How to Use and Leverage Audience Segments on TrafficJunky

Ever received an ad on your mobile and thought: “WOW, that’s exactly what I wanted?” 

If you’re a modern consumer, you’ll know ads are targeted to you based on your likes, interests, recent searches and more.  

As an advertiser, this exact targeting (also called audience segments), gives you control over who sees your ads based on real user behavior and first-party data. 

This guide walks you through: 

• How TrafficJunky audience segments work 

• When to use each type 

• A step-by-step look at the dashboard 

• The difference between include and exclude segments 

• Proven best practices used by our highest-ROAS (return on ad spend) advertisers in 2025–2026. 

What Is Segment Targeting on TrafficJunky? 

Segment Targeting on TrafficJunky lets you control who sees your ads by using behavioral data instead of just broad targeting options. 

There are two main categories: 

• Interest Segments: Pre-built audiences created by TrafficJunky based on user behavior across the entire network. These are divided into ‘Interested In’, ‘Intent to Buy’, and ‘Buyer’ segments for specific product types and content.  

• Custom Segments: Audiences you build yourself using first-party data collected through Infinity Tags (small pieces of code that are inserted into specific pages in your domain).  

As an advertiser on TrafficJunky, you’ll also have access to create more refined segments with users who click on your ads. To enable this, you can contact your account manager to help with set up. 

However, the real power comes when you map these segments to your marketing funnel and customer journey. For example: 

• “Interested In” segments are excellent for awareness and cold traffic. 

• “Intent to Buy” segments work best for consideration and conversion campaigns.  

• “Buyer” segments are ideal for retention, upsells, and loyalty. 

When used correctly, segment targeting dramatically reduces wasted ad spend, improves creative relevance, and increases overall campaign efficiency. 

Understanding the Four Segment Types 

TrafficJunky offers four core segment types. Each serves a different purpose in the marketing funnel: 

Interested In Segments (Awareness & Consideration) 

These target users who have shown general interest in a content category but haven’t displayed strong purchase signals yet. They’ve engaged with similar content, visited similar sites, or shown behavioral patterns consistent with the niche. 

Best used for: Brand visibility, new product launches, top-of-funnel education, and cold traffic campaigns. 

Intent to Buy Segments (Reputation, Desire & Decision) 

This is where targeting becomes significantly more powerful. Intent to Buy segments identify users actively evaluating options. For example, they’ve shown repeated engagement, comparison behavior, and purchase-oriented actions. 

Best used for: Conversion-focused campaigns, limited-time offers, price promotions, and bottom-funnel offers. 

Buyer Segments (Advocacy & Loyalty) 

These are users who have already converted and are real buyers on the TrafficJunky network. 

Best used for: Upsells, cross-sells, retention campaigns, loyalty rewards, and win-back offers. 

Custom Segments (Full-Funnel Precision) 

Custom segments are built from your own first-party data via Infinity Tags, which can be installed on your website or landing pages.or landing pages. To create more customized segments, contact your account manager to help.   

Best used for: Retargeting, conversion optimization, excluding recent converters, and building high-intent custom audiences. 

How to Apply Segments to a Campaign: Step-by-Step Guide 

Here’s exactly how to set up Segment Targeting in the TrafficJunky dashboard: 

1. Create or edit a campaign 
   Start a new campaign or open an existing one. Complete your basic settings first.  

2. Go to Audience → Advanced Targeting 
   In the left sidebar, navigate to the Audience section and click Advanced Targeting.  

3. Toggle Segment Targeting ON 
   Enable the Segment Targeting toggle switch. You’ll now see options for Included and Excluded segments. 

4. Select Include Segments (optional but recommended) 

Click “Select Segment” under the Included Segments area. Choose from Buyer, Custom, Intent, or Interest categories. 

5. Browse and select specific segments 
   Drill down into the category (e.g., Interest → Entertainment or Lifestyle). You’ll see audience size estimates for each segment. Select the ones you want to target. 

6. Review included segments 
   Your selections will appear in the Included Segments panel with estimated audience reach.  

7. Add Exclude Segments (optional but recommended) 
   Use the Exclude panel to suppress audiences you don’t want (existing customers, irrelevant categories, recent converters, etc.).  

8. Review Total Estimated Audience 
   Check the estimated audience size at the bottom of the page. Adjust if the reach is too narrow or too broad. 

