Categories, Tags, and Sources Overview

Why This Matters

Once your contacts are in the system, the next step is keeping them organized. The CRM gives you three powerful tools for doing that: Categories, Tags, and Sources. Each one serves a unique purpose in helping you group, filter, and understand your contacts.

Together, they turn your list from a flat spreadsheet into an organized, searchable, and intelligent database. Categories provide structure, Tags add flexibility and detail, and Sources help you track where your contacts are coming from—all working together to give you a complete picture of your relationships.

Watch & Learn

🎥 Video: Categories, Tags and Sources

What Categories, Tags, and Sources Do

Stay Organized and Focused: Without structure, your contact list can quickly become overwhelming. Using Categories, Tags, and Sources consistently gives you instant clarity—making it easy to find, sort, and work with the right people at the right time.

Target the Right People: You can filter contacts by their relationship type, interests, or where they came from. This helps you build precise lists for follow-ups, marketing campaigns, or reports.

Automate with Confidence: Well-organized data powers accurate automations. Workflows, campaigns, and follow-up plans rely on clean Categories and Tags to send the right messages to the right people automatically.

Measure What's Working: Tracking Sources over time shows you which marketing efforts bring in the most valuable leads. It's an easy way to identify what's driving your growth.

Even if your list is small, start organizing early. You'll thank yourself later when your database grows and automations come into play.

Understanding Each Tool

Categories: The Big Picture

Each contact has one Category—a high-level label that defines what type of contact they are. It's your top-level way to understand someone's role or relationship to your business.

Common examples include Client, Prospect, Vendor, Referral Partner, and Past Client.

Think of Categories as answering the question: "What is this person to my business?" Since each contact can have only one Category, keep your list short and simple. Broad terms like "Client" and "Prospect" work better than overly specific ones like "Real Estate Client Who Bought in 2023."

Tags: Flexible and Detailed

Tags are stackable, flexible labels that add detail beyond Categories. A contact can have as many Tags as you need, allowing for precise sorting and automation triggers.

Common examples include:

Status: Hot Lead, Needs Follow-Up, Not Interested, Cold Lead

Interest: Product A, Wants Demo, Newsletter Subscriber, Attended Webinar

Internal Tracking: VIP, Needs Call, Owner Managed, High Value

Think of Tags as answering questions like: "What do they care about?" "What stage are they in?" "What internal notes do I need?" Since contacts can have multiple Tags, you can layer details to create highly specific segments like "Hot Lead + Product A + VIP."

The AI Tag Wizard can suggest useful tags and icons based on your industry, helping you set up a consistent tagging system quickly without starting from scratch.

Sources: Where They Came From

Each contact has one Source, which identifies how they entered your database. This helps you track marketing and referral performance over time.

Common examples include Website, Referral, Networking Event, Facebook Ad, Trade Show, Cold Outreach, and LinkedIn.

Think of Sources as answering: "How did this person find me?" Tracking this consistently lets you measure ROI on marketing efforts. If 60% of your clients come from referrals but you're spending heavily on ads, that's valuable information that changes where you invest your time and budget.

Quick Reference: When to Use Each Tool

How to Assign Categories, Tags, and Sources

You can assign these organizational tools in several ways:

On Individual Contact Records: Open any contact record and you'll find Category and Source dropdown fields near the top. Click Tags to add or remove multiple tags. Changes save automatically.

During Import: When importing contacts, you can assign a Category, Tag, or Source to the entire batch, or map columns from your spreadsheet to these fields so each contact brings their own values.

Using Group Actions: Select multiple contacts from your Contact List and use Group Actions to assign Categories, add or remove Tags, or set Sources in bulk. This is the fastest way to organize large groups.

Through Workflows: Automate organization by building workflows that assign Categories, add Tags, or set Sources based on contact behavior or form submissions.

Via API or Integrations: If you're using external tools or custom integrations, you can pass Category, Tag, and Source data directly when creating or updating contacts.

Setting Up Your Lists

Before you start assigning, customize your lists to match your business:

To manage Categories: Go to Settings → Categories. Add, edit, or delete options. Keep your list short—5 to 10 Categories is ideal for most businesses.

