Did you know?#3: How to target and run your experiment based on custom audience segments in PageSense

Did you know?#3: How to target and run your experiment based on custom audience segments in PageSense


Whatever kind of online business you're running, defining your target audience is the key factor to delivering relevant messages and further positioning your brand in the industry. Most marketing efforts revolve around this basic strategy of segmenting people who have similar needs, values, or characteristics and later targeting them with products or services meant to appeal to these ideal audience groups.  

Luckily, the same concept applies to website testing and optimization processes. By choosing a target audience for your experiment, you get to decide whom you should focus on and where you should run your experiments on your site. This method of audience targeting helps you reach the right consumers interested in your products or services with relevant messaging rather than entire audience groups who are less likely to convert on your website.

So, how do you target the right audience for your experiment? 

Using Zoho PageSense's audience targeting, you can both target basic audience segments (for instance, visitors coming to your site for the first time, visitors from a social media platform, and more) and tailor your own segments using the custom audience feature.

In today's post, we'll learn about what custom targeted audience segments are and how to successfully build your own custom audience condition in PageSense to boost your website's conversions.

A custom audience in PageSense is a more refined approach of audience targeting. This feature lets you target and run your experiment to more precise subgroups or subsets of audiences based on visitor parameters like their geography, age, gender, browser used, purchase behavior, language, or industry type, which cannot be done using the preset audience segmentation options available in PageSense. Furthermore, the option allows you to create a more powerful combination of audience groups using the ‘AND’ and ‘OR’ operations.

Say, for example, you run an ecommerce website and you want to A/B test the revamped product pages to visitors coming only from the United States region AND who access your website using Desktop devices. This could easily be done by manually creating custom audience conditions in PageSense as explained below:
  1. Click the +Custom Audience button on the AUDIENCE page of your experiment.

  2. Enter a title and description for the custom segment you want to create.

  3. From the Segment dropdown, choose the modifier and value for the selected audience segment as shown in the screenshot. Learn more about the different types of custom audience segments and the modifier conditions available in PageSense. 


  4. Ensure you choose the condition as ‘AND’ or 'OR' depending on the segment you want to create.

  5. From the Segment dropdown, choose the second modifier and value for the selected audience segment as shown in the screenshot.
    The final selection looks like:

  6. Click the Save Audience button.
    The saved segment will appear under the Custom Segments section across all of your experiments in PageSense and you can apply the same for any experiment.
Below are a few examples that show you the most effective ways to define custom audiences in PageSense for running your experiments better:

Target your experiment by geographical location
If you're looking to expand your online business to international audiences and want to understand which city or country markets are good for your business, choose to target your experiments to audiences based on the location.

Targeting your experiment by your visitors' geographic location, such as country, city, or region, is a powerful option when you want to show personalized web page content or run advertisement campaigns that match the interest of audiences from specific areas. This type of targeting is driven by factors like local festivals celebrated, popular regional news, tourism attractions, or business events happening in a region.

For example, say you own an ecommerce site, and you want to show personalized product recommendations to visitors from United Kingdom during the Christmas season. In this case, you can create a custom audience segment that targets your experiment page to visitors from this particular location as shown in the screenshot below.


Note: You can also use this option to target your experiment based on the languages spoken by visitors in different countries.

Target your experiment by query parameters
While running ad campaigns, it's important to both target the right consumers and provide the most relevant information to them on your website. If you find the right user who clicks on your ad, but the landing page for that ad isn’t customized, that conversion could be lost.

Targeting your experiment to visitors who reach your website pages that include (or exclude) a certain query string in their URLs could be useful when you want to understand the effectiveness of different ad campaigns on your website. This is usually tied to audiences who come through a specific utm_source like Facebook or Google and utm_campaigns like paid ads, Google Adwords, and more.

For example, say you own an online car dealership website and you want to redirect customers who click on a paid ad campaign with the utm_campaign=luxurycars to a landing page displaying luxury vehicles with prices and offers. For this, you can create a custom audience segment that explicitly targets your landing pages to visitors who contain this particular query string as shown in the screenshot below.


Target your experiment by user information
To achieve a specific goal or purpose of your online business, you will sometimes need to target your experiment to visitors with exact custom attributes such as age, email address, subscription plan, fields of interest, gender, marital status, or job role on your website. These attributes or visitor information can be collected when a user completes a form on your website, such as a signup, contact, purchase, or any other sort.

Targeting your experiment to visitors based on specific user attributes can help deliver the right message to the right audience and improve brand experience with ease. This is also considered the most precise method of audience targeting as it makes visitors stand out from the wide segment of users on your site.
 
