Tags offer a flexible way to organize contacts and can be used in automation triggers and as conditions in conditional content. They are meant to represent temporary data and are very easy to apply to contacts. For example, tags can be added to contacts manually or by automations, forms, link clicks, integrations, and API calls.
Because tags are easy to create, you may end up with too many tags or a disorganized tagging system. However, following these best practices can help you avoid what could be a confusing or even frustrating situation.
Plan your tagging system
What tags do you need and how will you use them?
This is an important question to ask yourself for two reasons. First, it will prevent you from creating tags simply to create tags. Second, when you see the tags you're going to create, it helps you identify and define a logical structure.
For instance, you might decide that you want to tag your contact's by the category of recruitment Event that they register for, or the financial category of a gift to the institution. You might decide that it is logical to have a structure like:
Event - Open House
Event - Virtual Meeting
Event - Campus Tour
Gift - Annual fund
Gift - Basketball
Keep it simple but be descriptive
Some people like to use acronyms and codes in their tags because it creates a shorter tag. The downside is that tags become cryptic and difficult to decode. If you choose to do this, be sure that you use the description feature of the Tag Manager to document what the tag's purpose is and what it means.
Even though your tags may become longer, it's good practice to make them as straightforward as possible. For instance, “Visited pricing page” might be a fine tag. You know exactly what it means and you'll never forget.
Use consistent naming conventions
Some people use brackets:
[GIFT] Annual Fund
Some people use colons:
Gift: Annual Fund
Or dashes:
Event - Fall Open House
Categorize your tags
You can also use a naming convention to categorize your tags. For instance, you might have a group of tags that indicates different behaviors:
[ACTION] Downloaded view book
[ACTION] Clicked link
[ACTION] Opened campaign
[ACTION] Visited web page
Or, you might have tags that indicate extracurricular interests:
Interest - Student Government
Interest - Intramurals
Interest - Photography
You can use any special character so choose whatever notation style makes the most sense to you.
Prune your tags regularly
Even with a plan, you'll probably find that your list of tags continuously expands. Make a point of regularly reviewing your tags and removing the tags that are redundant or unnecessary. The Tag Manager makes it easy to see all your tags, delete them, and merge duplicates into a single tag.