Audience & cohorts

Effective nurturing requires sending the right message to the right people. A contact who left because of budget constraints needs different content than one who chose a competitor. A prospect interested in your enterprise product needs different messaging than one evaluating your starter tier.

This article covers how to define and refine your flow audiences using filters and criteria, and how to organize flows with cohorts.

Why Audience Targeting Matters

You could send the same nurturing sequence to every recycled contact. But that wastes the rich data you captured during recycling.

You know why each deal was lost. You know which products they were interested in. You know which competitors they chose. You know their segment or territory. Using this information to target your messaging makes nurturing dramatically more effective.

A generic “just checking in” email feels like spam. An email that says “I know budget was tight when we talked — here’s how other teams in your situation made the case internally” feels like someone who actually understands your situation.

Audience targeting turns recycling data into personalized nurturing.

How Audience Targeting Works

Each flow has audience criteria that determine who enters. When a contact is recycled and matches those criteria, they automatically enter the flow and start receiving emails.

The matching happens daily. Rizer evaluates all recycled contacts against all active flows. New matches enter their respective flows. Contacts who no longer match (perhaps their deal status changed) may exit.

You define audiences using filters — conditions that contacts must meet to enter the flow. Multiple filters combine with AND logic, meaning contacts must match all criteria, not just some.

Audience Filter Types

Rizer provides several filter types to define your audience precisely.

Deal Type Filter

The most fundamental filter: are you targeting deals or leads?

Deals — Target contacts from recycled deals. Deals have products, line items, and typically represent later-stage opportunities.

Leads — Target contacts from recycled leads. Leads are earlier-stage and simpler (no products or line items).

You must choose one. A single flow can’t mix deals and leads — they’re different objects with different attributes. If you need to nurture both, create separate flows.

[Screenshot: Deal type filter showing Deals/Leads toggle]

Product Filter

Select which products the contact’s deal must include.

Use cases:

• Send product-specific messaging and use cases
• Highlight features relevant to a particular product
• Address objections specific to one product line
• Promote updates or improvements to specific products

How it works: You can select multiple products. Contacts match if their deal includes any of the selected products. If you select Product A and Product B, contacts with either (or both) match.

If you don’t select any products: All products match. The filter has no effect.

Recycle Reason Filter

Target contacts based on why they were recycled.

Use cases:

• “Missing feature” contacts get product update messaging
• “Too expensive” contacts get ROI and value content
• “Not the right time” contacts get periodic check-ins
• “No available budget” contacts get content about building business cases

How it works: Select one or more reasons. Contacts match if they have any of the selected reasons. Selecting “Too expensive” and “No available budget” captures contacts with either reason.

[Screenshot: Recycle reason filter with multiple reasons selected]

Callback alignment note: Different recycle reasons have different default callback periods. The filter shows these periods. If you select reasons with very different timing (like “Missing feature” which waits for shipping, and “Not the right time” which might be 3 months), contacts enter at very different times. This might or might not be what you want — consider whether the same content makes sense for both.

Solution Type Filter

Filter by what the prospect chose instead of you.

Options:

• Competitor — They selected a known competitor
• In-house solution — They decided to build their own
• No solution — They decided not to address the need at all
• Unknown — The alternative wasn’t captured

Use cases:

• Competitor losses need different messaging than in-house losses
• “No solution” contacts might need content about the cost of inaction
• “In-house” contacts might need content about build vs. buy

Competitor Filter

When solution type is Competitor, you can filter by specific competitors.

Use cases:

• Create flows targeting contacts who chose Competitor X specifically
• Develop competitor-specific objection handling
• Time re-engagement around known contract lengths for that competitor
• Share differentiation content relevant to that specific competitor

How it works: Select one or more competitors. Contacts match if they chose any of the selected competitors.

[Screenshot: Competitor filter showing dropdown of configured competitors]

This is powerful for targeted competitive win-back. If you know Competitor X typically has 12-month contracts and causes buyer regret, you can create a flow specifically for those contacts with content that addresses Competitor X’s weaknesses.

