Objective
This article explains what to do when a Segment Engage audience remains in Preparing longer than expected, including how long to wait, what factors can affect computation time, and when to contact Segment Support.
Product
Twilio Segment
Environment
Segment Console
User Account Permission/Role(s) Required
Access to the relevant Segment Engage space and audience.
Procedure
- Open the affected audience in Segment Engage and confirm that its status is Preparing.
- Allow the initial audience computation to complete before making changes. Segment recommends waiting up to 24 hours for an audience to finish computing.
- Avoid editing the audience while the initial backfill is still running. Editing an audience before the initial computation completes can introduce errors or restart processing.
- Keep in mind that computation time can vary based on factors such as:
- Audience complexity
- Number of profiles being evaluated
- System load
- Backfill size
- Concurrent audience computations
- If the audience is connected to a destination, do not assume the destination is causing the delay unless there is evidence of a destination-specific failure. First verify whether the audience itself progresses from Preparing to Live.
- If the audience remains in Preparing after 24 hours, contact Segment Support and provide:
- Workspace name
- Engage space
- Audience link or Audience ID
- Approximate time the audience was created
- Any connected destination
- Any relevant error messages
Additional Information
Most event-based audiences and traits are evaluated continuously once their triggering events occur.
Some SQL traits or other batch-based computations run on a scheduled cadence instead of in real time. Depending on the workspace configuration, the default batch cadence can be approximately every 8 hours.
An audience that eventually transitions from Preparing to Live without a configuration change or reported error does not, by itself, confirm that a connected destination caused the delay.