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A Glossary of Key Terms in Data Manipulation & Reporting for Keap Analytics

For HR and recruiting professionals, mastering data in Keap Analytics is crucial for making informed decisions, optimizing workflows, and demonstrating ROI. This glossary defines essential terms related to data manipulation and reporting within Keap, empowering you to better understand, manage, and leverage your talent acquisition and HR data. From understanding your contact records to building insightful reports, these definitions provide the clarity needed to transform raw data into actionable intelligence.

Data Field

A Data Field in Keap refers to a specific piece of information stored for a contact, company, or other record type. These fields can be standard (e.g., first name, email, phone) or custom, allowing users to capture unique data points pertinent to their HR and recruiting processes, such as “Candidate Status,” “Desired Salary,” or “Source of Hire.” Properly defining and utilizing data fields is fundamental to organizing information, segmenting audiences, and generating accurate reports. In a recruiting context, consistent data field usage ensures that all necessary candidate details are captured uniformly, facilitating streamlined candidate management and analysis.

Custom Field

A Custom Field is a user-defined data field created to store specific information not covered by Keap’s standard fields. For HR and recruiting, custom fields are invaluable for tailoring Keap to unique operational needs, such as tracking “Skill Sets,” “Interview Dates,” “Onboarding Status,” or “Compliance Certifications.” These fields allow for highly granular data capture, which is essential for detailed candidate profiling, advanced segmentation, and comprehensive reporting. They are critical for automating personalized communications and ensuring data integrity across the recruitment lifecycle, providing the flexibility to adapt Keap to complex HR processes.

Tag

In Keap, a Tag is a label or keyword applied to a contact record to categorize them based on shared characteristics, interests, or actions. Tags are incredibly versatile for HR and recruiting, allowing for dynamic segmentation of candidates, employees, or clients. Examples include “Applicant – HR Role,” “Passive Candidate,” “Onboarded Employee,” or “Alumni Network.” Tags facilitate targeted communication, workflow automation, and report generation, enabling recruiters to quickly identify groups for specific outreach or internal processes. Effective tag management is a cornerstone of efficient Keap utilization, directly impacting the relevance and effectiveness of your automated campaigns.

Segment

A Segment is a defined group of contacts filtered from your entire database based on specific criteria, such as tags, custom field values, engagement history, or geographic location. For HR and recruiting, creating precise segments is vital for delivering personalized experiences. You might segment by “Candidates with 5+ years experience in HR tech,” “Employees requiring annual compliance training,” or “Leads for new job openings in Q4.” Segments drive targeted campaigns, personalized follow-ups, and highly relevant reporting, ensuring that the right message reaches the right audience at the right time, thereby maximizing engagement and conversion rates in the recruitment funnel.

Report

A Report in Keap is a structured compilation of data designed to provide insights into specific aspects of your business operations. Keap offers various pre-built reports, and users can create custom reports to analyze performance metrics. For HR and recruiting, reports are essential for tracking recruitment funnels, analyzing candidate sources, monitoring campaign effectiveness, and assessing team productivity. They answer critical questions like “Which source yields the highest quality candidates?” or “What is our average time-to-hire?” Reports transform raw data into actionable intelligence, enabling strategic decision-making and continuous improvement of HR and recruitment processes.

Dashboard

A Dashboard in Keap provides a visual, at-a-glance overview of key performance indicators (KPIs) and critical data points, often presented through charts, graphs, and summaries. For HR and recruiting professionals, a well-designed dashboard can offer real-time insights into recruitment metrics such as “Active Applicants,” “Open Positions by Department,” “Candidate Pipeline Stage,” or “Conversion Rates.” Dashboards allow stakeholders to quickly grasp the health and efficiency of their talent acquisition efforts without diving into detailed reports. They are invaluable for monitoring progress, identifying bottlenecks, and communicating performance to leadership, facilitating proactive management.

Automation Rule

An Automation Rule in Keap is a pre-defined condition that, when met, triggers a specific action or sequence of actions without manual intervention. For HR and recruiting, automation rules are powerful tools to streamline repetitive tasks. Examples include “When a candidate applies (tag applied), send an automated confirmation email” or “If a candidate’s status changes to ‘Hired,’ trigger an onboarding campaign.” These rules are fundamental to building efficient workflows, ensuring timely communication, reducing administrative burden, and improving the candidate experience by providing consistent and immediate responses throughout the recruitment and onboarding journey.