To manage Tags: Go to Settings → Tags. Create tags manually or use the AI Tag Wizard. You can assign colors and icons to make tags visually distinct. Feel free to create as many as needed, but stay consistent with naming conventions.

To manage Sources: Go to Settings → Sources. Add every marketing channel or lead source you use. The more specific you are here, the better your marketing insights will be.

Using Categories, Tags, and Sources Together

The real power comes from combining all three tools. Here are practical examples:

Targeted Campaign: Find all contacts where Category = Client AND Tag = Newsletter Subscriber AND Source = Referral. Send them a referral incentive campaign thanking them for their loyalty and encouraging more referrals.

Lead Prioritization: Filter for Category = Prospect AND Tag = Hot Lead AND Source = Website. These are your highest-priority leads who need immediate follow-up.

Marketing Analysis: Compare conversion rates across Sources. If LinkedIn generates more clients than Facebook Ads despite fewer total leads, shift your budget accordingly.

Automated Workflows: Build a workflow that triggers when someone fills out a website form. Automatically set Category = Prospect, add Tag = New Lead, set Source = Website, and send a welcome email. The contact is organized and nurtured without manual work.

Questions and Answers

Q: Can I use Categories, Tags, and Sources together?

A: Yes. They're designed to complement each other. Use Categories for broad grouping, Tags for detail, and Sources for marketing insight.

Q: How do I decide between using a Category or a Tag?

A: If it defines who the contact is, use a Category. If it describes something about them (interest, status, or internal note), use a Tag. Ask yourself: "Is this their primary relationship to my business (Category) or additional detail (Tag)?"

Q: Can Tags trigger automations?

A: Yes. Tags are commonly used as triggers in workflows and campaigns, helping you automate follow-ups and actions based on contact attributes or behavior.

Q: Can I change a contact's Category, Tags, or Source later?

A: Absolutely. You can edit any of these fields anytime directly on the contact record. Changes take effect immediately and won't break existing workflows.

Q: Is there a limit to the number of Tags I can use?

A: No. You can add as many Tags as you need, but it's best to keep your list organized and consistent to avoid confusion.

Q: What happens if I import contacts that already have Categories or Tags?

A: The import process can map and preserve that information. You can also assign new Categories, Tags, or Sources during import to ensure consistency.

Q: I have too many Tags and my list is messy. How do I clean it up?

A: Go to Settings → Tags and review your list. Delete duplicates or unused tags, and rename similar tags to create consistency. Before deleting, note that removing a tag removes it from all contacts using it.

Q: Should I create Categories or Tags first?

A: Start with Categories since they provide the foundational structure. Then add Tags as you discover the details you need to track. Sources can be added as you identify your marketing channels.

Q: Can I see which contacts have a specific Category, Tag, or Source?

A: Yes. Go to Settings and select Categories, Tags, or Sources. Click the number in the "Contacts with this [field]" column to see everyone assigned to that option. You can also use Advanced Search or filter your Contact List.

Guide Type: Feature Overview

Estimated Time: 7 minutes

Next Guides: How to Use Advanced Search, Tags Overview, How to Use Group Actions

Video Transcript

This is the Category screen in settings.

Categories give you a way to classify your contacts. Once you have a category assigned to each contact your whole database will make a lot more sense.

Please note that each contact can only be assigned to one category.

You will use tags when a contact fits into several different groups.

When you first get the system the default categories are: client, future client, past client and other.

We use the term client but if customer or patient or some other term fits your business better, you can easily change the label by clicking on the category, like this…

In fact, these labels are completely customizable, you can change them to whatever you would like, and add as many categories as you want to.

However, before you change these – check out Category 2 and tags. Those might be the ones you want to customize rather than these.

When each of your contacts is assigned to one of these categories you will be able to search and bring up your past customers for example, in seconds.

One of the easy ways to do this is right here. Click on the number next to the category and the system will show you all of the contacts in that category.

If you ever want to delete a category, you are just deleting the category. You are not deleting the contacts in that category.