For example, let's say you run a SaaS business and you want to show a personalized pricing page that offers an additional 30-day period to visitors who are subscribed to the Premium plan. In this case, you can create a custom audience segment to target your experiment to visitors who match this specific user attribute and value as shown in the screenshot below.
 
Note that to use 'user information' in audience targeting, you need to add an additional code snippet to your experiment page as explained in the steps here.

Target your experiment by weather/climatic conditions
Do you see your website sell more products when the temperature rises? Or does your tourism business attract more new bookings during cooler seasons?
 
Targeting your experiment based on the local weather of the visitors coming to your website is another modern technique used by marketers to craft influential website content, product pages, and ad campaigns. Weather-based audience targeting allows businesses to anticipate patterns of demand and tap into the needs and purchase intentions of customers during different seasons of the year. It's also a great way to gain a competitive advantage and increase the average value of orders and conversions on a website.
 
For example, say you run an ecommerce site and want to create a personalized homepage title for visitors living in climatic zones with temperatures below 41°F/5°C. In this case, you can create a custom audience segment to target your personalization experience based on audience's local weather as shown in the screenshot below.


Target your experiment by visitor activity
Visitors coming to your website will have different intentions and behaviors. For example, some might be looking to subscribe to your newsletter, some might be checking out new product releases, and others might just be there for window shopping or research purposes. If you're going to show the same home/landing page content to all visitors, you're definitely going to lose conversions and sales.

Targeting your experiment based on what pages your visitor interacts with on your site and what actions they take (or do not take) can be a great way to provide a personalized website experience during their next visit. This includes buttons clicked, products viewed, items bought, and other actions your visitor performs, revealing what your audience wants, avoids, and purchases. 

Using such specific visitor metrics, you can learn why specific actions or events on the site were not successful and later reach customers with more apt content or product offers based on their current activity.
 
For example, say you run an online tourism website and want to provide customized tourist packages with attractive coupon codes to customers who viewed the Adventure tourism package but exited your web page without completing a booking. In this case, you can create a custom audience segment to target your experiment for these segments of visitor interest and behavior as shown in the screenshot below. 

Note that to use 'visitor activity' in audience targeting, you need to add an additional code snippet to your experiment page as explained in the steps here.


Currently, weather-, user-, and visitor-activity-based audience targeting options are only available for personalization experiments in PageSense. However, the user and visitor activity(custom dimensions) based segmentation option is available under report filtering across all of the experiments in PageSense except for push notifications. Learn how to filter reports based on custom dimensions.

Target your experiment by specific referral site URLs
Depending on the ways you market your website online, you'll likely have numerous different referral sources. Analyzing which source brings in more traffic and revenue to your business is a surefire way to get more traffic from multiple channels. Targeting your experiment based on referral URLs—sources that your visitors came from, such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, Quora, influencer blogs, and other external sites—can help you promote your website and products on these specific channels. 
 
For example, say you own an ecommerce site, and you want your experiment to only target visitors referred by 'facebook.com'. In this case, you can create a custom audience segment to target visitors from this specific Referral site as shown in the screenshot below. 

 
Bonus tip: Have no clear target audience in mind to run your experiments? Or don't know how to decide where to start when segmenting a target customer audience? Consider these points in choosing the right target audience segments:
  • Do you have seasonal-only customers or customers who are only interested in certain types of products, services, or events?
  • Are you an organization that needs to send different content to partners, sponsors, users, or other patrons?
  • Does it matter if your contacts are local, domestic, or international?
  • Have you thought about the requirements of users based on different weather conditions?
Was that useful? Please leave us your comment/feedback in the comment box below.

Are you looking to create a new custom audience segment to target in your experiment but aren't sure how to implement it? Just write to us at support@zohopagesense.com and we will be happy to guide you.

Start learning. Start customizing!

    • Recent Topics

    • Product management across integrated apps

      Hi everyone, I’m setting up my business for selling products and integrating CRM, Inventory/Books, Ecommerce, and other apps. Where should I load products for the first time so they reflect across all apps? And for updating prices or adding new products—where

    • Calculate Number of Days Between Two Dates

      Can someone help me with how to create a field using the formula function to calculate the number of dates between a campaign start date and end date? The closest I have gotten is using the "Datecomp" function but it gives you the dates in minutes, rather

    • Improved RingCentral Integration

      We’d like to request an enhancement to the current RingCentral integration with Zoho. RingCentral now automatically generates call transcripts and AI-based call summaries (AI Notes) for each call, which are extremely helpful for support and sales teams.

