Turn segmentation into growth and scale campaigns with Adjust Audiences

Segmentation is often the difference between campaigns that bring high growth results and those that don't. When you can identify user segments based on what they've done, and how much value they bring, you can tailor every message, offer, and ad to the moment that matters most.

Get more out of every paid channel by activating the audiences most likely to convert and suppressing low-intent users so you’re not paying to reach the wrong people. The result is smarter partner performance, stronger ROI, and messaging that stays relevant at every stage of the user journey.

In this guide, we’ll walk through key audience types and show how Adjust Audiences helps you turn those segments into scalable retargeting, win-back, and personalization campaigns that drive real growth.

Part of Adjust’s Engage pillar, Audiences lets you build, download, and share customized user lists by defining the conditions that matter, like install timing, last session, device type, attribution type, countries, event behavior, and revenue signals.

Instead of working from static exports, Audiences is designed to stay current: audiences update in real time, so whenever you (or a partner) download an audience list, it reflects the most up-to-date set of users that match your criteria

Below, we’ll break down the most effective audience strategies you can build.

With geographic targeting you can tailor your campaigns to specific regions, countries, or language groups, tailoring your communication for maximum  relevance and impact. This is especially powerful when your product, offers, or messaging vary by market. 

Use cases

• Run campaigns only in countries where a promotion is available
• Highlight regional deals that apply to specific areas
• Send localized push notifications in the user’s native language
• Target global language communities (e.g., English speakers worldwide) regardless of location

Examples:

• Targeting users located in Germany for a country-specific campaign
• Reaching users in California to promote a regional event
• Engaging French-speaking users worldwide with localized messaging

Understanding how users were acquired gives you a powerful lens into campaign performance and growth opportunities. Grouping audiences by acquisition source helps break down your user base so you can make informed decisions about where to invest next, optimizing  spend and improving ROI.

Use cases

• Retarget users from a specific campaign to boost conversions
• Compare performance between organic and paid audiences
• Filter out low-priority sources from certain campaigns
• Build lookalike audiences from your highest-performing channels

Examples:

Organic users vs. non-organic installs

• Understand how non-paid traffic behaves and contributes to long-term retention
• Evaluate the performance of paid installs across networks:

A user’s install and uninstall behavior tells a clear story about engagement intent. By segmenting audiences based on where they are in their app lifecycle, you can tailor messaging, improve retention, and allocate budget more effectively.

Use cases

• Win back users who have uninstalled your app
• Re-engage recently installed users to drive early activation
• Reward and upsell long-term loyal users
• Suppress inactive audiences to avoid wasted spend

Examples

• Currently installed users: Focus on engagement, upsell, and cross-sell campaigns
• Uninstalled users: Re-engage with tailored win-back messaging
• Reinstalled users: Measure the effectiveness of re-engagement efforts
• Recent installs (less than 1 days ago): Optimize onboarding and drive early retention

User inactivity is a strong signal and an opportunity. By identifying audiences who have stopped engaging, you can proactively bring them back with timely, relevant messaging.

Use cases

• Re-engage users who haven’t opened the app in the last 14 days
• Trigger push notifications for dormant audiences
• Offer personalized incentives or discounts to reactivate users

Examples

• No session in 14 days: Reach users before churn becomes permanent

Not all users generate the same value. By segmenting audiences based on revenue and spending behavior, you can prioritize high-impact users, personalize offers, and maximize return on ad spend.

Use cases

• Reward high-value users with exclusive VIP campaigns
• Upsell mid-tier spenders to increase average revenue per user (ARPU)
• Incentivize first-time buyers to drive repeat purchases
• Exclude non-paying users from premium or high-cost campaigns

Examples

• Paying users: Target users who have triggered at least one revenue event

In-app events reveal what users actually do. By building audiences around specific actions, you can deliver highly relevant campaigns that drive conversions, adoption, and long-term value.

Use cases

• Retarget users who abandoned their cart before completing a purchase
• Promote features to users who haven’t explored them yet
• Cross-sell complementary products after a transaction

Examples

• Frequent buyers (3+ purchases)without  a purchase in the last  7 days: Re-engage previously high-intent shoppers who may be slowing down, and activate them with loyalty rewards, exclusive offers, or personalized recommendations to drive repeat conversions.

By combining multiple criteria, you can build highly precise, performance-driven audiences. Layering behavioral, lifecycle, geographic, acquisition, and revenue conditions allows you to deliver the right message to the right users at exactly the right moment.

Examples of advanced combined segments

• High-value users in a priority market: Users in Germany with total revenue above $100 and at least one purchase in the last 30 days. Ideal for VIP retention campaigns.
• At-risk payers: Users who triggered a revenue event but haven’t opened the app in 14 days. Re-engage with time-sensitive offers.
• Dormant organic users: Organic installs with no session in the last 30 days. Launch win-back campaigns without increasing paid spend.
• High-intent new users: Installed within the last 7 days, opened the app at least twice, but haven’t completed a purchase. Push activation incentives.

Once you’ve built high-precision segments, you don’t have to keep them locked inside Adjust. You can share audiences directly with your ad networks and partners to activate them where your campaigns run. Whether you connect via Adjust’s integrated partner connections or simply share a dynamic URL, your custom lists can fuel smarter campaign targeting across platforms.