# Tags

Label contacts with flexible, colour-coded tags for easy filtering.

## What are tags?

Tags are lightweight, freeform labels you attach to contacts to capture information that doesn't
belong in a dedicated field. Unlike custom fields, tags carry no value — a contact either has a
tag or they don't. That simplicity makes them fast to apply, easy to read at a glance, and
flexible enough to evolve with your business.

Every tag in SendBeam belongs to the workspace and can be applied to any number of contacts.
Tags are visible on the contact profile and on the Tags page, filter the Contacts list (and
with it bulk actions and exports), and drive automations through the *Tag Added* trigger
and the tag condition.

> Tags are workspace-wide. Every team member with access to the workspace can see and
> apply all tags.
> 

## Tags vs lists

SendBeam has two ways to group contacts: **lists** and **tags**. They
serve different purposes and work best together.

| Feature | Lists | Tags |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Primary purpose | Sending campaigns to a defined audience | Labelling contacts for filtering, bulk actions and automations |
| Opt-in / opt-out tracking | Yes — per list | No |
| Double opt-in | Yes — configurable per list | No |
| Used for campaign targeting | Yes — as the campaign audience | No — tags drive automations instead |
| Structure | Formal; contacts join and leave | Informal; applied and removed freely |

A good rule of thumb: use lists to manage *who receives your emails* and tags to describe
*who your contacts are* and *what they have done*. For example, you might send
your newsletter to the "Newsletter" list, and tag the contacts who bought something as
`customer` so an automation can send them a follow-up sequence.

> Tags pair especially well with [Automations](https://sendbeam.io/docs/automations). The
> **Tag Added** trigger starts a sequence the moment a tag is applied, and the
> **Add Tag** and **Remove Tag** steps let one automation hand off to
> another. Segments can filter on tags too: add a **Tag** rule with
> *has tag* or *does not have tag*, alongside any field or custom-field rules.
> 

## Common use cases

Here are some popular ways SendBeam customers use tags:

- **Customer tier** — `vip`, `customer`, `churned`
- **Lead source** — `webinar`, `referral`, `paid-search`, `organic`
- **Product interest** — `interested-pro`, `demo-requested`, `pricing-page`
- **Event attendance** — `summit-2025`, `launch-event`, `workshop-q1`
- **Engagement level** — `highly-engaged`, `at-risk`, `re-engaged`
- **Content preference** — `prefers-digest`, `blog-subscriber`, `video-only`
- **Sales stage** — `sql`, `mql`, `closed-won`

> Keep tag names lowercase and hyphenated for consistency. Tags like `vip` and
> `VIP` are treated as different tags in SendBeam, so agreeing on a naming convention
> early saves cleanup work later.
> 

## Tag colours

Each tag has a colour, chosen from the preset swatches or picked freely. Colours are purely
visual — they have no effect on automations or deliverability. Use them to make tags scannable
on contact profiles or to signal category at a glance.

Some teams organise colours by category:

- **Green** — positive signals (e.g. `vip`, `closed-won`)
- **Red** — risk signals (e.g. `churned`, `at-risk`, `unsubscribed-once`)
- **Blue** — lead source tags (e.g. `webinar`, `referral`)
- **Yellow** — event-based tags (e.g. `summit-2025`)
- **Purple** — internal / sales tags (e.g. `sql`, `mql`)

You can change a tag's colour at any time from the Tags page without affecting any contacts it
is applied to. See [Managing Tags](https://sendbeam.io/docs/tags/managing) for step-by-step instructions.

> Colour assignments are cosmetic only. An automation triggered by a tag fires for every
> contact given that tag regardless of the colour it has been given.
>

---
Source: https://sendbeam.io/docs/tags