Segments: Custom Profile Fields for Your Program
Segments are the profile fields your members fill in when they join your program. As a program manager, you decide which fields to include, what the answer choices are, and where those answers are used. This article explains what segments are, how the two categories work, and where segments appear across your program.
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The real Mentorly screen, shown with sample data. Nothing here affects your program.
What Are Segments?
A segment is a profile question with a defined set of answers. Examples include Department, Tenure, Region, Hard Skills, and Soft Skills. When a member completes onboarding, they answer the questions you have configured. Their answers then follow them throughout the platform, showing up on their profile, in your matching filters, and in analytics.
Segments give you a self-service way to capture the information that is specific to your organization, without any custom development work.
Who Uses Segments?
- Program managers configure segments: add custom fields, set up answer options, and choose how each field is used.
- Mentors and mentees answer the questions during onboarding and can update their answers from their profile at any time.
The Two Categories of Segments
Mentorly Default Segments
Every Mentorly program includes a set of default segments. These cannot be deleted, but you can customize their answer options to fit your organization.
| Segment | Notes |
|---|---|
| Hard Skills | Always used for matching. Stays required and cannot be removed from onboarding. |
| Soft Skills | Always used for matching. Stays required and cannot be removed from onboarding. |
| Industry | Options are customizable. |
| Short-term Goals | Options are customizable. |
| Long-term Goals | Options are customizable. |
Hard Skills and Soft Skills are used as core inputs in matching across all programs, so they stay required and cannot be removed from your onboarding. For every default, you can customize the answer options members choose from to reflect your organization's language.
Custom Segments
On eligible plans, you can create segments that are unique to your program. These are fully configurable: you set the name, the field type, and the answer choices. Custom segments appear below the Mentorly defaults on the configuration page.
Common examples: Department, Tenure, Region, Store Type, Languages, Career Aspiration, Work Location.
Field Types
When you create a custom segment, you choose one of these field types:
| Field Type | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Single Select | Member picks one answer from a dropdown list. |
| Multi-Select | Member picks one or more answers from a list. |
| Checkbox | A yes or no toggle for a single statement. |
| Number | Member enters a numeric value (for example, years of experience). |
| Text | Member types a short free-form answer. |
Select and multi-select fields give the most flexibility for filtering and matching, since Mentorly can compare structured answers between members.
Two Switches on Every Segment
Each segment has two independent settings that control how its data is used:
Show in public profile. When this is on, the member's answer is visible to other members on their profile. Turn this off for fields that are internal or sensitive.
Use for matching. When this is on, the matching algorithm uses the answers to calculate compatibility scores between mentors and mentees. When matching is enabled for a segment, the field becomes required for both mentors and mentees so the algorithm has complete data to work with.
For full details on how these two settings interact, see How visibility and matching work.
Where Segments Appear
Once you configure segments and include them in your onboarding, they show up in several places across the platform:
- Onboarding. New members answer the questions you configure before they can access the program. Fields you include in onboarding are required.
- Member profiles. Answers marked as public profile are visible when mentors and mentees browse each other's profiles.
- Mentor and member filters. Members can filter the mentor directory by any segment that is marked as public profile and has answer options. This makes it easier to find the right match.
- Matching. Segments marked for matching influence compatibility scores so the algorithm can rank pairings.
- CSV import and export. Segment fields appear as columns in the member import template and in data exports.
- Translations. Segment labels and answer options can be translated for programs that run in multiple languages.
- Analytics. Segment data is available as a filter in program analytics and reporting.
What Your Plan Includes
| Plan | Custom Segments |
|---|---|
| Start | Mentorly defaults only |
| Teams | 1 custom segment |
| Pro | 3 custom segments |
| Enterprise | Unlimited custom segments |
Mentorly defaults are included on every plan. Custom segments count toward your plan limit. If you need to increase your limit, reach out to your program success advisor or contact Mentorly support.
Next Steps
This article is the overview. The guides below walk through each part of the segments workflow in detail:
- Creating a custom segment - Add a new field, choose a type, and set up answer options.
- How visibility and matching work - Understand the two switches and when to use each one.
- Building your onboarding with segments - Add and arrange fields in the onboarding flow.
- Importing and updating data by CSV - Bring in member data in bulk using a spreadsheet.
- Translating your segments - Set up French (or other language) labels and answer options.
- Answering your profile questions (for members) - What your members see and how they update their answers.
Need help getting started? Reach out to your program success advisor or contact Mentorly support from the Help tab in your dashboard.