Initially, tagging records seems like a good idea. And, in theory, it is. In practice however, not so much.
In Salesforce, tags are called topics. You can add the topic component to any lightning page, and then configure some basic settings such as the title, placeholder text, and number of topics shown. Like all components, you can also set the component visibility rules.
Once in place, you can add as many tags/topics you want to any record. Cool. Now here’s why you shouldn’t use them:
1. Tags are text fields. Which means they are prone to data entry errors. Someone may spell the same word differently, which means you’ll need to track all the permutations in order to accurately report on them. Autocomplete helps with this, but only after entering 3 or more characters.
2. If you believe it’ll help with segmentation, you’re better off using custom fields. A custom field provides significantly more flexibility with segmentation, as you can set the data type to an appropriate type. For example, If you’re looking to segment by language, then a field called “Language” with a picklist of values is probably your best bet. If you’re looking to segment by donors vs non-donors, then a checkbox is a good choice.
3. Reporting on topics is available but weak. You first need to create a custom report type using “Topic Assignment”, and then you can report on which tags are being used on which reports. But it’s not elegant.
The takeaway
Tags/Topics are good in theory but don’t have many viable use cases. But perhaps you have a different opinion? If you do, I’d love to hear about it!