> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.orbit.devotel.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Segment-triggered journeys: enroll segments into multi-step flows

> Wire a CDP segment into a journey with wait and branch steps — contacts entering (or exiting) the segment are enrolled automatically, sequenced through messaging and voice steps, and guarded against duplicate entry.

# Segment-triggered journeys

This guide builds a journey that starts the moment a contact enters — or exits — a CDP segment. Use a segment trigger instead of a static audience when membership moves over time: new signups, inactive customers, churn risks, loyal accounts. The journey enrolls each contact as the segment re-evaluates and runs them through a branching, multi-step flow across messaging and voice.

For segment mechanics (rules, auto-refresh cadence, behavioral operators) see [CDP audiences](/guides/cdp-segments). For linear blast or drip campaigns see the [end-to-end campaign guide](/guides/campaign-end-to-end). This page covers the journey-style trigger and the wait and branch steps that make it a flow instead of a one-shot send.

## 1. Pick a live segment

Create or open a segment under **Contacts → Segments** and make sure **Auto-refresh** is on. A segment trigger only fires when the segment re-evaluates; without auto-refresh the journey has nothing new to enroll. Pick a refresh cadence that matches how fast membership should trigger enrollment — daily for walk-in consumer lists, monthly for account-lifecycle segments.

## 2. Create the journey with a Segment trigger

Open **Campaigns → Journey builder** and add a trigger node. Set **Trigger Type** to **Segment entry** and pick your segment; set it to **Segment exit** to enroll contacts as they drop out of the segment (win-back, churn-rescue, suppress-on-exit patterns). You can mix both trigger types across journeys — the same contact can be in an entry journey for one segment and an exit journey for another.

## 3. Build the flow with wait and branch steps

From the trigger, connect your steps in order. The node palette gives you:

* **Message** — send SMS, WhatsApp, email, push, or internal-inbox steps with template and locale fallbacks per step.
* **Voice** — start a call, hand off to an agent, or play a voice step. Voice steps follow the same re-entry and exit rules as messaging steps.
* **Wait / Delay** — hold the enrollment for a fixed time (minutes, hours, or days) before the next step fires. Use this to sequence drips.
* **Wait Until Date** — resume every enrolled contact at a specific calendar moment, or from a date stamped on the contact's custom fields (birthday, renewal date).
* **Wait for Event** — hold until a named CDP event arrives (e.g. `Checkout Completed`) with a timeout branch, so a checkout either continues the purchase flow or times out into the reminder branch.
* **Condition / branch** — split the flow on contact fields, segment membership, custom attributes, or an A/B split. Each branch carries its own downstream steps.

Step connections are edges on the canvas. A wait-for-event or branch node declares said event/threshold at save time — validation blocks publish if a branch can never fire (a wait-for-event node with no event name, or an emptily-configured segment trigger).

## 4. Understand enrollment semantics

Three rules make segment triggers safe to run continuously:

1. **Diff-based dispatch.** Each auto-refresh tick enrolls only the contacts that *newly entered* the segment (or *newly exited*, for segment-exit triggers). A no-op churn of the same members does not re-enroll anyone.
2. **Re-entry guard.** A contact already mid-journey does not re-enter the same journey when they bounce out and back into the segment, or when a different trigger also fires for them mid-run. The journey completes or cancels before a re-entry can start.
3. **Batched dispatch.** A backfill or a filter change that adds thousands of contacts in one tick sends them to the journey in small batches, so a large segment stays responsive and a spiking refresh does not time out.

## 5. Watch enrollment in Contact 360

Track enrollments per contact in **Contacts → Contact 360 → Journeys**, and per journey in the campaign analytics. If a segment never grows (rules too narrow) you see zero enrollments; if it re-evaluates daily you see a steady trickle of new participants. That is the difference from a one-shot campaign: the trigger is a standing intake, not a fixed audience list.

## 6. Combine with other triggers

A journey does not have to be segment-only. Common shapes:

* **Segment entry + CDP event gate** — enroll new signups, then wait-for-event on `Trial Activated` with a timeout branch into a nudge sequence.
* **Segment exit + branch** — enroll contacts who fell below churn threshold, branch on account tier, then route high-value contacts to an agent call and the rest to an automated voice or email step.
* **Segment + exit criteria** — besides trigger choice, set journey exit criteria so a contact who converted mid-flow leaves early rather than completing all steps.