    • Zoho Writer Docx files not able to be converted into Google Docs

      Since July 23rd, I've encountered an issue where DOCX files exported from Zoho Writer no longer convert properly into Google Docs when uploaded to Google Drive. My workflow relies on generating merged DOCX documents from Zoho Forms using Zoho Writer templates,

    • Schedule Campaign - Recipients Time Zone

      Something seems to be wrong with the scheduling feature for scheduling campaigns to be deployed at a specific time to the recipients time zone. I scheduled campaigns twice to be sent at the recipients time zone and the campaigns are deploying at the wrong time. When communicating with Zoho support they said to make sure it was scheduled at least 24 hours in advance so we did this with our last campaign and it was still deployed at the wrong time. Anyone else having this issue?

    • Zoho Vault App for Windows

      Hello, is there a Windows app that can be used to access the passwords saved in Zoho Vault? Thank you

    • Zoho Cursor Jumping

      Hi, Zoho Support, We received the below email for a bug when using Zoho on Firefox. Please let us know if there is anything that can be done to solve this issue. Have any other Zoho Mail users reported issues the past few days with Zoho auto-saving drafts

    • tomorrow option within the due date section and drag and drop into calendar

      Firstly, thank you for creating such a well-designed and user-friendly to-do list app. It’s almost perfect for my needs, but I wanted to offer a couple of suggestions that I believe could significantly enhance its usability, particularly for those who

    • low quality videos

      when in puplish videos or reel in social media platforms it pulished in low quality

    • Using Zoho Forms vs Zoho Survey

      Hello - I'm looking for advice on whether to use Zoho Survey or Zoho Forms for our small non-profit. We have a Zoho One subscription, so have access to both. The main use case at the moment is application forms for our professional development programs.

    • Kaizen #200 - Answering Your Questions | Authentication using Zoho CRM Python SDK

      We’re incredibly excited to bring you the 200th post in our Kaizen series! This journey has been as much about listening as it has been about sharing. And today, we’re making both count. Over the past few weeks, we’ve collected your feedback through the

    • Zoho CRM sync

      Just wondering if the plan is for the Zoho CRM implementation to always be just an import and not a sync? At the very least, a one-way sync that kept the data in Tables up-to-date would increase the amount of usecases, but ideally the option to two-way

    • Add serial number in print page list

      How can i add serial number in print page for every entries?

    • Trying to Delete records from Creator not found in CRM

      Hi, In the following script, I am trying to delete records from Creator not found in CRM, but I am getting the error message "Error at line number: 55 Improper Statement Error might be due to missing ';' at end of the line or incomplete expression". Please

    • Can't login to Zoho mail

      I'm logged into Zoho but when I try to go in zoho mail I get: Invalid request! The input passed is invalid or the URL is invoked without valid parameters. Please check your input and try again. I just set up my mx records and stuff with namecheap a few

    • REST API for Branch and Budget

      Hi Team, Can you please guide me with the appropriate rest API documentation for fetching Branch and Budget details?

    • STOP FRAUDULENT TRANSACTION IMMEDIATELY

      I DID NOT AUTHORIZE THIS TRANSACTION OR RENEWAL, STOP IMMEDIATELY CHARGING MY CARD I CAN NOT CONTACT SUPPORT, NO ONE IS AVAILABLE ON CHAT PAYMENT ID RPCW2003260759193

    • Best way to handle a credit card download fiasco

      Hi there, hoping that someone knowledgable with book keeping can give me the answer here. One of my credit cards has been integrated with Zoho books and we have been downloading transactions with no issue. The credit card got compromised and was used

    • When Opening Zoho Mail I always get a Tab with an error (See attached image)

      Everytime I open Zoho mail I get this. It is trying to open a deleted email. I already tried going to Settings > While Starting up Changed that option back and forth but this persists. Its annoying. Other than that I love this. Any help would be appreciated.

    • Pre-Registration - Suggestion

      Suggest to add a Pre-Registration feature for non-scheduled events. Scenario is that we have a training academy and would like to collect pre-registrants prior to an actual scheduled event so we can use this as a basis for demand management and scheduling of new events for those expressing interest.

    • Not all messages showing in folders in iOS mail.app

      I have a bunch of emails filed in various folders. Those folders are showing all of the emails in them on Zoho.com and in the Zoho Mail app on my iPhone and my iPad. They also all show up fine in Mail.app on my Mac. The problem is that certain (not all)

    • Where do the 'Archived' mails go?