Segment Filter

If your organization uses segments or territories, filter by them.

Use cases:

• Target specific geographic regions
• Align nurturing with regional campaigns or messaging
• Respect sales team boundaries
• Adjust timing for regional business cycles (fiscal years vary by region)

How it works: Select one or more segments. Contacts match if they’re in any of the selected segments.

Missing Feature Filter

Target contacts whose deals were linked to specific missing features.

Use cases:

• Nurture contacts waiting for a particular feature
• Send updates about features in development
• Notify when features ship

How it works: Select features from your tracked list. Contacts match if their deal was linked to any selected feature.

This pairs well with the “Missing feature” recycle reason filter for highly targeted feature-focused nurturing.

Combining Filters

Filters work together with AND logic. A contact must satisfy all selected filters to enter the flow.

Example: Feature-Specific Campaign

Deal type: Deals Products: Product A Recycle reason: Missing feature Missing feature: Salesforce integration

This targets only contacts who:

• Have a recycled deal (not lead)
• Were interested in Product A
• Were recycled because of a missing feature
• Specifically wanted Salesforce integration

Very narrow. Very targeted. Perfect for messaging about Salesforce integration progress and launch.

Example: Competitive Win-Back

Deal type: Deals Solution type: Competitor Competitor: Competitor X

This targets all contacts who chose Competitor X, regardless of product or other factors.

Broader than the previous example, but still focused on a specific competitive situation.

Example: Budget Timing Campaign

Deal type: Deals Recycle reason: No available budget Segment: North America

This targets North American contacts who lost due to budget constraints.

Useful if you want to align messaging with North American fiscal year timing (many companies have January fiscal years).

Example: Enterprise Product Nurture

Deal type: Deals Products: Enterprise Plan Recycle reason: Not the right time, No available budget

This targets contacts interested in your enterprise product who weren’t ready due to timing or budget.

Two recycle reasons with OR logic within that filter, combined with AND logic against the product filter.

Viewing Matching Contacts

As you configure filters, Rizer shows how many contacts currently match your criteria.

[Screenshot: Audience summary showing “34 companies match these criteria”]

This real-time count helps you:

Validate your targeting. Does the number make sense? If you expect hundreds of matches but see zero, something’s wrong with your criteria.

Gauge flow size. Is this a broad campaign reaching many contacts, or a narrow sequence for a select few? Both are valid, but you should know which you’re creating.

Test filter effects. Add a filter and watch the count change. This helps you understand how each criterion affects your audience.

Avoid empty flows. A flow with zero matches isn’t wrong, but it won’t do anything until contacts matching those criteria are recycled.

Zero Matches

If no contacts match your criteria:

Check that matching deals exist. Have you recycled deals with these products, reasons, or competitors? If not, there’s no one to match.

Review filter combinations. Maybe each filter individually matches contacts, but the combination is too restrictive. Try removing filters one by one to see which causes zero matches.

Verify spelling and selection. Make sure you selected the right products, reasons, or competitors. A typo or wrong selection produces no matches.

Consider timing. If you just set up Rizer, you might not have recycled enough deals yet. Matches will grow over time.

Too Many Matches

If thousands of contacts match and that feels too broad:

Add more filters. Narrow by product, segment, or specific recycle reason.

Split into multiple flows. Instead of one giant flow, create several targeted ones with different messaging.

Consider whether broad is okay. Sometimes a broad flow is fine — maybe you have a general nurturing sequence that applies to many situations.

Dynamic Audiences

Audiences are dynamic, not static. Rizer continuously evaluates contacts against flow criteria.

New Contacts Enter Automatically

When you recycle a deal and it matches an active flow’s criteria, that contact enters the flow automatically. You don’t need to manually add them or trigger anything.

This happens during daily evaluation. A deal recycled Monday might enter a matching flow Monday night or Tuesday morning.

