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BrianPh4
Level 2
April 9, 2026
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Audience Management Suggestions

  • April 9, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 14 views

Looking for some best practices on how to manage/contain all of our audiences. As more and more campaigns come through, our audience list gets larger and larger with some not being deactivated after the campaign is finished, duplicates, etc. Some questions about capabilities are below. Thanks for your help!
 

  1. Is it possible to look at inactive/deactivated audiences? For audit purposes, we would like to keep a list of audiences we are deactivating to show they aren’t in use anymore. Obviously we can use the UI tool and filter, but this might quickly become not enough. Looking into using a query/API but unsure if possible.
     
  2. Is there a way to see audiences that are being used in a live journey currently? With out large list of audiences, some might have been used in multiple journeys and before deactivating them, we would like to check if they are actively being used. I thought there was a safeguard in place that when you deactivate an audience, it would not let you if it was being used, but after testing this in sandbox I did not receive the warning.

 

Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Best answer by SatheeskannaK

​@BrianPh4 There’s not a straightforward approach. Here are a few recommendations,

Auditing Inactive Audiences
- The Segmentation Service API is the most efficient tool for a comprehensive audience audit.
- API Method: Use GET /audiences?property=audienceId to include inactive audiences.

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/experience-platform/segmentation/api/audiences

Identification: 
- Inactive segments are marked as INACTIVE or DRAFT in the lifecycleStatus or state field of the JSON response.

Checking for Audience Usage in Live Journeys
- AJO does not prevent users from deactivating an audience actively used in a live journey (e.g., in "Read Audience" or "Audience Qualification").
- Deactivating an in-use audience can cause the journey to fail or stop qualifying new profiles.
- Search in Journeys: Use journey properties to copy the technical details and search for the audience id presence.
- Mandatory Tagging Strategy: Implement a tagging system (e.g., In-Use: Welcome Journey) and check for these tags before deactivation.

Audience Hygiene and Consolidation
- Naming Conventions: Enforce a consistent structure including intent and, if applicable, expiration date (e.g., PROMO_Spring26_Expires_0530).
- Folder Structure: Utilize Audience Portal folders to archive "Completed/Expired" audiences into a dedicated folder before deactivation.
- Identify and Consolidate Duplicates: Periodically export the full audience list via the API and analyze the "Segment Logic" or "Definition" fields to identify and consolidate overlapping or redundant rules.

1 reply

SatheeskannaK
Community Advisor
SatheeskannaKCommunity AdvisorAccepted solution
Community Advisor
April 9, 2026

​@BrianPh4 There’s not a straightforward approach. Here are a few recommendations,

Auditing Inactive Audiences
- The Segmentation Service API is the most efficient tool for a comprehensive audience audit.
- API Method: Use GET /audiences?property=audienceId to include inactive audiences.

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/experience-platform/segmentation/api/audiences

Identification: 
- Inactive segments are marked as INACTIVE or DRAFT in the lifecycleStatus or state field of the JSON response.

Checking for Audience Usage in Live Journeys
- AJO does not prevent users from deactivating an audience actively used in a live journey (e.g., in "Read Audience" or "Audience Qualification").
- Deactivating an in-use audience can cause the journey to fail or stop qualifying new profiles.
- Search in Journeys: Use journey properties to copy the technical details and search for the audience id presence.
- Mandatory Tagging Strategy: Implement a tagging system (e.g., In-Use: Welcome Journey) and check for these tags before deactivation.

Audience Hygiene and Consolidation
- Naming Conventions: Enforce a consistent structure including intent and, if applicable, expiration date (e.g., PROMO_Spring26_Expires_0530).
- Folder Structure: Utilize Audience Portal folders to archive "Completed/Expired" audiences into a dedicated folder before deactivation.
- Identify and Consolidate Duplicates: Periodically export the full audience list via the API and analyze the "Segment Logic" or "Definition" fields to identify and consolidate overlapping or redundant rules.

Thanks, Sathees
    B
    BrianPh4Author
    Level 2
    April 9, 2026

    Hey! Thanks for the information. Super helpful! I did have one question regarding audience usage.

    - Search in Journeys: Use the AJO Journeys list search bar for the specific Audience name or ID.

    • I just attempted to test this in our sandbox and was not able to. I searched in the journey search bar the audience name and ID and nothing returned. Am I doing something wrong here?
      SatheeskannaK
      Community Advisor
      SatheeskannaKCommunity Advisor
      Community Advisor
      April 9, 2026

      Sorry, That won’t work. I meant to say copy the journey technical details, and search for audience id reference.

      Thanks, Sathees
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