How do I correctly configure the Update User Profile element to tag users for future segmentation?

The Update User Profile element allows you to set specific Tag values for users as they progress through a Customer Journey. This is commonly used to mark users as part of a "Control Group" or "Test Group" so they can be included in or excluded from future campaigns.

If your Tags are being created with empty values, or you cannot segment users correctly after they pass this element, check the following.

1. Verify the value field

The element requires both a Tag and a value. In the element settings click + Manual value, pick the Tag from the dropdown, then enter the value.

• The issue: if you select a String Tag but leave the value field empty, the system assigns an empty string to the user profile.
• The fix: explicitly type the value you want to assign (for example Control, Variant_A, Processed).

2. Check whether the Tag is user-specific

This is the most common reason a value is written but later segmentation still misses users:

• For a user-specific Tag, the value is applied to all devices sharing the same User ID.
• For a Tag that is not user-specific, the value is applied only to the single device the user is travelling the journey with. Their other devices and channel records (email, SMS, WhatsApp) keep the old value, so a later segment built on that Tag will not match them.

If you intend to mark the whole person rather than one device, make the Tag user-specific in Audience → Tags before running the journey.

3. Use the appropriate Tag type

For simple binary distinctions (for example, marking whether a user was in a control group), consider a Boolean Tag instead of a String. Boolean Tags accept only true or false, which simplifies segmentation and minimizes configuration errors. Also make sure the Tag type matches the source type — to set a String Tag from an event attribute, use a String attribute.

How to fix an active campaign

• Pause the Customer Journey.
• Click the Update User Profile element to open its settings.
• Enter the specific value to be assigned (or switch to a Boolean Tag if appropriate) and check the Tag's user-specific setting.
• Save the changes and resume the campaign.

Note that fixing the element only affects users who pass it from that point on; users who already passed it keep the empty or device-scoped value.