9. Save & Continue to set your bids, creatives, and launch. 

Pro tip: Watch the companion screen recording video (available in the assets folder) for a full walkthrough of this exact process. 

When and Why to Use Include vs. Exclude Segmentation 

Understanding when to include and when to exclude is one of the highest-leverage parts of segment targeting. 

Include segments to narrow your delivery to high-value users who match your ideal customer profile. This increases relevance and usually improves click-through and conversion rates. 

Exclude segments protect your budget by preventing your ads from showing to users who are unlikely to convert or who you don’t want to acquire right now. 

Common exclusion use cases: 

• Exclude Buyer segments from cold acquisition campaigns 

• Exclude users who converted in the last 30–60 days from retargeting 

• Exclude irrelevant interest categories that don’t align with your offer 

It’s important not to include and exclude overlapping or conflicting segments in the same campaign. This helps you keep logic clean and avoid delivery conflicts, loss of relevance, or confusing the algorithm. 

Best Practices for Segment Targeting 

With your new knowledge of how to set up targeting in TrafficJunky, let’s dive into some best practices for a successful campaign! 

Do 

• Align segments with campaign objectives: For example, use broader Interested In segments for awareness and Intent to Buy or Custom segments for direct response and conversions. 

• Prioritize quality over quantity: A smaller, high-correlation segment almost always outperforms a massive but loosely related one. 

• Combine Interest and Custom segments: Layer TrafficJunky’s behavioral segments with your own Tracker data for powerful full-funnel strategies. 

• Test segments in isolation first: Run single-segment campaigns or A/B tests before stacking multiple segments. Think ‘Interested in: Casino’ for one campaign and ‘Intent to Buy: Adult Games’ for another. This gives you clean performance data. 

• Match creatives and offers to segment intent: A user in an “Intent to Buy” segment should see different messaging than someone in a broad “Interested In” segment. 

• Check Audience Segment Insights inside TrafficJunky: This dashboard identifies your top performing audience segments, whether you’re already targeting them or not. 

• Audit segment performance regularly: Audience behavior changes. Review performance every 2–4 weeks, pause underperformers, and shift budget to winners. 

Don’t 

• Over-segment one campaign: Stacking 8+ unrelated segments dilutes targeting and often increases costs. 

• Skip exclusions: This is one of the fastest ways to waste budget. 

• Go extremely broad or extremely narrow: Find the sweet spot where relevance is high but delivery volume is still viable. For example, ‘Interested In: Social Media’ would be too vague for a cannabis or iGaming brand to attract customers. 

• Neglect Infinity Tags: Without them, you’re missing out on custom segments, strong retargeting, and conversion exclusion capabilities. 

Putting it All Together: An Example Campaign Setup 

Let’s look at a real-world scenario: An advertiser runs a premium adult subscription/cam platform. They want to run two simultaneous campaigns: one for acquisition and one for retention.  

Here’s what they could do: 

Acquisition Campaign 

• Include: Intent to Buy segments (users showing comparison and evaluation behavior in relevant categories) 

• Exclude: Custom segments (users who have already purchased similar offers recently) 

• Creative & Offer: Strong benefit-driven messaging, limited-time discount, risk-free trial, prominent CTA 

• Goal: New customer acquisition at profitable CPA 

Retention/Upsell Campaign 

• Include: Custom segments (existing customers and recent purchasers) 

• Exclude: Users who have already upgraded in the last 45 days (via custom segments) 

• Creative & Offer: Loyalty reward, exclusive content, upgrade discount, “Thank you for being a member” messaging 

• Goal: Increase LTV (life-time-value) and reduce churn 

By separating these audiences using TrafficJunky audience segments, both campaigns deliver the right message to the right user at the right time. There’s minimal crossover, reduced wasted spend, and significantly better creative-to-audience alignment. 

This segmented approach consistently delivers higher ROAS for our clients than single blended campaigns. 

Final Take on How to Use and Leverage Audience Segments on TrafficJunky 

Segment Targeting transforms TrafficJunky into a sophisticated, data-driven advertising network. Every impression becomes more valuable when it reaches someone who actually fits your customer profile. 

The advertisers getting the best results on TrafficJunky aren’t necessarily spending the most…they’re targeting the smartest! 

Ready to get started? Log into your TrafficJunky dashboard today and set up your first segmented campaign. If you haven’t already, install Infinity Tags on your site for custom segments and advanced retargeting.