If you’re juggling outreach—sales, recruiting, partnerships, fundraising, whatever—you know that blasting the same message to everyone gets you nowhere. You need to slice and dice your contact list, fast. This guide is for anyone using Folk who wants to get real results from targeted outreach, without turning their CRM into a mess of useless tags and lists.
Here’s how to actually segment and tag your contacts in Folk so you can find the right people, send smarter messages, and stop drowning in admin work.
Why bother with segmenting and tagging?
Let’s get this out of the way: you don’t need to tag everything that moves. Over-tagging just creates noise. But a bit of structure pays off when you:
- Need to find “all healthcare investors in NYC” in 10 seconds
- Want to send a personal note to current customers, not leads
- Are tired of updating a spreadsheet and hoping you remember who’s who
Segmenting and tagging in Folk is all about working smarter—not harder—when it comes to outreach.
Step 1: Decide what “segmentation” actually means for you
Before you start clicking around, get clear on what you care about. What are the real differences between your contacts that matter for your outreach?
Common ways to segment: - Relationship type: Customer, lead, investor, partner, etc. - Stage: New lead, in conversation, closed, churned - Geography: City, state, country - Industry or vertical - Event attended or campaign source - Priority: Hot, warm, cold
Pro tip:
Don’t copy some “best practice” list of tags. Think about your actual workflow. If you’re never going to send a campaign just to “people who met us at Web Summit 2022,” don’t bother with that tag.
Step 2: Set up useful tags (and avoid tag soup)
Tags in Folk are flexible—maybe too flexible. Here’s how to keep things sane:
Stick to a clear naming convention
- Use singular nouns (“customer,” not “customers”)
- Keep it lowercase, unless there’s a good reason not to
- Avoid inside jokes or weird abbreviations no one else will get
Examples:
- customer
- lead
- nyc
- healthcare
- priority-high
Don’t create a tag for every possible thing
If you have a tag that only applies to one person, it’s probably not useful. Same goes for tags that duplicate info you already have as a field (like “email-verified” if you already have their email).
Use tags for things that change or matter for outreach
- Good: “demo-requested,” “vip,” “newsletter-subscriber”
- Bad: “has-linkedin-profile” (who doesn’t?), “contacted-2021” (use a date field instead)
Make sure your whole team is on board
If you’re not the only person using Folk, share your tag list and rules. Otherwise, you’ll end up with “vip” and “VIP” and “V.I.P.” all meaning the same thing. That’s a headache you don’t need.
Step 3: Use custom fields for structured data
Tags are great for quick filters, but if you want to store things like “Deal Stage” or “Last Contacted,” use custom fields in Folk.
When to use a custom field instead of a tag: - The value changes over time (e.g., “Stage: Negotiation”) - It’s something you want to sort by (e.g., “ARR” or “Lead Score”) - You’ll do calculations or automation with it (e.g., “Date of Last Meeting”)
Pro tip:
Don’t try to cram structured data into tags (like “2024-prospect-highvalue”). That just makes searching and reporting a pain.
Step 4: Create smart segments with filters
Folk lets you filter contacts by tags, fields, and more. Use this to build dynamic lists for outreach—no manual updating needed.
How to create a segment:
- Go to your contacts list in Folk.
- Click “Filter” and set rules based on tags, fields, or both.
- Example: Tag is “customer” AND City is “London”
- Save your filter as a view or segment for easy access later.
Ideas for segments: - Active customers in a target city - Inbound leads from the last 30 days - Investors not yet contacted this quarter
What to ignore:
Don’t waste time making a saved segment for every tiny thing. Focus on the groups you actually contact regularly.
Step 5: Tag and segment as you import (not later)
It’s way easier to tag or fill fields as you import contacts, not after. Folk lets you map fields and add tags during import. Take the extra minute to do it right—future you will thank you.
If you’re migrating from another CRM or spreadsheets: - Clean up your data first. Combine duplicate tags, fix typos, and standardize values. - Map columns to the right fields in Folk. - Add relevant tags as part of the import process.
Don’t:
Import everything “just in case,” with no tags or fields, thinking you’ll clean it up later. That’s how “CRM debt” starts.
Step 6: Keep things up to date (without making it a chore)
No one wants to spend hours every week updating tags. Here’s how to keep things manageable:
- Update tags/fields when something actually changes (e.g., after a call, move “lead” to “customer”)
- When you finish an outreach campaign, tag people as “contacted” or move them to a new segment
- Schedule a 10-minute cleanup once a month—merge duplicate tags, archive stale contacts
Automate if you can:
If you’re using tools like Zapier or native Folk automations, set up basic rules like “When a Typeform is submitted, add the ‘web-lead’ tag.” But don’t overdo it with fancy automations unless you really need them.
Step 7: Use your segments for actual outreach (don’t just organize for the sake of it)
The whole point is to make outreach easier and smarter. Once your tags and segments are set:
- Filter by tag or segment before sending emails or LinkedIn messages
- Personalize your message to each group (even if it’s just tweaking the intro)
- Track who responds, and update tags/fields accordingly
What works:
Using segments to send relevant, timely messages. People notice when your outreach feels like it’s meant for them.
What doesn’t:
Over-segmenting until you have 20 lists with 3 people each, or tagging everything but never actually using the info.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Too many tags: If you can’t remember what half your tags mean, you’ve gone too far.
- Duplicating info: Don’t put “lead” as both a tag and a field.
- Forgetting to clean up: Old, unused tags and contacts clutter things up fast.
- Not training your team: If everyone tags things differently, your segments won’t work.
Pro tips for keeping it simple (and effective)
- Start with a handful of key tags and segments. Add more only if you need them.
- Use Folk’s bulk edit tools to update tags and fields for multiple contacts at once.
- Document your tag/segment rules somewhere your team can find them—Google Doc, Notion, whatever.
- If you mess up, don’t stress. Folk makes it easy to merge or delete tags and clean up later.
Final thoughts: Don’t overthink it
Tagging and segmenting in Folk is supposed to save you time, not add busywork. Keep your system simple, use it regularly, and tweak as you go. The best setup is the one you’ll actually use.
Just remember: Your outreach is only as good as your list. Take care of it, and it’ll take care of you.