Individual segment instances can be either transient or persistent. A persistent instance is created for a customer who is logged in. A transient instance is created for an anonymous user, although it becomes persistent when the customer either logs in or registers.

Note that transient instances are not counted toward the maximum number of segment instances, and expired transient instances are not purged. However, new transient instances of a segment cannot be created if the number of persistent instances is at the maximum.

When persisting a transient segment instance, a check is first made to see if the count of existing persistent instances has reached the maximum. If the current count is less than the maximum, the transient instance is persisted. If the count has reached the maximum, the transient instance is not persisted.