Campaign

A Campaign in Keap is a pre-planned, multi-step series of communications and actions designed to guide contacts through a specific journey. In HR and recruiting, campaigns are used for various purposes, such as “Candidate Nurture Sequences,” “New Hire Onboarding Flows,” “Employee Engagement Programs,” or “Post-Interview Follow-ups.” Campaigns leverage automation rules, emails, tasks, and conditional logic to deliver personalized content based on contact behavior or data. They are crucial for maintaining consistent engagement, delivering relevant information at each stage, and ensuring no candidate or employee falls through the cracks, thereby enhancing efficiency and experience.

Trigger

A Trigger is the specific event or condition that initiates an automation sequence or campaign in Keap. For HR and recruiting, common triggers might include “Contact applies for a job” (tag applied), “Candidate submits a form,” “Interview completed” (custom field updated), or “Date reached for follow-up.” Triggers are the starting points that kick off the automated processes you’ve designed. Identifying and configuring the right triggers is paramount to ensuring your Keap system reacts appropriately and promptly to key moments in the candidate or employee lifecycle, making your automations truly responsive and effective.

Action

An Action in Keap is a specific task or operation performed automatically in response to a trigger within an automation rule or campaign. For HR and recruiting, actions can include “Send an email,” “Apply a tag,” “Update a custom field,” “Create a task for a recruiter,” “Move a contact to another campaign,” or “Send an internal notification.” Actions are the building blocks of your automated workflows, defining what happens after a trigger is met. Carefully planned actions ensure that every step of your recruitment or HR process is executed efficiently, consistently, and without manual oversight, saving time and reducing errors.

Merge Field

A Merge Field (also known as a placeholder or personalization field) is a dynamic tag inserted into emails, templates, or forms that automatically pulls specific data from a contact’s record when the content is generated. For HR and recruiting, merge fields are essential for personalizing communications at scale. Instead of “Dear Applicant,” you can use `~Contact.FirstName~` to dynamically insert “Dear John.” This includes personalizing job offer letters with `~Contact.Salary~` or interview reminders with `~Contact.InterviewDate~`. Merge fields significantly enhance the candidate experience by making communications feel more personal and relevant, improving engagement and response rates.

API (Application Programming Interface)

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate and interact with each other. In the context of Keap and HR/recruiting, APIs enable the integration of Keap with other vital systems like Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), HRIS platforms, payroll software, or external job boards. This connectivity allows for seamless data exchange, preventing manual data entry, reducing errors, and creating a unified view of candidate and employee data across systems. For instance, a candidate added to your ATS could automatically create a contact in Keap via API, streamlining your entire recruitment tech stack.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, is a technology system designed to manage all your company’s interactions and relationships with customers and potential customers. While Keap is often known for its sales and marketing CRM capabilities, in HR and recruiting, it functions as a powerful Candidate Relationship Management system. It helps track and manage interactions with candidates, applicants, and employees throughout their lifecycle, from initial outreach to hiring and beyond. A CRM like Keap centralizes communication, documents, and data, ensuring a holistic view of each individual, which is critical for building strong talent pipelines and fostering long-term relationships.

Data Integrity

Data Integrity refers to the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of data stored within Keap. For HR and recruiting, maintaining high data integrity is paramount, as inaccurate or inconsistent data can lead to poor decision-making, flawed reports, compliance issues, and ineffective automation. This involves ensuring data fields are correctly populated, tags are applied consistently, and duplicate records are merged. Strategies for data integrity include regular data audits, validation rules, standardized naming conventions, and proper training for users. High data integrity ensures that your analytics and automations are built on a solid foundation, leading to more trustworthy outcomes.

Export/Import

Exporting data involves extracting information from Keap into a file format, typically CSV or Excel, for analysis, backup, or transfer to another system. Importing data, conversely, is the process of bringing external data into Keap, often to update existing records or add new ones. For HR and recruiting, these functions are essential for bulk updates of candidate information, migrating data from other platforms, or performing advanced analysis outside of Keap. While powerful, both processes require careful attention to data mapping and formatting to prevent errors, maintain data integrity, and ensure that the information is correctly structured within Keap.

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: Keap Data Protection & Recovery: The Essential Guide for HR & Recruiting

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