Using ActiveCampaign Tags vs Lists. What’s the Difference?

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Lists vss Tags in ActiveCampaign

In ActiveCampaign, lists and tags are used to organize and segment contacts for targeted marketing campaigns, but they serve different purposes.

Lists are used to group contacts based on specific criteria such as location, subscription date, or interests. Contacts can be manually added or removed from a list or through automation based on specific actions or behaviors.

Tags, on the other hand, are used to identify specific characteristics or behaviors of a contact. A tag can be added to a contact manually or through automation when a specific action or behavior is performed. For example, if a contact clicks on a link in an email, they can be automatically tagged with a specific tag indicating their interest in that topic.

Lists help send targeted messages to a specific group of contacts, while tags can personalize communication based on a contact’s interests or behaviors.

In this article, we will learn what lists and tags are in ActiveCampaign. We will also discuss the difference between multiple lists and tags and when to use them. At the end of the article, we will discuss how to segment contacts using lists and tags in ActiveCampaign.

Article Highlights

  • In ActiveCampaign, we use lists to group contacts based on shared characteristics or attributes, such as location or membership status.
  • In ActiveCampaign, we use tags to track individual contacts’ interests, behaviors, or actions, such as attendance or engagement.
  • There are pros and cons to using lists and tags, and the best approach depends on your specific business needs and goals.
  • When using lists and tags, it’s essential to use them strategically and avoid creating too many categories or duplicating information.
ActiveCampaign Tags vs Lists

Table of Contents

In this article, we will cover the following topics.

  1. What are Lists in ActiveCampaign?
  2. What are Tags in ActiveCampaign?
  3. Using Multiple Lists vs Tags For Managing Contacts in ActiveCampaign.
  4. When Should You Use Lists vs Tags?
  5. ActiveCampaign Contact Segment into Lists & Tags Examples?
  6. The difference between Tags & Lists in ActiveCampaign Summary.

What are Lists in ActiveCampaign

In ActiveCampaign, a list is a collection of contacts with certain characteristics or criteria. Lists can organize and segment contacts based on location, interests, or subscription date.

Lists can be created manually by importing contacts or adding them individually. They can also be created automatically through automation rules. Contacts can be added to or removed from a list at any time.

Lists are a useful feature of ActiveCampaign because they allow you to send targeted messages to a specific group of contacts. For example, create a list of customers who have purchased a particular product and send them a targeted email campaign promoting related products or services.

Lists can also suppress certain contacts from receiving a particular message. For example, create a list of contacts who have already signed up for a webinar and exclude them from receiving a promotional email about the same webinar.

Lists are a powerful tool for organizing and segmenting your contacts in ActiveCampaign and can help you send more targeted and effective marketing messages.

What are Tags in ActiveCampaign

In ActiveCampaign, a tag is a label or keyword used to identify specific characteristics or behaviors of a contact. Tags can be used to segment contacts based on their interests, actions they have taken, or other identifying factors.

Tags can be added to contacts manually or automatically through automation rules. For example, you might create a tag for contacts who have clicked on a particular link in an email or for contacts who have attended a specific event.

Tags are a powerful tool in ActiveCampaign because they allow you to personalize your communication based on a contact’s interests or behaviors. For example, you might create an automation rule that sends a targeted email campaign to contacts who have been tagged with a particular interest, promoting a product or service that is relevant to that interest.

Tags can also exclude specific contacts from receiving a particular message. For example, create a rule that excludes contacts who have already purchased a product from receiving a promotional email about that product.

Tags are a flexible and effective way to segment your contacts in ActiveCampaign and deliver more personalized and targeted marketing messages.

Using Multiple Lists vs Tags For Managing Contacts in ActiveCampaign

In ActiveCampaign, lists and tags are powerful tools for managing and segmenting your contacts. While there is some overlap in functionality, each has its strengths and best use cases.

Lists are best used to group contacts based on specific criteria, such as location, subscription date, or interests. Lists help send targeted messages to a specific group of contacts and manage contacts with different subscription preferences or at different stages in the customer journey.

Tags, however, are best used to identify specific characteristics or behaviors of a contact. They can personalize communication based on a contact’s interests or actions and track their engagement with your marketing campaigns. Tags help create targeted automation rules and trigger actions based on specific behaviors.

It’s best to use a combination of lists and tags to manage your contacts in ActiveCampaign. For example, you might use lists to segment your contacts by location or subscription preferences and tags to identify their interests or actions on your website or email campaign. This approach will help you create more targeted and effective marketing campaigns and ensure your contacts receive the most relevant messages possible.

