Tip 40: Pros and Cons of Custom Fields and Tags

If Highrise is a Swiss Army Knife to keep up with your contacts; tags and custom fields are the two most import tools of that knife. Both provide options to segment or categorize your contacts, and track important context to create a better relationship with the people that matter to you.

But this brings up an important question:

Why should I use a custom field instead of a tag? Or a tag instead of a custom field?

The best answer here is a question. What are you looking to accomplish?

While tags and custom fields are similar, there are advantages and disadvantages to both. Let’s cover these in more detail.

Pros of using tags

• less effort to add/edit/remove
• available to all users (account owner, admins, and non-admins)
• powerful filtering options: company tags, excluding tags, option to filter on the mobile apps
• each tag has its own dropbox address for tracking email
• update contacts to perform bulk actions: delete all contacts or finding contacts without an email address or who didn’t open a Broadcast message
• show activity of all tagged contacts and receive daily digest emails

Pros of using custom fields

• store unique values for contacts (customer id, account number, etc.)
• more secure, only the account owner and admins can add custom fields
• option to add select pre-defined values for data integrity, allows for sub-categories
• filter options include OR functionality (filter by contacts with customer id: 123 or has requested demo: yes

Cons of using tags

• harder to restore, any user can delete/edit/remove tags
• no defined options, spelling mistakes or incorrect tags can be created
• too general, the more tags in your account, the harder it is to manage them
• only and functionality when filtering, there is a workaround

Cons of using custom fields

• no option to track activity off a custom field alone
• it’s a chore to update custom field values, it can be done in bulk through an export and import
• less filtering options: no support to filter by empty custom field, exclude values in a custom field, etc.
• no option for users to edit or remove custom fields can cause confusion
• only show in alphabetical order, there is a workaround now

So when should I use a tag?

Tags are best for general categorizations amongst contacts. Think of a category that has zero or only one sub-category, this makes for a good tag.

Before creating or adding a tag, ask yourself can this be used on 100 or more contacts?

If so, it’s probably a good use for a tag. For example, you might use a tag if you have 1500 contacts that are prospects.

Why?

• it’s general enough that it can be used on a large group, 1500 contacts
• not every contact is likely to remain a prospect, remember, tags are easier to add/edit/remove
• you can track email with the tag, and view all activity for contacts with the tag

Another example might be if you have a few hundred contacts that are attending a specific conference or event.

So when should I use a custom field?

Custom fields are best for unique categorizations of contacts. Think of a category that is specific or has two or more specific sub-categories.

Before creating a custom field, ask yourself is this specific enough where it’s seldom to need to change and unique to several contacts?

If so, this is a good use of a custom field. For example, you might use a custom field if you’re storing a Billing ID for customers.

Why?

• this is specific enough of a value that it’s going to be unique for almost every contact
• this value should never change or seldomly change
• you can easily filter by the Billing ID to find the exact contact

Another example might be if your tracking an account plan (solo, team, unlimited) for a product.

Does this give you a better idea on the differences of custom fields and tags? If you still have questions, please email our support team.