Criteria Changes Apply Going Forward

If you update a flow’s audience criteria:

New criteria affect future entrants. Contacts entering after the change must match the new criteria.

Existing members are typically unaffected. People already in the flow continue through it, even if they wouldn’t match the new criteria.

This means you can refine targeting without disrupting people mid-sequence.

Members Stay Until Completion

Once a contact enters a flow, they continue through all steps unless:

• They complete the sequence
• They unsubscribe
• They’re manually removed
• Their deal status changes (becomes ready for callback, won, etc.)

Entering is based on matching criteria at a point in time. Staying in is based on completing the sequence.

Audience Design Best Practices

Some principles for effective audience targeting.

Start Narrow, Expand Later

It’s easier to broaden a targeted flow than to recover from sending irrelevant emails to a broad audience.

Start with specific criteria. Get the messaging right for that group. Monitor performance. Then consider expanding if results are strong.

Align Audience with Messaging

Your audience criteria should directly connect to your email content.

If your flow is about “how to build a business case for budget,” the audience should be contacts who lost due to budget issues. Sending that content to contacts who lost to a competitor makes no sense.

Design the audience and content together, not separately.

Consider Flow Length and Audience Patience

Longer flows (many emails over months) work for audiences who won’t be callback-ready for a while. Shorter flows work for faster timelines.

Match flow length to typical callback periods for your audience:

• 6-month callbacks might support a 4-5 email flow
• 3-month callbacks might only support 2-3 emails
• 12-month callbacks might support a longer sequence

Watch for Overlap

If you create multiple flows with similar criteria, contacts might end up in several flows simultaneously. Consider whether that’s okay:

Okay: Flows with different purposes (one educational, one product-update focused) that complement each other.

Problematic: Flows with redundant content, causing contacts to receive too many emails.

Review your flows periodically to ensure audiences don’t create excessive overlap.

Test with Small Audiences First

Before launching a flow to thousands of contacts, test with a narrow audience:

1. Create criteria that match just a few contacts (or test accounts)
2. Activate and verify emails arrive correctly
3. Monitor for problems
4. Broaden criteria once confident

This catches issues before they affect your real audience.

Excluding Contacts

Rizer doesn’t have explicit exclusion filters (like “everyone except X”), but you can achieve exclusion through careful criteria design.

Use Narrow Criteria

Instead of “all deals except those lost to Competitor X,” define who you want positively: “deals lost for these specific reasons” or “deals for these specific products.”

Create Multiple Flows

Instead of one flow with exceptions, create several flows with precise targeting:

• Flow 1: Competitor X losses
• Flow 2: Competitor Y losses
• Flow 3: Non-competitive losses

Each flow has appropriate messaging. No exclusions needed.

Manual Removal

For individual exceptions, manually remove specific contacts from flows:

1. Go to the flow’s Audience tab
2. Find the contact
3. Remove them from the flow

This works for one-off situations, not systematic exclusion.

Pause for Specific Situations

If you need to temporarily stop all nurturing for certain contacts (maybe you’re about to reach out personally), manually remove them from active flows.

Understanding Cohorts

Cohorts are folders that organize related flows. They don’t affect targeting — they’re purely organizational.

Why Use Cohorts

As you create more flows, the list gets long. Cohorts group related flows for easier navigation:

• All flows for Product A in one cohort
• All flows for the EMEA region in another
• All competitive win-back flows together
• Seasonal campaign flows grouped

Creating Cohorts

You create cohorts when creating or editing flows:

1. In the flow settings, find the Cohort field
2. Select an existing cohort or type a new name
3. If you type a new name, the cohort is created automatically

Cohorts appear in the sidebar navigation under Nurturing > Flows.

[Screenshot: Flows sidebar showing cohorts as folders with flows inside]

Cohort Organization Strategies

By product line:

• Product A Nurture
• Product B Nurture
• Platform-wide Nurture

By recycle reason:

• Budget Flows
• Timing Flows
• Competitive Flows
• Feature Gap Flows

By region:

• North America
• EMEA
• APAC

By campaign type:

• Evergreen Nurture
• Seasonal Campaigns
• Event Follow-up

Choose whatever makes sense for how you think about your flows.

