Build segments using consent‑based criteria

This article explains how to create segments using consent‑based criteria and how consent is evaluated when segment membership is calculated. Consent‑based segments help you target the right audience while respecting customer consent, purposes, topics, and enforcement models.

Consent evaluation in segments is aligned with the rules used during journey execution. This alignment ensures that contacts included in a segment are evaluated consistently when messages are sent.

Prerequisites

Before you build a consent‑based segment, make sure that consent is configured and:

• A compliance profile is available and active.
• Purposes and topics are defined and active in the compliance profile.

What is a consent‑based segment

A consent‑based segment is a segment that includes or excludes contacts, leads, or profiles based on their consent preferences. Consent is evaluated using:

• Compliance profile
• Purpose (for example, commercial)
• Topic (for example, newsletter)
• Channel (for example, email)
• Enforcement model configured for the selected purpose and channel

Create a consent‑based segment

When you add a consent group to a segment, you define how consent is evaluated for segment membership.

Step 1: Add a Compliance Profile to create a new segment group

1. Select the Compliance profile in the right-side menu to create a new segment group.
2. Select Compliance profile in the newly created group.
   • If only the default compliance profile exists, it’s preselected.
   • If exactly one custom compliance profile exists in addition to the default, the custom profile is preselected.
   • If multiple compliance profiles exist, no profile is preselected and you must choose one.

Step 2: Select a purpose and optionally a topic

• By default, the first purpose of type Commercial is preselected.
• Only active purposes and topics are shown.
• Purposes from different business units can be selected.

You can optionally add a Topic by selecting "+ Topic" button.

Step 3: Select a channel

• By default, Email is selected.
• Available channels include:
  • Email
  • Text message
  • Custom channel
  • Voice channel

The selected channel, together with the purpose, determines the enforcement model.

Step 4: Select "Will send" criteria

Restrictive enforcement model

• Will send (those who opted in)
  The segment includes only contacts who have explicitly opted in for the selected purpose, topic, channel, and recipient. Contacts who opted out or never provided consent are excluded.

• Will not send (those who opted out or have not set)
  The segment includes contacts who explicitly opted out and contacts who have no consent record (consent not set).

• Those who have opted out
  The segment includes only contacts who explicitly opted out. Contacts with no consent record are excluded.

Non‑restrictive enforcement model

• Will send (those who opted in or have not set)
  The segment includes contacts who explicitly opted in and contacts who have no consent record. Contacts who explicitly opted out are excluded.

• Will not send (those who opted out)
  The segment includes only contacts who explicitly opted out.

• Those who have opted in
  The segment includes only contacts who explicitly opted in. Contacts with no consent record are excluded.

Disabled enforcement model

• Will send
  The segment includes all contacts that match the remaining segment criteria, regardless of consent state.

• Will not send
  The segment includes no contacts, regardless of consent state.

Step 5: Select a recipient field (if applicable)

If multiple recipient attributes are configured for the selected audience and channel (for example, multiple email address fields), a Recipient dropdown is shown.

Use this dropdown to select which attribute should be evaluated for consent.

How consent is evaluated

Segment membership is calculated using the same consent evaluation logic as journey execution. Evaluation follows these principles:

• Consent is evaluated for the selected purpose, topic, channel, and recipient.
• Inactive consent records are included in the evaluation.
• Purpose and topic hierarchy is enforced.
• The enforcement model determines how opted‑in, opted‑out, and unset consent states are treated.

Learn more about consent evaluation: How consent is respected for emails.

Common scenarios

Include all newsletter subscribers

Scenario: You want to build a segment of all contacts subscribed to a newsletter defined by Topic A for the Email channel.

Approach:

• Select the appropriate compliance profile.
• Select the commercial purpose.
• Select Email as the channel.
• Choose Will send based on your enforcement model.
• Select Topic A.

Target contacts who opted out of a topic

Scenario: You want to send an email to contacts who opted out of Topic A but are still opted in to the commercial purpose.

Approach:

• Create two consent groups.
• In the first group, target contacts opted in to the commercial purpose.
• In the second group, target contacts opted out of Topic A.
• Combine the groups using AND logic.

This allows you to explicitly include contacts who opted out of a specific topic while remaining compliant with purpose‑level consent.

Editing existing consent‑based segments

• Existing consent segments created with the previous consent logic (V1) continue to use the old user interface and evaluation logic.
• New consent segments (V2) use the new consent user interface and evaluation logic automatically.
• If you edit a segment created with the previous consent rules, a warning message is shown.

Important considerations

• Only active compliance profiles, purposes, and topics are shown.
• Inactive items aren’t available for selection.
• Segment counts reflect consent evaluation rules, which might differ from simple attribute‑based filters.

Next steps

• Review your compliance profiles and enforcement models.
• Validate segment membership by comparing segment counts with expected consent behavior.
• Use consent‑based segments in journeys to ensure consistent evaluation at send time.