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Hi - Does anyone have any suggestions as to which feature is used to tag conversations? Topics or tags?


Hi - Does anyone have any suggestions as to which feature is used to tag conversations? Topics or tags?

 

Which of these features is the best for reporting purposes?

 

Thanks!

7 replies

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  • Active User
  • 31 replies
  • April 7, 2023

it really depends on what you are trying to do with reporting.  In my opinion, tags are NOT the way to go if you are trying to create reporting for your conversations.

Instead, create Conversation Data attributes (make sure they are list and not text style)

Then, you can set values for these fields in your resolution bot answers, or rules or in your custom bots.

This way, you have a separate column for that information in your exports, and its much easier to get.

When you use List style conversation data fields, you can also use those to filter any reports in intercom.  if you use txt style fields, they are not available for filtering.

Topics can automatically be assigned if the conversation matches your criteria, but this doesn’t always tell you what you need to know. 

 

for example, we have set up the following conversation data attributes:

Bot, account type, primary reason, secondary reason, etc 

So, during various steps of the custom bot, like after they select which account they want to talk about, the bot will set the “account type” field to the correct value based on their response.  

The primary reason is set after they choose from the first set of reply buttons, and secondary is next.  This allows us to understand what path the user went through in the bot before finally getting to an agent.

note that the one challenge with this right now (intercom please fix this!) is that the data exports and APIs have a hard time getting the conversation data attributes out because of the way they appear in the json.  So, if this is your primary source of data for reporting, consider that.


Graziela
Innovator ✨
Forum|alt.badge.img+2
  • Innovator ✨
  • 43 replies
  • November 27, 2024

Here, I personally prefer using tags because you can classify with multiple tags, whereas attributes cannot.

I also use tags for macros and can create a report to understand recurring topics—whether they are tasks my team needs to address, product feedback, etc. I also use them for incidents, which helps me analyze the volume in case one occurs.


Milan
Expert User ✨
Forum|alt.badge.img+5
  • Top Expert
  • 306 replies
  • November 27, 2024

There’s one thing why Topics have advantage over all the other - and that is that they work retroactively - you can set up topic and Intercom will go through the whole conversations history it has and will associate conversations to the topic automatically. You can not do that with tags and custom attributes. 


John Beynon
  • New Participant
  • 1 reply
  • January 8, 2025
Milan wrote:

There’s one thing why Topics have advantage over all the other - and that is that they work retroactively - you can set up topic and Intercom will go through the whole conversations history it has and will associate conversations to the topic automatically. You can not do that with tags and custom attributes. 

I think one problem with this though for reporting purposes is that if you change a topic definition then your historical reports may be in correct.

A conversation attribute for reporting purposes is stable and what we opted to use and has worked well.


Patrīcija
  • New Participant
  • 3 replies
  • January 10, 2025

We use conversation attributes to log the theme of a conversation and tags to gather more detailed statistics for specific conversations or trigger workflows based on the assigned tags.
 

I find conversation attributes particularly valuable, as they allow us to create predefined lists tailored to each of our CS teams, ensuring topics align with their specific focus areas. I've also set it up so that conversations cannot be closed without assigning an attribute first, guaranteeing that every conversation is categorized appropriately before closure.
 

Regarding tags, we’ve implemented separate workflows for various purposes. For instance, we automatically tag conversations initiated by our sales teams to analyze common questions and identify opportunities to optimize internal processes.


Diana Tripac
Intercom Team
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  • Senior Community Program Manager @Intercom
  • 151 replies
  • January 10, 2025

It's great to see so many great answers and tips here 🤩 cc ​@User1713 


Nur Nahid
Super User ✨
Forum|alt.badge.img+3
  • Super User ✨
  • 95 replies
  • January 13, 2025

When choosing between Topics and Tags in Intercom:

 

Tags are better for detailed reporting and tracking specific issues (e.g., "Payment Issue"). They offer flexibility and deeper insights into trends and conversation details.


Topics are ideal for broad organization, grouping conversations into categories (e.g., "Support" or "Sales") and routing them to the right teams. However, reporting with Topics is more high-level.

 

My Recommendation:
Use Tags for granular reporting and Topics for organizing workflows. Combining both gives you better organization and actionable insights.


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