Moving Flows Between Cohorts

To change a flow’s cohort:

1. Open the flow settings
2. Change the Cohort selection
3. Save

The flow moves to the new cohort.

Cohorts and Reporting

Cohorts are organizational only. Reports don’t aggregate by cohort — they show individual flow performance. If you want to compare “all Product A flows,” you’ll need to look at each flow individually or export data for custom analysis.

Audience Examples by Use Case

Here are some common audience patterns to inspire your targeting.

New Customer Acquisition Retry

Goal: Nurture contacts who seemed interested but went quiet.

Filters:

• Deal type: Deals
• Recycle reason: Buyer stopped responding, No feedback provided
• Products: (your main products)

Messaging: Re-engagement content, “did we miss anything?”, helpful resources

Competitive Displacement

Goal: Win back contacts who chose a specific competitor.

Filters:

• Deal type: Deals
• Solution type: Competitor
• Competitor: (target competitor)

Messaging: Differentiation, customer stories about switching, awareness of competitor weaknesses

Feature Launch Anticipation

Goal: Keep contacts warm while waiting for a feature they need.

Filters:

• Deal type: Deals
• Recycle reason: Missing feature
• Missing feature: (specific feature in development)

Messaging: Progress updates, related capabilities, roadmap visibility

Budget Cycle Alignment

Goal: Nurture contacts who need budget approval.

Filters:

• Deal type: Deals
• Recycle reason: No available budget, Too expensive
• Segment: (specific region with known budget timing)

Messaging: ROI content, business case support, timing around budget seasons

Enterprise Relationship Maintenance

Goal: Stay top-of-mind with high-value prospects.

Filters:

• Deal type: Deals
• Products: Enterprise tier
• (No recycle reason filter — all enterprise losses)

Messaging: Executive-level content, industry insights, thought leadership

SMB Quick Nurture

Goal: Light-touch nurturing for smaller deals.

Filters:

• Deal type: Deals or Leads
• Products: Starter tier, SMB tier
• Recycle reason: Not the right time

Messaging: Brief check-ins, self-service resources, easy re-engagement paths

Managing Audiences Over Time

Audiences need occasional attention as your business evolves.

When Products Change

If you rename products, add new ones, or retire old ones:

• Review flows targeting those products
• Update criteria to use new names
• Ensure nothing breaks

When Competitors Change

If competitors rebrand, merge, or new ones emerge:

• Update your competitor list
• Review competitive flows
• Adjust targeting as needed

When Segments Change

If your organization restructures territories:

• Update segment definitions
• Review flows filtering by segment
• Adjust criteria to match new structure

Periodic Audience Review

Every quarter or so, review your flow audiences:

• Are criteria still relevant?
• Are match counts what you expect?
• Do any flows have zero matches (might indicate stale criteria)?
• Is there audience overlap creating problems?

Regular review keeps your targeting effective as your business and data evolve.

Common Questions

Can a contact be in multiple flows at once?

Yes, if they match multiple flow criteria. Whether this is desirable depends on your flow design. Too many simultaneous flows might overwhelm contacts with emails.

What if I change audience criteria after contacts have entered?

Existing members continue through the flow. New criteria only affect who enters going forward.

Can I see which flows a specific contact is in?

In the contact’s deal details within Rizer, you can see their nurturing status. For a comprehensive view across all flows, check each flow’s audience tab.

Do audience filters affect when contacts enter?

Filters affect whether contacts enter, not when. Timing is determined by when deals are recycled and when daily evaluation runs.

Can I target by deal value?

Currently, audience filters don’t include deal value ranges. You could approximate this by using product tiers (assuming different tiers have different values) or segments if they correlate with deal size.

What happens if I delete a product that flows are targeting?

The filter might break or match nothing. Review flows targeting that product and update their criteria before or after product deletion.