# Segments — fixed lists vs. smart rules

> Group contacts manually or with rules that update automatically.

_Source: https://hexafloww.com/docs/contacts/segments_

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A segment is a group of contacts you can target with a campaign or an automation. There are two kinds.

## Manual vs. dynamic

- **Manual** — you hand-pick the members. The list only changes when you add or remove someone.
- **Dynamic** — you define **rules**, and HexaFloww keeps the membership up to date automatically. For example "opened a campaign in the last 30 days" or "company contains *Acme*".

## Create a segment

1. **Open Segments → New Segment.** Go to `/admin/segments`.
2. **Step 1 · Basic Details.** Name the segment and add an optional description.
3. **Step 2 · Segment Type.** Choose **Manual** (hand-pick members) or **Dynamic** (auto-computed from rules).
4. **Step 3 · Members or Rules.**
   - Manual: search and add contacts.
   - Dynamic: build a rule tree — combine conditions with **AND** / **OR** and group them.

   ![Segment rule builder with grouped conditions](https://hexafloww.com/docs/contacts/segment-rules.webp)
5. **Create Segment.**

## What you can build rules on

- Standard fields (email, name, company, phone, location, occupation, gender, date of birth, created date) and any custom field.
- WhatsApp opt-in status; whether they've opened / clicked / unsubscribed from any email; membership in another segment.
- Behavior: opened or clicked a specific campaign; last activity within N days.
- Open-timing fields for Smart Send (opens-at-hour, instant opener, average time to open, open rate).

> [!NOTE]
> Dynamic segments are recomputed on a schedule (about every 5 minutes), not instantly. A contact who just met the rules may take a few minutes to appear.

> [!TIP]
> **Related**
> - [Create & send an email campaign](https://hexafloww.com/docs/email/create-a-campaign.md)
> - [WhatsApp audience & consent](https://hexafloww.com/docs/whatsapp/whatsapp-audience-consent.md)