---
title: "Set a step audience"
description: "Send one step to only some of the people enrolled in an automation, for example a benefits email to US employees only, without splitting the flow in two."
sidebar:
  order: 2
area: flows
feature: steps
appPath: /flows/home
lastVerified: 2026-10-23
version: "2026-10-16"
audience: admin
screenshots:
  - id: flows-steps-audience-tab
    caption: A step's Audience tab with Lifecycle, Included, Excluded and the Audience Preview.
related:
  - flows/automations/set-the-audience
  - directory/employee-groups
  - flows/steps/schedule-a-step
intercom:
  - id: "6005747"
    title: Create Conditional Sections
    url: https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/6005747-create-conditional-sections
    note: "Pyn 1 article, kept for reference"
  - id: "6005722"
    title: Use filters and conditional sections to target your content
    url: https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/6005722-use-filters-and-conditional-sections-to-target-your-content
    note: "Pyn 1 article, kept for reference"
---

An automation's audience decides who enrols. A step's audience decides which of those people get that particular step. Use it when most of a flow is the same for everyone and one or two steps are not.

## Before you start

- The groups you want to include or exclude exist in [Employee Groups](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employee-groups/).

![The Audience tab narrows which enrolled employees receive this step.](https://support.pynhq.com/media/flows/steps/flows-steps-audience-tab.png)

## Steps

1. In Pyn, open the automation from **Flows**, **Automations**, and select the step.

2. Select the **Audience** tab.

3. Under **Lifecycle**, keep the stages the recipient can be in: **Current**, **Joiner**, **On leave**, **Terminated**. A new step starts with **Current** only. Add **Joiner** on any step that sends before the start date.

4. Under **Included**, add groups so that only their members get this step. Groups with the same parent match any one of them, and groups with different parents must all match; see [How audiences match](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employee-groups/how-audiences-match/). Leave it empty to include everyone enrolled.

5. Under **Excluded**, add groups whose members never get this step. Exclusion wins over inclusion.

6. Read the **Audience Preview** under the fields to see who matches today, then close the drawer. The step saves as you go.

> **Note:** The audience filters employee recipients only. A channel post or a custom email recipient is sent whatever the audience says, because it is not about one employee.

## What you should see

The step card carries a filter badge when it has an audience narrower than the automation's. If you empty **Lifecycle**, the card warns **The audience is empty, so this step is never sent.** Under [Enrollments](https://support.pynhq.com/activity/enrollments/), an enrolled employee outside the step's audience shows the step as skipped with no delivery; someone who leaves an included group while the step is still scheduled has it stopped.

## Related

- [Set the audience](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/automations/set-the-audience/) for the automation-level audience that decides who enrols.
- [Employee Groups](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employee-groups/) to create the groups you include or exclude.
- [Schedule a step](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/steps/schedule-a-step/) for the Joiner warning on pre-start steps.

## Related Intercom articles

- [Create Conditional Sections](https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/6005747-create-conditional-sections) — Pyn 1 article, kept for reference
- [Use filters and conditional sections to target your content](https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/6005722-use-filters-and-conditional-sections-to-target-your-content) — Pyn 1 article, kept for reference