A Glossary of Keap Terminology for HR & Recruiting Professionals

In the dynamic world of HR and recruiting, leveraging robust CRM platforms like Keap can be a game-changer for talent acquisition and management. Understanding the core terminology of Keap is not just about navigating the software; it’s about unlocking its full potential to automate workflows, personalize candidate experiences, and optimize your hiring funnels. This glossary provides essential definitions, tailored specifically for HR and recruiting professionals, to help you master Keap and transform your operational efficiency.

Contact Record

A Contact Record in Keap is the fundamental digital file for an individual—whether a candidate, employee, client, or lead. It serves as a centralized repository for all their data, including contact information, communication history, linked tasks, notes, and custom field data relevant to their journey with your organization. For HR and recruiting professionals, a well-maintained Contact Record is crucial for tracking candidate applications, interview stages, onboarding progress, and even employee lifecycle events, ensuring no vital information is lost and interactions are always personalized and informed. Effective use of contact records facilitates a seamless and compliant data management process, which is essential for audit trails and candidate experience.

Tag

Tags are labels assigned to Contact Records to categorize and segment your audience within Keap. These are highly versatile and indispensable for HR and recruiting. Examples include “Applicant – Senior Developer,” “Interviewed – Stage 2,” “Hired – Sales Department,” “Onboarding Complete,” or “Rejected – Follow-up Needed.” Tags enable precise targeting for communication, reporting, and automation. For instance, you can easily send a specific welcome email sequence only to contacts tagged “Hired – Sales Department” or generate a report on all “Applicant – Passive Talent Pool” candidates. Strategically using tags streamlines candidate management, improves communication relevance, and allows for highly efficient segmentation of your talent pipeline.

Campaign

A Campaign in Keap is an automated series of actions designed to nurture a contact through a specific journey. For HR and recruiting, campaigns are invaluable for automating routine yet critical processes. This could include an applicant nurturing campaign (e.g., sending application confirmation, interview tips, culture insights), an onboarding campaign (e.g., sending welcome emails, policy documents, training schedules), or a re-engagement campaign for past candidates. Campaigns are triggered by specific events (like submitting a web form or applying a tag) and can include emails, tasks, delays, and even internal notifications, significantly reducing manual effort and ensuring consistent, timely communication throughout the talent lifecycle.

Sequence

A Sequence is a specific component within a Keap Campaign, representing a linear series of automated steps. While a Campaign provides the overarching framework for a contact’s journey, Sequences are the building blocks that execute specific phases. For instance, within an “Applicant Nurturing Campaign,” you might have a “Pre-Interview Sequence” (sending interview preparation materials) followed by a “Post-Interview Sequence” (sending follow-up and next steps). Each Sequence can contain emails, tasks for recruiters, conditional logic, and delays. They allow HR teams to break down complex processes into manageable, repeatable, and easily optimizable parts, ensuring candidates receive the right information at the right time without constant manual oversight.

Broadcast

A Broadcast in Keap is a one-time, mass communication sent to a specific segment of your contacts, rather than an automated series within a campaign. For HR and recruiting, broadcasts are useful for urgent or ad-hoc communications. This could be a company-wide announcement to all employees, an invitation to a virtual job fair sent to a tagged group of passive candidates, or an update on a specific job opening to all applicants for that role. Unlike campaigns, broadcasts are not part of a pre-defined automated journey but are powerful for timely, direct engagement when immediate dissemination of information is required to a broad or targeted audience.

Web Form

A Web Form in Keap is a customizable online form used to capture information from external sources, most commonly candidates. For recruiting, these forms are essential for applications, interest registrations, event sign-ups, or initial contact inquiries. When a candidate submits a web form, their information is automatically added or updated in Keap as a Contact Record, and crucially, it can trigger immediate automations, such as adding them to an applicant tracking campaign or assigning them a specific tag. This automation capability streamlines data entry, reduces manual errors, and initiates the talent acquisition process instantly, enhancing the candidate experience from the very first interaction.

Custom Field

Custom Fields in Keap allow you to store specific, non-standard data points that are unique to your HR and recruiting needs. While Keap offers standard fields for basic contact information, custom fields enable you to capture highly specific details like “Desired Salary,” “Notice Period,” “Last Interview Date,” “Specific Skills (e.g., Python, SQL),” “Source of Application,” or “Employee ID.” These fields are critical for comprehensive candidate profiles and robust reporting, allowing HR professionals to maintain a detailed and tailored database. The ability to define and populate custom fields ensures that all relevant data for hiring decisions and employee management is centralized and easily accessible.

