When you do email marketing, whether you’re already knee-deep in it or starting from scratch, you’re going to need to name a lot of things.
And if you’ve been using your email tech (eg ActiveCampaign) for a while now, or handed an existing account to work with, I bet there are already a lot of names of tags, custom fields, lists and emails that are… unhelpful.
Actually, let’s be honest here…
Most email marketing tech accounts have a total mess of random confusing names for everything, to the point where it’s like someone peeled off all the labels on hundreds of cans, tins and jars, and just messed with them to make your life hard.
Badly named tags, lists and automations can lead to costly mistakes and hours of time lost.
You need a naming convention to use for your email & automation tech tools.
Get your accounts organised enough that you can use things without getting lost, breaking stuff, or spending hours just looking for a tag and figuring out what it’s for.
It’s called a naming convention – or you can call it a tag taxonomy or just plain naming rules – best practice for naming stuff in your email tech – whether that’s MailChimp, MailerLite, ActiveCampaign, Kit, HighLevel or other option.
Read on for Kay Peacey’s best tips for you naming convention to name all the email-related things without losing your mind.
Note – we made this originally for ActiveCampaign users, but the principles apply no matter what email platform you’re using.
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Follow these steps to know how to name things in your email tech
Watch Kay Peacey on how to name things better in your email marketing tech (10 mins)
NOTE – we’ve used ActiveCampaign as the demo choice for this video – but the naming rules apply no matter what tech tool you’re using.
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Understand how naming conventions for will save you time money & stress
Why should you care enough to name tags, fields, forms and all the other email-related things using a system?
5 reasons you need a naming convention for ActiveCampaign or other email tech tools
- You need to understand what things are quickly and reliably.
- You need to be able to find things fast, using search & alphabetisation.
- ActiveCampaign (and other tech tools) need to be able to find things using their names.
- When you collaborate, they will need to know quickly what the names in your account mean.
- If you don’t, you will fall into the BIGGEST cause of error in email marketing tech accounts – names that are messed up, confusing or just plain wrong
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Learn best practice for naming Tags in ActiveCampaign or other email tech
A tag by any other name does not smell as sweet – even tiny mistakes with tag names break integrations, mess up automations, make your brain hurt, and winds up with the wrong things happening for your customers + a big time suck for your business.
Three tips for Tag naming best practice in ActiveCampaign
- Avoid Mixed Case
- Keep your tag names short
- Avoid special characters
Tag Taxonomy for email marketers – examples
- SOURCE: enquiry
- REG: tips webinar
- ADV: access
Be warned – changing existing tags once they’re in can be tricky – we have guidance in the Academy on how to do it safely. So if you are in a tag pickle right now, come get our help to fix it without breaking all the things on the way.
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Naming custom Fields in your email tech tool – eg ActiveCampaign
Custom Field names that are too long are a really bad idea in ActiveCampaign and other email tech tools.
Three tips for creating custom field names for email marketing
- Use lower case with spaces
- Keep your field names short
- Avoid ambiguous field names
Custom Field names best practice examples for email marketers
- role
- user registered
- exit feelings
- last webinar attended
Changing field names can be a really tricky job – especially because emails in campaigns and automations, and any integration tech, usually will need to use the exact matching characters of the field’s name, so that they can find and use field values for a contact.
We have guidance in the Academy on how to name and re-name fields safely, so if you are in a custom fields pickle, come get our help to fix it without breaking stuff or losing data.
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Know how to name email Campaigns so you can find them easily and analyse email reports
Email names are neglected in most email marketing accounts, and you only realise you messed up when you go to reports and contact activity, and can’t find anything you need.
Big time suck – and totally avoidable…
Three tips for email names in your email marketing tech:
1 For automation emails, include a short version of the automation name
2 For campaign emails, include keywords for the type of email it is
3 Never leave the name as blah blah blah (copy) – this is a recipe for disaster
Email names best practice examples for email marketers:
- ONBOARDING: welcome and group invite
- ONBOARDING: checkin
- WEBINAR: prep worksheet
- TOPIC: week 5 getting names right
In most email tech tools email names are totally internal and separate from the subject line.
Smart email naming makes life sooooo much easier for you – I promise!
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Read 5 essential rules for best practice email marketing naming taxonomy
You’re looking right now at your email tech account and thinking “gah!… I should have done these names differently…. Now what?”
5 rules for naming things better in email marketing tech
- Names must be human-friendly
Make them readable, comprehensible and memorable - Names must be short
Front-loading and alphabetical common sense applies - Names must be consistent
Variations are the enemy of safer naming and will scupper the ship - Names must not use special characters
In my experience only : and – are truly safe in all circumstances - Names must be documented
Neglect this at your peril – do not rely on your memory or your team’s telepathy
Stick with the rules, and you’ll be less likely to get rhubarb when you wanted chilli.
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FAQ on how to name Tags, Fields and Emails in Email Marketing tech – eg ActiveCampaign
Why should I care about what name a Tag has, or naming conventions?
Save time – Sensible clear names make it quicker to find and use things in your email tech
Prevent errors – Good naming conventions will mean far fewer errors for both humans and machines
What’s the best way to name Tags in ActiveCampaign?
Use ALLCAPS: for the category of the Tag
Use lowercase after that for details of the Tag
Can I use special characters in names for tags, fields, emails and more in email marketing tech?
Avoid them
Stick to simple characters like colons or hyphens to avoid issues – and definitely don’t use commas! This is a sensible rule to use for naming things anywhere in your digital world.
How should I name emails so we know what we sent and can use reports and analytics better?
Categorize and describe
Use a familiar category or acronym, then a concise description.
Date format for campaigns
For regular emails, a date format helps in organization.
What about changing existing names for tags etc in ActiveCampaign and other email marketing tech?
Map them first
Identify where the names are used before changing them.
Be cautious
Some names might be better left alone to avoid complications.
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Get more help with creating and using naming conventions
We offer training and support for Naming Things including rules, checklists, worked examples, and consistent calm advice on when and how to change names too. Much-needed for untangling messy email marketing tech accounts!
For documentation, the secret weapon is AirTable (using a template I developed specifically for ActiveCampaign accounts) – that’s available in the Academy and it’s totally worth joining for the time saved and stress magically gone away.
So now you know more about what you should be doing to make life easier for the humans and machines – this will save you time and money, make for a better customer experience, and help you to make more sales with marketing automation.
So come on in to the Academy, and you’ll have Kay Peacey and the Slick Business team, and all your lovely fellow members, to guide you every step of the way to fabulous profitable email marketing & automation.
Learn more about our Slick Business Academy
Fast effective Email & Automation training & support from Kay Peacey