If Keap (Or Infusionsoft as it’s otherwise known/been known), is part of your marketing mix, you’ll know that organisation is non-negotiable.
If you’re starting out with a small list of prospects and customers you’re looking to reach out to, everything is straightforward no matter what CRM you use.
But as you grow and add more contacts, things can quickly out of hand and before you know it, you’ve got a Frankenstein’s Monster of a CRM that’s got a mind of its own.
Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to keep (pun intended!) on top of things, such as knowing when to use a tag, when to use a segment and why it all matters.
At the most basic level:
- Tags = labels applied to contacts
- Segments = filtered groups of contacts based on conditions
- Lists = broader collections or categories of contacts
You might have multiple of each depending on how big your audience is and if you need to send emails to some but not others, you’ll definitely have more than one of each.
So, What Are Tags In Keap?
In effect, you can create a tag for any action they take so that it triggers an automation or so that they’re added to a list that you regularly send to – maybe it’s an abandoned cart sequence, as an example.
One contact can have dozens of tags if needed, which is why tagging becomes such a powerful way to track activity over time and it can be useful to track the lifetime of that one prospect or customer.
Applying tags can be done manually (which is useful when you’re doing some list cleansing) but it can also be done automatically when an action is triggered, like clicking a link in an email, filling in a form or even purchasing something from your website.
In many Keap accounts, tags effectively become the “language” your automations use to communicate with each other, and even if you don’t have any automations, tags make your life a heck of a lot easier if you ever decide to create them further down the line.
What Are Segments in Keap?
Rather than storing information like tags do, segments pull together contacts who meet specific criteria.
For example, you might create a segment for:
- Prospects who opened the last three emails
- Customers who haven’t purchased in six months
- Contacts tagged “Event Attendee” who haven’t booked a call
- People in the West Midlands interested in leadership training
Segments help you send more relevant emails to more relevant people, so if you’re looking to push a new event to people who’ve already attended an event with you, you’re free to use language like ‘see you again?’ without worrying that it won’t resonate with the recipient.
And that matters because relevance is what improves engagement: the more targeted your marketing becomes, the more likely people are to open, click and ultimately take action.
Segments can include (but are not limited to):
- Tags
- Purchase history
- Lead source
- Geography
- Engagement
- Custom fields
- Campaign activity
- Appointment history
And because segments update dynamically, your audience updates automatically as contacts meet (or stop meeting) the criteria, which is what makes your CRM a living, breathing entity.
What About Lists in Keap?
This is where things can get slightly muddled and if you’re a little bit confused, have no fear. In older CRM systems, businesses often created separate lists for completely different audiences, which is logical.
But in Keap, your best strategy is to get granular with your tags and segments, rather than lists. It works best with one central database that has clear segments, rather than having completely separate audiences trying to exist in the same CRM.
That’s not to say they don’t have their uses if you have more than one brand or business you’re mailing from, although in those instances you might want to have a degree of separation between them to avoid any issues with data anyway.
To cut a long story short, your best bet with day-to-day organisation and automation is to let tags and segments do the heavy lifting.
How Do Tags and Segments Work Together in Keap?
Keap is an incredibly in-depth CRM, if you want it to be.
That means where other platforms focus on simply being great at sending emails and automations, Keap (or Infusionsoft) can go a step further and really tie everything together.
Let’s take the example of a prospect downloading a guide they’ve found on your website – that’s great stuff, they’re not quite ready to buy but they’re interested and want to find out more info.
But if all that data capture does is slot them into your weekly emails, they’re getting a reminder but they’re not getting that ‘personal’ touch. So, in Keap you can create an automated sequence that then adds a tag to say they’ve ‘downloaded Lead Magnet’, they get added to the intro sequence for people that have downloaded the guide, asking if they need any more info, gently introducing you to them, with regular communications.
Inside those emails will be more links to your services, pricing pages and more. If they click any of those, they’re added to another list, so that a sales nurture automation is triggered.
You can then build a segment of ‘People interested in Service X who visited the pricing page but haven’t booked a call’, as an example. Which lets you get really detailed and specific on who you’re speaking to – and the best thing is that all the work is done up front.
But when your tags, segments and automations are structured properly, everything becomes easier. Your targeting is better, your customer journeys are more specific and easier to track, you can tweak your processes based on that information, and you can follow-up with more detail than you’ve ever had before.
All of which gives you a better chance of nurturing your audience and when the time comes, a better chance of converting them into customers.
How Should I Structure My Tags And Segments?
For most businesses, a good starting point will be something along these lines:
- Tags are best used for tracking things that are measurable, such as ‘booked call’ or ‘prospect’
- Segments are better for targeted campaigns based on tags and data, so it could be an email to all prospects who have clicked a link or taken an action beyond opening an email
- Lists are more for high-level organisation, so they might not be relevant for all
Like with any marketing, the key is to be organised and consistent. Regular communication, no matter how good, bad or indifferent will outperform occasional brilliance by ensuring that you’re more likely to be top of mind when the right time comes for a prospect to become a customer.
Getting emails out of the door is always better than not, whatever the situation is.
Keap is a powerful CRM and one that can be overwhelming at first glance but the most important thing is finding a structure that works FOR your business, because that’s ultimately the goal.
The difficult part is building a structure that actually works for your business long term.
And remember, you need to actually use system consistently enough for it to become useful!
Who Are 3XM?
We’re 3XM Marketing, our goal is to generate you more leads and get more customers.
Simple, right?
The 3XM Marketing team with the ‘Best Strategic Marketing Firm’ Midlands Enterprise award from SME News.
If you’re looking for a strategic marketing partner to work with and ensure you’re doing the right stuff (and getting it to the right people) and you want to make sure it happens… consistently, then we can help.
Across our team, we’ve got most marketing bases covered, from strategy to copywriting, from paid traffic to CRMs, and we can work closely with you to:
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