Re-using Segments Created via API or Re-creating Every Time?

Question

Hi All,
Wanted to get your thoughts on this...
We have been able to create Segments via the API, however, which way to go:
OPTION 1: Re-use Segment if there are no additions or deletions (changes) to the list? or
OPTION 2: Re-create the Segment every time via API.
In Option 1, we will still need to compare the existing list to the new list before deciding to re-use. However, the comparison will be done outside of Eloqua.
In Option 2, we may create a new list even though there are no changes but we will have the historical data and it will be easier to identify lists.
In both scenarios, data processing may affect performance.
For those who have done this or are familiar, what would you recommend?
Hope it's clear.
Pinging: TJ Fields-Oracle, 1065474, freejung
Thanks!!

Answer 1

In simpler terms of creating assets and storage, creating new segments each time should not be a problem. That said, the asset choosers might end up being slow if you're blowing past 100k which will ultimately result in a poor user experience for the marketers. Please see:
Eloqua Product Thresholds
Beyond that, you should also consider:
- Developers creating a process where segments and campaigns are being created automatically, and the campaigns being left active for a long time with segments are set to run every hour. For static lists, it wouldn't really result in heavy calculating but you can run into delayed contact entry into campaigns if you have hundreds of segments feeding hundreds of campaigns - each with heavy filtering. At best it would be pointless to run segments (on the canvas) hourly if the lists are static, and at worst you're making everything slower. That doesn't sound like a major concern here but something to keep in mind.
- API tools automatically updating segments which are currently referenced in live campaigns (again, running hourly segments). This means if you re-use assets for new campaigns there is a risk that they're being referenced by a currently live campaign and you end up adding the wrong contacts to the wrong flow. Since segments share a relationship to campaigns as their primary contact feeder, the API tools should only be updating the same segment asset with new contacts if the intent is to add those contacts to an existing campaign.
- Although keeping shared lists or segments untouched gives you some historical tracking, do not assume the contacts in those assets are exactly the same ones which were used when the campaign was launched. For example, if you delete the bouncebacks and unsubscribes after the campaign has run and go back to your segment, even if it is a simple segment with a local list, it will not contain the deleted contacts. For any serious auditing task, let the API tool archive what contacts were added to what segment. Then you can use Bulk 2.0 activity exports to keep a list of what contacts received what emails from various campaigns.
Regards,
Bojan