A Glossary of Key Keap Order Management Terms for HR & Recruiting Professionals
Understanding the core terminology of Keap’s order management system is crucial for HR and recruiting professionals looking to optimize their operations through automation. By grasping these concepts, you can leverage Keap to streamline everything from candidate onboarding and benefits enrollment to managing training course subscriptions and professional service invoicing. This glossary provides clear definitions, highlighting their relevance in an automated HR and recruiting environment, enabling you to build more efficient and error-free workflows.
Order
An ‘Order’ in Keap represents a transaction where products or services are purchased. For HR and recruiting professionals, an order could signify a new hire’s acceptance of a benefits package, the purchase of a recruitment service by a client, or a team member enrolling in a paid professional development course. Automating order creation and management ensures accurate record-keeping, triggers subsequent onboarding or service delivery workflows, and provides a clear audit trail for financial reconciliation. Properly managing orders within Keap can eliminate manual data entry and reduce the chances of errors in financial or service delivery processes.
Product
A ‘Product’ refers to a tangible item or service offered for sale within Keap. In an HR context, products might include different levels of recruitment packages, specific training modules, subscription access to professional development libraries, or even specific consulting hours. Defining products clearly in Keap allows for easy categorization, pricing, and attachment to orders. This foundational setup is essential for automating sales processes, generating accurate invoices, and tracking the delivery of services or access to resources, directly supporting the efficiency of recruiting and talent development initiatives.
Subscription
A ‘Subscription’ in Keap represents recurring payments or access to a service over time. For HR, this could translate to recurring membership fees for professional organizations, ongoing access to a learning management system, or monthly retainers for recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) services. Keap’s subscription management capabilities allow for automated billing, renewal notifications, and even pausing or cancellation workflows. This is vital for predictable revenue streams, ensuring continuous service delivery, and reducing the administrative burden associated with managing ongoing client or employee benefits.
Invoice
An ‘Invoice’ is a bill issued to a customer for products or services rendered. Within Keap, invoices can be automatically generated upon order creation, sent to clients, and tracked for payment status. For recruiting firms, this means timely billing for placements or services. For HR teams managing internal charges or external vendor payments, automated invoicing reduces manual accounting work and ensures compliance. Integrating invoicing with your CRM also provides a complete financial picture of each client or vendor relationship, making financial management more transparent and efficient.
Payment Gateway
A ‘Payment Gateway’ is a third-party service that authorizes credit card or direct payments for online businesses. Keap integrates with various payment gateways (e.g., Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net) to securely process payments for orders and subscriptions. For HR and recruiting, a secure payment gateway is essential for accepting payments for job postings, recruitment services, or training programs. The automation here ensures that payments are processed seamlessly, records are updated, and subsequent actions—like granting access to resources—are triggered only upon successful transaction, enhancing security and operational flow.
Campaign
A ‘Campaign’ in Keap is a series of automated actions designed to achieve a specific marketing or operational goal. While often associated with sales, HR and recruiting professionals can use campaigns for candidate nurturing, onboarding sequences, employee engagement, or client follow-ups. For instance, an “Onboarding Campaign” could automatically send welcome emails, HR document links, and schedule training reminders. This systematic approach ensures consistency, reduces manual oversight, and provides a personalized experience at scale, significantly improving engagement and retention metrics.
Automation
‘Automation’ refers to setting up rules and triggers in Keap to perform tasks automatically without human intervention. This is the core of efficiency for HR and recruiting. Examples include automatically sending a confirmation email after an application, updating a contact record based on a form submission, or initiating an invoicing process when a service agreement is signed. Automation eliminates repetitive manual tasks, reduces human error, frees up valuable time for strategic work, and ensures processes are consistently executed, driving significant operational savings.
Contact
A ‘Contact’ is the fundamental record in Keap, representing an individual (e.g., a candidate, employee, client, vendor). Each contact has associated information like name, email, phone, and custom fields. In HR and recruiting, a well-managed contact database is paramount. Detailed contact records enable personalized communication, segmenting audiences for targeted campaigns, and tracking every interaction. This central repository of information ensures no details are lost, supporting compliant data management and fostering strong relationships throughout the talent lifecycle.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
‘CRM’ refers to the strategy and technology used to manage all interactions with customers and potential customers. Keap is a powerful CRM platform. For HR and recruiting, it extends beyond traditional ‘customers’ to manage relationships with candidates, employees, clients, and partners. A robust CRM helps track every touchpoint, manage pipelines (e.g., candidate pipeline, client sales pipeline), and centralize communication. This holistic view enhances personalized engagement, improves retention rates, and provides data insights to refine HR and recruiting strategies.
Tag
A ‘Tag’ in Keap is a label applied to a contact record, used to categorize and segment your audience. Tags are incredibly versatile for HR and recruiting. You can tag candidates by skill set, experience level, application source; employees by department, hire date, training status; or clients by industry or service package. Tags enable highly targeted communications and automation sequences. For example, a “New Hire – Marketing” tag could trigger a specific onboarding campaign for the marketing department, ensuring relevant information reaches the right people.
Custom Field
A ‘Custom Field’ allows you to store specific, unique data points on a contact record that are not part of Keap’s standard fields. For HR and recruiting, custom fields are indispensable for capturing nuanced information like desired salary, visa status, specific certifications, performance review dates, or unique client requirements. These fields ensure that Keap can truly serve as a single source of truth for all relevant data, facilitating advanced segmentation, personalized communication, and sophisticated reporting tailored to your specific operational needs.
Webhook
A ‘Webhook’ is an automated message sent from one application to another when a specific event occurs. In the context of Keap and automation platforms like Make.com, webhooks are powerful bridges. For HR, a webhook could be triggered when a candidate completes a specific stage in an external ATS (Applicant Tracking System), sending data back to Keap to update their contact record or initiate a new campaign. This real-time data exchange ensures systems are synchronized, eliminating manual updates and enabling complex, multi-system workflows for recruiting and onboarding.
API (Application Programming Interface)
An ‘API’ is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate and exchange data. While webhooks push data, APIs allow for more flexible, bidirectional communication and complex data retrieval. HR and recruiting professionals can use APIs (often via integration platforms) to connect Keap with other essential tools like HRIS (Human Resource Information Systems), background check services, or psychometric assessment platforms. This deep integration enables the creation of highly customized and automated workflows, ensuring data consistency and reducing manual effort across the entire tech stack.
Integration
An ‘Integration’ refers to the process of connecting two or more software applications so they can work together and share data. For HR and recruiting, integrating Keap with platforms like an ATS, payroll system, or learning management system is critical for creating a unified and efficient ecosystem. Integrations eliminate data silos, reduce duplicate data entry, and enable end-to-end automated workflows from candidate sourcing to employee offboarding. A well-integrated tech stack is foundational for scalability, accuracy, and providing a seamless experience for candidates and employees.
Workflow
A ‘Workflow’ in Keap, often built using Campaigns or Advanced Automations, is a defined sequence of steps or tasks designed to achieve a specific outcome. For HR, a workflow might map out the entire recruitment process from application to offer, or an employee’s onboarding journey. Each step can involve automated emails, task assignments, contact record updates, or data exchanges with other systems. Strategic workflow design ensures consistency, accountability, and efficiency in every process, minimizing manual intervention and maximizing the value of your team’s time.
If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: Keap Order Data Protection: An Essential Guide for HR & Recruiting Professionals
