--- title: "Cohorts: behavioral user segments that update live · Countly" description: "A cohort is every profile that matches a rule you write from who people are and what they did." url: https://countly.com/feature/cohorts last_modified: 2026-11-11 --- Cohorts # Define an audience once. Use it everywhere A cohort is every profile that matches a rule you write from who people are and what they did. It keeps itself current as behavior changes, and the audience a journey targets is the audience Drill counts. In this demo shop, Lapsed Shoppers keeps itself current: shoppers enter as they go quiet and leave as they come back, every day of it recorded. Part of analytics ## Write the audience the way you would say it Who people are and what they did, in one rule. Every cohort reads back in plain words, so anyone picking it later knows who is in it. - “Did not perform Session in the last 30 days, first seen more than 30 days ago” Customers slipping away, without counting the ones who only just arrived. Those who come back leave the cohort on their own. - “Performed Session at least 10 times in the last 30 days” Your most engaged users, recalculated as the window moves. - “Performed Added to Cart at least twice, and did not perform Purchase Completed” Shoppers with intent and no order, ready for a reminder. - “Performed Purchase Completed where amount is greater than 100” Big spenders, with the event’s own properties as part of the rule. - “Plan is enterprise, and platform is iOS” A segment from who people are, using your own custom properties next to the built-in ones. - “First seen in the last 7 days” Always this week’s newcomers, because rolling dates keep moving. Live, and explained ## An audience that keeps up, and tells you why People enter a cohort the moment they match and leave when they stop, so it is always the current audience, with every day of movement recorded. - Define the audience An activity step and a profile condition, combined in one rule, saved, and live within minutes. - Watch it move How many profiles are in it each day, and how many entered and left. For a lapsed cohort, leaving is your win-back rate. - See what sets them apart The events members do more or less of than everyone else, and who they are, side by side with the rest. - Compare audiences Up to four cohorts side by side, with who is entering and leaving each, saved as a link for the team. Works with ## Cohorts, with the rest of Countly Every feature reads the same live data, so an answer in Cohorts doesn’t stop there. These are the handoffs built in. [All features](https://countly.com/platform/features) Drill Filter any query by membership, or break a metric down into members and everyone else. Open [(Drill Filter any query by membership, or break a metric down into members and e](https://countly.com/feature/drill) Profiles Open a cohort’s members in Profiles, and use profile properties and groups in its rule. Open [(Profiles Open a cohort’s members in Profiles, and use profile properties and gr](https://countly.com/feature/profiles) Push Notifications Pick a cohort as the audience. Membership is read when the message is sent. Open [(Push Notifications Pick a cohort as the audience. Membership is read when the m](https://countly.com/feature/push-notifications) Journeys Start a journey when someone enters or leaves a cohort, or make the cohort its audience. Open [(Journeys Start a journey when someone enters or leaves a cohort, or make the co](https://countly.com/feature/journeys) Adaptive Variables Serve a different value to a cohort’s members, without a release. Open [(Adaptive Variables Serve a different value to a cohort’s members, without a rel](https://countly.com/feature/adaptive-variables) Funnels Scope a funnel to a cohort, or compare a cohort against everyone else step by step. Open [(Funnels Scope a funnel to a cohort, or compare a cohort against everyone else s](https://countly.com/feature/funnels) Retention Scope retention to a cohort’s audience, and see whether it sticks around better. Open [(Retention Scope retention to a cohort’s audience, and see whether it sticks aro](https://countly.com/feature/retention) Slipping Away Save the profiles quiet past a threshold as a cohort, and it empties as they come back. Open [(Slipping Away Save the profiles quiet past a threshold as a cohort, and it empt](https://countly.com/feature/slipping-away) Dashboards Cohort-scoped tiles keep the audience defined in one place. Open [(Dashboards Cohort-scoped tiles keep the audience defined in one place. Open)(ht](https://countly.com/feature/dashboards) Data ownership ## Audiences built from data that stays yours A cohort is a rule over individual behavior. Building it where the data already lives means the audience never has to be exported to be used. [Data privacy](https://countly.com/platform/data-privacy) Aspect Flex Enterprise Environment Dedicated single-tenant instance Your cloud, your data center or air-gapped Data residency The Google Cloud region you choose Wherever you deploy, including air-gapped networks Vendor access Operated by Countly; access limited, granted by you and logged No default access ISO 27001 Certified ISO 27017 Certified ISO 27018 Certified SOC 2 Type II examined TISAX® Participant* *Countly Ltd. is a TISAX® Participant. TISAX® is a registered trademark of and governed by ENX Association. Learn more at [enx.com/tisax](https://enx.com/tisax)