Automations (Legacy)

Legacy Automations in Keap refer to the older, rule-based automation engine that predates the more modern “Automation Builder.” While the Automation Builder offers a visual, drag-and-drop interface, legacy automations rely on a set of ‘if-then’ rules, often triggered by specific actions like adding a tag, submitting a form, or clicking an email link. For HR and recruiting, these automations performed functions such as sending a follow-up email when a candidate applied, creating a task for a recruiter when an interview was scheduled, or moving a candidate to the next stage in a pipeline. Although largely replaced by the Automation Builder for new builds, understanding legacy automations is important if maintaining older Keap systems or reviewing existing processes.

Automation Builder (New)

The Automation Builder in Keap is a modern, visual, drag-and-drop interface for creating sophisticated automated workflows. It allows HR and recruiting professionals to design complex campaigns with ease, clearly mapping out candidate journeys from application to onboarding and beyond. Unlike legacy automations, the Automation Builder provides a holistic view of the entire sequence of events, including emails, tasks, delays, goals, and decision diamonds (conditional logic). This intuitive interface empowers HR teams to rapidly build and modify automated processes, enhancing efficiency, consistency, and scalability in talent acquisition and management, leading to improved candidate experiences and reduced administrative burden.

Opportunity Record

An Opportunity Record in Keap is used to track the progress of a potential “deal” or, in the HR context, a potential hire or talent pipeline. It represents a specific role or opening and allows recruiters to monitor candidates through various stages of the hiring process (e.g., “New Application,” “Screening,” “Interview Scheduled,” “Offer Extended,” “Hired”). Each Opportunity can be linked to a Contact Record and contains details such as the job title, expected hire date, and value (if applicable). Managing opportunities helps HR teams visualize their talent pipeline, forecast hiring needs, and identify bottlenecks in the recruitment process, providing a structured approach to managing multiple open requisitions simultaneously.

Lead Score

Lead Scoring in Keap is a system that assigns points to contacts based on their engagement and characteristics, helping to prioritize them. While typically used for sales leads, it’s highly adaptable for HR and recruiting. Recruiters can assign points for actions like applying for a specific role, opening recruitment emails, visiting career pages, or having specific skills listed in their profile. Points can be deducted for inactivity or disinterest. A higher “lead score” for a candidate indicates a stronger fit or higher engagement, allowing recruiters to focus their time and resources on the most promising candidates, thereby optimizing the recruitment funnel and improving the quality of hires.

Internal Forms

Internal Forms in Keap are web forms designed for use by your internal team members, such as HR staff, hiring managers, or other employees. Unlike external web forms for candidates, these are used to streamline internal HR processes. Examples include forms for submitting employee referrals, requesting HR support, documenting performance reviews, initiating onboarding tasks, or updating employee records. When an internal form is submitted, it can trigger specific automations, like sending notifications to the relevant HR personnel, updating an employee’s contact record, or initiating a task sequence. This digitalizes and standardizes internal workflows, enhancing operational efficiency and data accuracy within the HR department.

API Integration

API (Application Programming Interface) Integration in Keap refers to the ability to connect Keap with other software systems, enabling them to communicate and share data seamlessly. For HR and recruiting, this is critical for building a cohesive tech stack. Examples include integrating Keap with an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), HR Information System (HRIS), payroll software, or assessment platforms. An API integration allows data to flow automatically between systems—for instance, new hire data from Keap could update the HRIS, or candidate assessment results could be pulled into Keap. This eliminates manual data entry, reduces errors, and creates a “single source of truth,” significantly enhancing efficiency and data integrity across all HR functions.

User Permissions

User Permissions in Keap define what actions each user (e.g., recruiter, HR manager, hiring manager) can perform and what data they can access within the system. This is paramount for data security, compliance, and operational efficiency in HR. For example, a recruiter might have full access to candidate contact records and campaigns but limited access to sensitive employee data or billing information. A hiring manager might only be able to view candidates for their specific open requisitions. Properly configured user permissions ensure that sensitive HR data is protected, roles are clearly defined, and users only interact with the information and functionalities relevant to their responsibilities, supporting strict data governance.

Notes

Notes in Keap are text entries attached to a Contact Record, used to document specific interactions, observations, or important details about an individual. For HR and recruiting professionals, notes are essential for maintaining a comprehensive and contextualized history with each candidate or employee. This could include summaries of phone calls, details from an unscheduled conversation, observations from an informal interview, or specific preferences expressed by a candidate. Unlike structured custom fields, notes provide a flexible way to capture qualitative information, ensuring that all team members have access to the complete interaction history, leading to more informed decisions and personalized engagement.

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