Tags or Fields? Do you fully understand when to use each?
Zoho CRM is a powerful tool for managing customer relationships, but effective data organisation is crucial for optimising its potential. Two common ways to categorise and segment data within Zoho CRM are tags and fields. While both serve to organise information, they do so in different ways. Understanding when to use each can enhance your CRM’s efficiency, reporting capabilities, and segmentation strategies.
Tags vs Fields: Key Differences
Fields are predefined data points used to capture specific information about a record. Fields are structured and typically include things like contact details (name, phone number, email) or sales-related data (deal size, sales stage, closing date). Fields are fixed within the CRM structure and are essential for creating standard reports and automating processes.
Tags, on the other hand, are flexible labels that you can assign to any record, offering a way to organise data more dynamically. Tags are typically used for categorising records based on characteristics that don’t necessarily fit neatly into a field. For example, you could tag leads as “High Priority,” “Cold Lead,” or “New Inquiry,” which provides an extra layer of flexibility without altering the record structure.
When to Use Tags and Fields
Fields are most appropriate for capturing core information that remains consistent across your organisation, such as customer names, addresses, or deal values. These are essential for creating structured reports, setting up automations, and ensuring consistency across all records.
Tags are best used for dynamic, situational, or one-off information that is not suited to a field, such as marketing campaign status, product interests, or specific event attendance. Tags help segment your CRM data in ways that are adaptable and can evolve with your business needs. Zoho give some practical tips on how to work with tags.
Organising Data for Better Reporting and Segmentation
To maximise the power of Zoho CRM, it’s essential to balance the use of tags and fields. Fields help with data integrity and provide reliable inputs for reporting tools and filters. Tags, on the other hand, offer a flexible way to group records for easier segmentation. For example, you can use tags to segment leads based on how they came to your business, their stage in the sales funnel, or their engagement with recent campaigns.
Practical Tips for Managing Data
- Regularly clean up your tags to avoid clutter. Too many irrelevant or redundant tags can confuse your reports.
- Use custom fields to capture unique data that is vital for your specific industry or business model.
- Combine fields and tags in your CRM reports to provide a holistic view of your data, enabling more granular insights.
In Conclusion ...
By understanding when to use tags versus fields, you can ensure your CRM is organised, streamlined, and optimised for both reporting and segmentation.
We provide more support and information at our free-to-join Zoho CRM MasterClass on this topic, on 11th June 2025. Register here.
If you’re reading this after that date, you can download this MasterClass, and all others, from our Udemy MasterClass Library.
As ever, if you have questions or are looking for help in creating automation for your Zoho CRM system, contact a Zoho Expert at Inner Core Solutions, today.
