Introduction

This article focuses on custom segments which allows you to send push notifications to users depending on predefined groupings set in Urban Airship. These groupings are defined by two types of 'tags' in Urban Airship: Primary Device Tags and Device Property Tags.

When you set custom segments it allows you to have greater focus on who your push messages go out to. They are constructed using combinations of tags, lists, device properties, location (API only), and location history within each project.

Before you send a push notification you need to create your segment first so that you can select it when you start composing your message.

Creating a Segment

The segments work of boolean true/false statements. A more detailed guide on this can be found on this link but below you'll see a basic overview of the user interface.

1. To set a custom segment you'll need to go into 'Audience' > 'Segments'. You'll see this screen and you can create a 'New Segment':

 2. You'll see this screen which is where you begin setting the conditions for your push notification:

At this point you start building your audience criteria and we're now at the part where you set your segment audience criteria tags.

Setting your audience criteria tags

As mentioned there are two tag groupings when it comes to setting the conditions for your push. The Primary Device Tags are the ones you'll use to drive user engagement e.g. sending a push only to those who haven't downloaded latest edition. They are based on existing tags based associated to your Pugpig app.

On the other hand the Device Property Tags are for targeting device properties such as its geographical region, language or even specific OS version.

When you create a segment you'll choose 'Select a tag' and choose between one of the two types:

Note: You can only select either a primary or device tag at once but you can combine both of them within the same segment. Simply 'add another condition'.

1. Primary Device Tags 

These are associated with the mobile audience and are dependent on associated Pugpig tags. Below is the list of the Pugpig tags you can use to target your audience:

• LoggedIn - if the user is logged into their account with access to content
• SubscriptionPurchased - if the user has purchased an active subscription
• SingleIssuePurchased:edition_id - if the user has purchased a specific edition from the app stores
• DownloadCompleted:edition_id  - if the user has downloaded a specific edition
• EditionOpened:edition_id - if the user has opened an edition they have downloaded

Note: The edition_id is the one set your CMS and you need to know what the id of the edition you're targeting before creating the segment. Said edition needs to have processed in the Distribution Service before it appears in the options.

The example below shows how each of the tags would show when set as a custom segment:

Example segment. Here we have created a segment based on the following conditions:

1. Are logged into their account
2. Haven't downloaded the January 2018 edition (0004 is my 'edition_id' in this case).

Here I have set is not as the condition for the DownloadCompleted tag because I want it to be received by those who haven't downloaded that issue:

2. Device Property Tags

These tags are based on device properties so push notifications can be targeted to specific timezones, language set and even a specific app version. You'll find a description of each device property tag to give context:

Example segment. Here we have created a segment based on the following conditions:

• In the Europe/Paris timezone
• French set as their language
• On the 1.1 version of the Pugpig iOS app

Sending your push notification

Once you have created your segment it's time to send your push notification. As you create a new message in 'AUDIENCE' choose 'Target Specific Users'. The search bar will open and you can search for and select the segment you have just created.

In the screenshot below I'm choosing the Device Property Tag example we created previously:

Proceed to creating your message as normal. When you send your message it will be received only by your chosen segment of users!