Lead tags next to four fixed statuses what goes where
A status says where a company stands; a tag holds anything else you want to filter on. Keep the two apart and both stay useful.
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Two jobs that often get mixed
Lead tags are short labels you put on a company so you can find it again: the fair where you met, the service it might need, a signal you noticed. A status is something else: where the company stands with you right now.
In Riftjaw every record has one of four fixed statuses: New, Contacted, Replied and Customer. They are fixed so segments and campaigns can rely on them; a campaign can, for example, leave out everyone on Replied. Anything else you want to record goes into your own tags, which the whole team shares.
The mix-up happens when tags start to act like statuses: "called", "hot", "waiting", "maybe later". Then a company can be tagged "hot" and "lost" at the same time, and nobody knows which one is true. Keep the stage in the status, keep everything else in tags, and save the combinations you use every week as a segment.
Status or tag?
The tag names are examples. Pick names your team will type the same way every time.
| What you want to record | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Where the company stands with you | Status | Contacted |
| That the company answered | Status | Replied |
| Where you found the company | Tag | trade-fair-2026 |
| A signal you noticed yourself | Tag | new-branch |
| Which offer might fit | Tag | maintenance-contract |
| Asked to come back later | Tag plus a date field | not-now, with the date to look again |
Habits that keep tags useful
Few tags, written the same way
Agree on lowercase names with a dash. "Trade fair", "tradefair" and "trade-fair" are three tags to a filter.
No stages in tags
If a tag describes a step in your sales process, it belongs in the status. The four statuses are the same for everyone.
A signal is a tag, the decision is yours
Riftjaw does not read signals from websites and gives no intent score. You see the signal, you tag it, you decide who gets an email.
Save the filter, not a copy
A saved segment such as "Contacted, tag new-branch" updates itself as tags and statuses change. See segments.
Set up tags in this order
- List the five things you filter on most often.
- Move anything that is a stage to the status.
- Write the remaining tag names down once.
- Tag a batch at import, not one by one later.
- Save the segments you open every week.
Frequently asked questions
What are lead tags?
Lead tags are short labels on a company record that let you filter on anything your fixed fields do not cover: a source, a signal, an offer. In Riftjaw the tags are shared by everyone on the account.
Can I add my own statuses?
No. The four statuses New, Contacted, Replied and Customer are fixed, so segments and campaigns can rely on them. For anything finer, such as a meeting planned, use a tag.
Should a tag or a status say a lead is not interested now?
Use a tag such as not-now with a date field for when to look again. The status stays where the company really stands, and a saved segment can bring it back on the right date.
How many lead tags should a small team use?
As few as you can filter with. A dozen tags that everyone writes the same way are more useful than a hundred nobody remembers. That number is a starting point, not a rule.
Is a tag the same as a custom field?
No. A tag is a label you can add many of; a custom field holds one value, such as a date or a number. More in custom fields on a lead record.
What is Riftjaw?
Riftjaw is a B2B lead database you own: import the companies you collect, keep every record with its source, sort them into segments and reach them by email in small batches. Each account runs on its own private server with its own database.
Statuses for the stage, tags for the rest
Give every company one of four statuses, tag what else matters and save the segments you use every week. See lead records or start free.
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