Twilio Segment (herein, Segment) is a Customer Data Platform (CDP) that collects, cleans, stores, and routes customer data from various sources. It offers tools for tracking user interactions, segmenting audiences, and integrating with other marketing and analytics tools, including Pendo.
Pendo can both receive data from Segment using destinations and send data to Segment using sources. This informational article summarizes how the Pendo Web (Actions) destination in Segment works for Pendo to receive data from Segment about your application. For instructional content, with steps for setting up the Pendo Web (Actions) destination, see Install Pendo through Twilio Segment.
If, instead of sending Segment data to Pendo, you’re looking for information and instructions for sending Pendo data to Segment, see Send Pendo data to Twilio Segment.
Note: This article summarizes the process for sending Segment data to Pendo by setting up the Pendo Web (Actions) destination in Twilio Segment. If, instead, you're looking for information related to segmenting your visitors and accounts in Pendo, see the Segments article.
The Pendo Web (Actions) destination in Segment
The Pendo Web (Actions) destination in Segment is how Pendo receives data from Segment. If you already have Segment installed on your application, you can also install Pendo on your application by configuring this destination. To set up the Pendo Web (Actions) destination, follow the instructions in Install Pendo through Twilio Segment.
The Pendo Web (Actions) destination is different from the classic Pendo Segment destination, which has more restricted functionality. Unlike the classic Pendo Segment destination, an "Actions" destination in Segment relies on Segment’s Destination Actions framework. This framework allows you to determine how information is sent to your destination, and which event types, names, and properties trigger an action.
How it works
Segment uses API calls to send data from your application or website to Segment’s servers. These calls allow you to collect information about user interactions, events, and attributes, which can then be routed to various Segment destinations, including Pendo.
By default, we map the following:
| Segment | Pendo |
| User IDs | Visitor IDs |
| User traits | Visitor metadata |
| Group IDs | Account IDs |
| Group traits | Account metadata |
| Tracks | Track Events |
We pass this information both on initialization and in Segment actions (Pendo events). You can customize some of this information. For more information, see Send Twilio Segment data to Pendo. For setup instructions, see Install Pendo through Twilio Segment.
API calls in Segment
The Segment Spec lists six API calls for capturing data, which it can then route to other tools, such as Pendo. Pendo supports three of these API calls: identify, group, and track. These allow you to map the data captured in Segment to data concepts in Pendo: Visitor IDs, Account IDs, and client-side Track Events.
| API call | Description | Pendo metadata |
identify |
Used to associate traits and properties with a specific end user. |
identify calls map onto Pendo visitors. When we integrate with Segment, we pass user information from the identify call onto Pendo and associate this information with Visitor IDs. |
group |
Used to associate a user with a particular group of end users. |
group calls map onto Pendo accounts. When we integrate with Segment, we pass user information from the group call onto Pendo and associate this information with Account IDs. |
track |
Used to record specific actions (events) that users make within an application or website. |
track calls map onto client-side Track Events in Pendo. When we integrate with Segment, we pass actions from the track call onto Pendo as a client-side Track Event. |
Identify calls
An identify call maps a user to their actions and records traits about them. userId maps onto Visitor ID in Pendo and user traits become metadata that belong to Visitor IDs.
Group calls
A group call is required if you use Pendo account data. A group call associates users in Segment to accounts and account metadata in Pendo. groupId maps onto Account ID in Pendo and group traits become metadata that belong to Account IDs.
Track calls
A track call is used to record a user action (called an event in Pendo), along with any properties that describe the action (called event properties in Pendo). track becomes a Track Event in Pendo.
These are client-side events only. Additional configuration must be done for server-side Track Events, which aren’t captured through API calls. For more information and instructions, see Send server-side Track Events from Twilio Segment to Pendo.
Mobile integration
The segment integration with Pendo is designed for web-based implementation and doesn't support the Cloud-mode connection necessary for sending Segment events from your mobile application to Pendo.
However, you can still receive events from Segment as Track Events through a server-side webhook. This is achieved by setting up the Webhooks (Actions) destination in Segment, which sends server-side Track Events to Pendo. For information and instructions, see Send server-side Track Events from Twilio Segment to Pendo.