Custom fields: one question each
A custom field stores a fact you will use. Before creating one we ask which automation branches on it or which report groups by it. "Lead Source Detail" drives routing and revenue reporting, so it exists. "Favourite colour" does not. Field names are Title Case, specific, and never duplicate a standard field. Dropdowns beat free text wherever the values are finite, because free text is where "Google", "google ads" and "GAds" come from.
Tags: prefix and value
Tags describe state and segments. Ours always follow prefix:value in lower-case with hyphens:
status:hot,status:nurturing,status:lostsource:google-ads,source:referral,source:walk-inservice:whitening,service:implantflow:speed-to-lead-v2for tracking which automation touched a contact
The prefix makes tags sortable and searchable, and it stops the same idea being spelled four ways. A workflow that applies a tag also removes its siblings, so a contact is never both status:hot and status:lost.
If you find yourself creating a tag per customer, per date or per invoice number, that data belongs in a custom field or a note. Tags should number in the dozens, not the thousands.
Smart lists: built from tags
A smart list is a saved filter the team opens to do a job, so it's named for the job: "Call today: hot, no task", "Unconfirmed appointments tomorrow", "Quotes older than 7 days". Each one is built from the tags and fields above, which means a list stays correct as long as the automations keep the tags correct. Nobody maintains lists by hand.
The written convention
All of this lives on one page linked from the account's custom values: field naming, tag prefixes with their allowed values, list naming, and the workflow naming pattern from the setup checklist. Anyone building in the account reads it first. Anything that doesn't follow it gets renamed before it goes live.
Cleaning up an existing mess
Inherited accounts come with hundreds of ad-hoc tags. We never bulk-delete. We map each old tag to a new one in a spreadsheet, run a workflow that applies the new tag to everyone who has the old one, verify the counts match, then remove the old tag. It takes an afternoon and nothing is lost. Deleting first and hoping is how customer segments disappear.
Key takeaways
- Every custom field must be used by an automation or a report. Otherwise it doesn't exist yet.
- Tags follow prefix:value, lower-case, hyphenated. status:hot, source:google-ads, service:implant.
- Smart lists are saved views over tags and fields, named for the action the team takes from them.
- Write the convention on one page and link it from the account. New builds follow it or don't ship.
- Clean up by merging, not deleting: map old tags to new ones with a workflow, then retire the old.