Pros / Cons of Multiple Lists

Pros of using multiple lists in ActiveCampaign:

  1. Improved segmentation: Using multiple lists allows you to segment your contacts more effectively based on specific criteria such as location, interests, or subscription preferences.
  2. Targeted messaging: With multiple lists, you can send more targeted messages to specific groups of contacts, resulting in higher engagement rates and conversions.
  3. Clear organization: Using multiple lists can help you organize your contacts and make managing your campaigns and automation rules easier.

Cons of using multiple lists in ActiveCampaign:

  1. Over-segmentation: Too many lists can result in over-segmentation, making it harder to manage and communicate effectively with your contacts.
  2. Duplicate contacts: If you have contacts that belong to multiple lists, you may end up with duplicate contacts in your database, which can lead to confusion and errors.
  3. Difficulty tracking engagement: With multiple lists, tracking engagement and behavior across all your contacts can be harder, resulting in missed opportunities for targeted messaging.

Pros / Cons of Tags

Pros of using tags in ActiveCampaign:

  1. Granular segmentation: Tags allow for more granular segmentation of contacts based on specific behaviors, interests, or other characteristics, resulting in more targeted messaging and higher engagement rates.
  2. Personalization: Tags enable personalized communication based on a contact’s interests and behaviors, which can help build stronger relationships and drive more conversions.
  3. Automation rules: Tags can trigger automation rules and actions based on specific behaviors or interests, streamlining your marketing workflow and saving time.
  4. Easy to manage: Tags are easy to manage and can be added or removed from contacts with just a few clicks, making it simple to update and adjust your segmentation strategy as needed.

Cons of using tags in ActiveCampaign:

  1. Tag proliferation: Managing tags can become overwhelming and complicated when you have too many. This can lead to confusion and potential errors in your marketing campaigns.
  2. Inconsistent tagging: Without a clear tagging strategy, it can be easy to apply tags inconsistently, leading to incorrect segmentation and personalized messaging.
  3. Limited visibility: While tags help track specific behaviors or interests, they may provide a partial picture of a contact’s engagement with your brand.

When Should You Use Lists vs. Tags

ActiveCampaign lists are best used for broad segmentation and subscription management, while tags are best used for identifying specific behaviors or interests and personalizing communication. Using lists and complementary tags is essential to create more effective and targeted marketing campaigns that drive results.

Use ActiveCampaign Lists When:

  • For broad segmentation: Use lists to segment your contacts into broad categories based on criteria such as location, subscription preferences, or stage in the customer journey.
  • For subscription management: Use lists when you need to manage contacts with different subscription preferences or who have opted in to receive different marketing messaging from your brand.
  • For organizational purposes: Use lists when you need to keep your contacts organized and make managing your campaigns and automation rules easier.

Use ActiveCampaign Tags When:

  • For specific behaviors or interests: Use tags to identify specific behaviors or interests of your contacts, such as their engagement with specific emails or their interactions on your website.
  • For personalization: Use tags to personalize your communication based on a contact’s interests and behaviors, which can help build stronger relationships and drive more conversions.
  • For automation rules: Use tags when you want to trigger automation rules and actions based on specific behaviors or interests, streamlining your marketing workflow and saving time.

ActiveCampaign Contact Segment into Lists & Tags Examples

Here are some examples of how to segment your ActiveCampaign contacts into lists and tags:

Lists:

  • New Subscribers: This list would include all new subscribers who have recently signed up for your email list or newsletter.
  • Customers: This list would include all your customers who have purchased from your business.
  • Location-based Lists: You could create separate lists for contacts in different locations or regions, allowing you to deliver targeted messaging and promotions to specific geographic areas.

Tags:

  • Email Engagement: Use tags to track engagement with your emails, such as opening, clicking, or forwarding. This can help you identify your most engaged contacts and tailor your messaging accordingly.
  • Website Behavior: Use tags to track specific website behavior, such as pages visited or products viewed. This can help you identify contacts interested in specific products or topics and personalize your communication accordingly.
  • Lead Magnet Interests: Use tags to track which lead magnets or opt-in incentives your contacts have responded to. This can help you deliver more relevant content and offers based on their interests.
  • Event Attendance: Use tags to track which contacts have attended events or webinars hosted by your business. This can help you identify and target your most engaged contacts with specific promotions or messaging.

By combining lists and tags, you can create more targeted and personalized communication that resonates with your contacts and drives more conversions for your business.

Segment ActiveCampaign Contacts with Lists Example

Here is an example of how you might segment your ActiveCampaign contacts using lists:

Let’s say you run an online store that sells outdoor gear and apparel. You want to segment your contacts based on their interests and purchase behavior to deliver more targeted messaging and promotions.

