Troubleshoot segments

Managing segments (previously lists) in HubSpot organizes your records and can be used for marketing and sales efforts. You may encounter issues while creating, filtering, or editing your segments. This troubleshooting guide addresses common problems such as difficulties creating or deleting segments, unexpected records appearing in segments, discrepancies in segment counts, and delays in processing. By following these solutions and best practices, you can resolve most segment-related issues.

Unable to create a segment

If you've reached the segment limit in your account, you'll be unable to create additional segments. To create new segments, you can delete unused segments or discuss subscription options with your Customer Success Team or Manager. To delete unused segments navigate to the Unused segments tab to delete an individual segment or delete segments in bulk. 

Unable to add a segment filter

When building a segment, the following limits apply:

• 250 filters per segment. The limit applies to all filters, including if you're using AND and OR logic.

• 60 associated object filters. For example, in a contact-based segment, you can have up to 60 company property filters.

If you're building a segment and try to add more than 250 filters or 60 associated object filters, you'll receive an error message.

Unable to delete a segment

When a segment can't be deleted, the Delete option will be grayed out. There are two reasons why you may be unable to delete a segment:

• The segment is used in a HubSpot tool; or
• the segment is a default segment.

To identify if the segment is used in another HubSpot tool:

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Segments.
2. Hover over the segment you want to delete and click Details.
3. In the right panel, click the Used in tab. From this, you can determine your next actions based on the tools the segment is used in:
   • If the segment is used as a criteria in other segments, delete those segments or change their criteria to exclude this segment.
   • If the segment is used in workflows, delete the workflows or remove the segment from their enrollment triggers.
   • If the segment is used in saved views, delete the saved views or remove the segment from its criteria.
   • If the segment is used in audience access, remove the segment from the page's access.
   • If the segment is used in a report, edit the report to remove any reference to the segment. 
4. Delete the segment.
5. If the segment still can't be deleted, it's likely a default segment. These include persona segments, blog subscription segments, and partner lead registration segment if you're a HubSpot Partner.

Segment dashboard shows a different number of records in segment

The size stated in the segments editor is an estimate of the number of records in the segment. Click the segment to view the actual count of records in the upper left. For newly created segments, the count of records shown in the segment will be accurate once the segment is saved and fully processed.

Unexpected records included in or missing from segment

In active segments, records are included based on the filters you set. If there are unexpected records on the segment, or if the segment is missing expected records, verify that you have set your criteria correctly. For example, if you're trying to filter for specific values, verify that you're using the correct operator (e.g., contains any of vs. contains exactly vs. is equal to). Refer to the criteria options to understand their behavior.

Record not appearing in segment after property update

If you've recently updated a record's property values, the record should be added to an active segment immediately following the update. For complex segments or bulk property updates, this refresh may require up to one hour.

Unexpected contacts in segment based on activity filters

The Email filter in segments evaluates contacts based on all historical email activity (e.g., clicks) for all email addresses ever associated with a contact. If you've changed the email address of a contact, interactions from their previous email address will still count towards segment filters. In this case, an unexpected contact may be included in a segment with activity filters because of activity associated with previous email addresses.

Segment taking a long time to process

Most segments will finish processing within a few minutes, but complex segments may take longer to process. Segments with complex filters, such as those related to integrations, page views, or segment memberships, can take up to two hours to process.

You can set up notifications to receive an alert when a segment has finished processing.