      I have hit 'Archive' on quite some mails I still needed, but didn't want in my inbox anymore. I obviously thought 'Archive' is not the same as 'Delete', since they don't even pass the trash folder this way, and right now I was looking for one of those

    • Signature image size changing on replied emails

      Hi, Sometimes I see the size of the image I use as signature changes when I open replied emails. Do you know why is this happening? It doesn't seem to happen when I send emails to Gmail though. Signature should look like in attachment "Signature_normal.jpg"

    • Não consigo enviar emails. "Razão:533"

      Não consigo enviar emails. "Razão: 533 Relaying disallowed. Invalid Domain" aparece e me impede de enviar emails... Como resolver o problema?

    • Error when setting up IMAP access in Gmail

      Hi I set up POP3 access via Gmail for my Zoho-hosted domain email. I just tried to change it to IMAP access, however when inputting the settings I received the following error message from Gmail "Missing +OK response upon connecting to the server: * OK

    • Zoholics Europe 2025: Unlocking the Power of Zoho CRM : A Hands-On Workshop

      Why should you attend? At Zoholics Europe 2025, Zoho’s official user conference, you’ll have the opportunity to connect directly with experts and explore powerful tools that help businesses elevate customer experiences. Be sure to attend one of the most

    • "Wrong password or login" Problem to configure Zoho on MAIL App on my Macbook

      Hi, I'm having problems to configure my e-mail on my MAIL App(Macbook pro). My e-mail is hari@trespontoum.net Actually was working perfectly, and still working on my Iphone. My MAIL App prompt me that my login or password is wrong. I tried to change 3

    • How do I delte a mailbox alias

      Hi everyome, I have created a mailbox alias on one of my accounts, but I can't figure out how to delete it again. When I go into the control panel on my super-admin account and click on user details and the settings for the user, I can see the mailbox

    • Allowing vendors to Upload Purchase Invoices against Purchase Order

      Work Flow: Once Project is executed, We send Purchase order to every Vendors asking them to Share the invoice against the same. Most of the time Vendors Send invoices through Mails but our Finance Team miss to book those Purchase Invoices in Zoho Books.

    • Deluge - forward incoming email with original attachments and content but new subject

      I'm working in ZohoMail with a 10GB paid account. Using a filter and a custom function, I can send a new mail with the original email content and a new subject, but I'm struggling to find how to attach the original attachment to a new mail - or even to

    • Error: "The conversation window has expired." on WhatsApp

      Hello, I would like to know why this error appears in the messages within WhatsApp from the CRM: "The conversation window has expired." The question arises because a potential client sent us a message at 11:00 PM and we are responding the next day at

    • How to Sync Desk KB and Sales IQ KB?

      Hi, we have just started to use Desk and are using the SalesIQ Chat. Ideally I'd like to use the 'FAQ' feature on chat (which uses SalesIQ KB) and also allow our customers to use the self-service KB that comes with Desk. Unfortunately they are two different

    • Need help! Unable to send message; Reason: 554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked.

      Hi Zoho team My account name is senpai.atelier, it’s been few days I can’t send Emails with the same error messages. I’ve raised the issue to support@zohomail.com that doesn’t respond to my query. I wonder if you may help troubleshooting soon.

    • Zoho arrives to Spam on all Microsoft Accounts (Outlook, Hotmail, Microsoft 365)

      I believe this is a very serious issue. All my email accounts in Zoho arrives straight to SPAM. Thing is, a lot of clients rely on email arriving to Inbox, specially on Microsoft Accounts since it is used a lot both for business and personal email sending.

    • Registeration

      I just added the TXT code. What next?

    • Cannot receive password protected zip files

      Hello, I cannot received a password protected attachments. Also all my members in the same domain has the same problems. Can you please help me? Best regrads

    • ERROR 554 5.1.8 Sender Address Blocked code(554)

      We have an email with Zoho ( comercial@bruiser.com.br), but, when we try associate the account in GMAIL, the server shows this message:  554 5.1.8 Sender Address Blocked code(554) I see this error appear when the limits of returns exceded 10 messages,

    • How do I associate pricebooks to a customer?

      I setup a few pricebooks, that worked fine. But now the only thing I can do with it, when I enter a quote or sales order, I can select which pricebook to use, but I have to do this product by product every time I add one. Is there a way to connect a pricebook

    • Zoho mail stopped receiving emails

      Our email are stopped to receive outsider email. i have checked the DSN, it's pointed to ZOho mail. Can anyone help me to fix this issue urgently? Thanks

    • send email from web application

      Hello, I'm experiencing an issue with sending emails from my web application. Here are the configuration parameters currently in use: ini Copia Modifica quarkus.mailer.from=noreply.sedis@mondonovo.net quarkus.mailer.host=smtp.zoho.com quarkus.mailer.port=465

    • Next Page