  • New Subscribers: You create a list for all new subscribers who have recently signed up for your email list or newsletter. You can use this list to welcome new subscribers and deliver a special discount or offer to incentivize their first purchase.
  • Customers: You create a list of customers purchased from your online store. You can use this list to deliver targeted messaging and promotions based on their purchase history, such as cross-selling related products or offering a loyalty discount.
  • Location-based Lists: You create separate lists for contacts in different locations or regions. This allows you to deliver targeted messaging and promotions to specific geographic areas, such as promoting rain gear to rainy areas or winter apparel to contacts in colder regions.
  • Interests: You create lists for different interests, such as camping, hiking, and skiing. You can use these lists to deliver more targeted content and promotions based on a contact’s interests.
  • Engagement: You create lists of contacts who have engaged with your emails in different ways, such as opening, clicking, or forwarding. This allows you to deliver more targeted messaging and promotions based on their engagement behavior.

By segmenting your contacts into these lists, you can deliver more targeted messaging and promotions based on their interests, location, and behavior. This can lead to higher engagement rates and more conversions for your business.

Segment ActiveCampaign Contacts with Tags Example

We will use the same example as we used in the lists. Let’s say you run an online store that sells beauty products. You want to segment your contacts based on their interests and behavior to deliver more targeted messaging and promotions.

  • Product Interest: You use tags to track which products your contacts have shown interest in. For example, if a contact has viewed a product page for hair care products, you would tag them with “hair care.” This allows you to deliver more targeted messaging and promotions based on their interests.
  • Email Engagement: You use tags to track engagement with your emails, such as opening, clicking, or forwarding. This lets you identify your most engaged contacts and tailor your messaging accordingly. For example, send a special promotion or offer to contacts who have opened your last three emails.
  • Lead Magnet: You use tags to track which lead magnets or opt-in incentives your contacts have responded to. This allows you to deliver more relevant content and offers based on their interests. For example, if a contact has downloaded a guide on “natural skincare,” you would tag them with “natural skincare” and send them more relevant content and offers.
  • Purchase Behavior: You use tags to track purchase behavior, such as which products they have purchased or how much they have spent. This allows you to deliver targeted messaging and promotions based on their purchase history. For example, you might offer a loyalty discount or recommend related products to a recently purchased customer.
  • Event Attendance: You use tags to track which contacts have attended events or webinars hosted by your business. This lets you identify and target your most engaged contacts with specific promotions or messaging.

Segment ActiveCampaign Contacts Using Both Lists & Tags Example

Here is an example of how to segment your ActiveCampaign contacts using both lists and tags:

Let’s say you run a fitness center and want to segment your contacts based on their interests, behavior, and membership status.

Segment ActiveCampaign Contacts Using Lists:

  • New Subscribers: You create a list for all new subscribers who have recently signed up for your email list or newsletter. You can use this list to welcome new subscribers and deliver a special discount or offer to incentivize them to sign up for a membership.
  • Membership Status: You create lists based on the membership status of your contacts, such as active members, expired members, or non-members. This allows you to deliver targeted messaging and promotions based on their membership status, such as offering a discount to expired members to encourage them to renew their membership.
  • Location-based Lists: You create separate lists for contacts in different locations or regions. This allows you to deliver targeted messaging and promotions to specific geographic areas, such as promoting classes or events in a particular location.

Segment ActiveCampaign Contacts Using Tags:

  • Class Interests: You use tags to track which classes or programs your contacts have expressed interest in. For example, if a contact has attended a yoga class, you would tag them with “yoga.” This allows you to deliver targeted messaging and promotions based on their specific interests.
  • Attendance Behavior: You use tags to track attendance behavior, such as which classes or events they have attended or how often they attend. This lets you identify your most engaged contacts and tailor your messaging accordingly.
  • Email Engagement: You use tags to track engagement with your emails, such as opening, clicking, or forwarding. This lets you identify your most engaged contacts and tailor your messaging accordingly.

By segmenting your contacts using lists and tags, you can deliver more targeted and personalized communication that resonates with your contacts and drives more engagement and membership signups for your fitness center. For example, you can send a targeted promotion for a yoga class to contacts who have attended a yoga class and are active members, increasing the likelihood of them signing up for the class.

The Difference Between Tags & Lists in ActiveCampaign

In ActiveCampaign, we use lists to group contacts together based on shared characteristics, while we use tags to track specific interests and behaviors of individual contacts.

Both lists and tags are important tools for organizing and segmenting contacts in ActiveCampaign, and the choice of which to use depends on the specific needs of your marketing campaigns.

Using tags or lists (or both) depends on your business needs and goals. Using tags and lists together can provide a more comprehensive understanding of your contacts and allow for more targeted and personalized communication.

Our ActiveCampaign Article Series

This is one of many articles in our series on the ActiveCampaign email marketing software. Feel free to check out the entire series below to dig deeper into ActiveCampaign.

Get Started at ActiveCampaign

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