criteria are eligible.
Number of visitors.
Click event, Track Event, and session properties.
Feedback requests.

When you're adding a segment to a guide, you aren't able to select segments that are ineligible for guide targeting. Hovering over the segment shows the reason it's incompatible.

Guide targeting rules using Page views are limited to Seen, Not seen, and Last seen with the following conditions:

Seen options include ever, since, within last, at least, and at most for a specific date range or a specific number of views.

Not seen options include ever, since, and within last for a specific date range.
Last seen options include before, since, within last, not within last, and between within a specific date range.

Guide targeting rules using Feature clicks are limited to Used, Not used, and Last used with the following conditions:

Used options include ever, since, within last, at least, and at most for a specific date range or a specific number of clicks.
Not used options include ever, since, and within last for a specific date range.
Last used options include before, since, within last, not within last, and between within a specific date range.

Visit the Pendo Academy to see a video about segments for guide targeting.