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Response Tags

Response Tags let you categorize open-ended feedback and track recurring themes across your surveys. By assigning tags to individual responses, you turn qualitative text into structured data.

Creating and managing tags

Section titled “Creating and managing tags”

Before you can tag a response, you need to create the tags in your project.

  1. In the sidebar, click Response Tags.
  2. Click Create Tag.
  3. Enter a short, descriptive name (e.g., feature-request or pricing).
  4. Optionally, add a description so your team knows when to use it.
  5. Click Create Tag.

From this page, you can also edit the name and description of existing tags, or delete them entirely. Deleting a tag removes it from all responses that were assigned it.

AI-suggested response tags

Section titled “AI-suggested response tags”

If your team receives a steady stream of open-text answers, Pulseahead can suggest tags from the themes it sees in recent responses. Suggestions give you a starting point without forcing your team to invent labels one response at a time.

AI-suggested tags are available on paid plans that include Response Tags. They only use open-text answers, avoid tags that already exist in your project, and run on a 7-day cadence after you turn them on.

To turn on suggestions:

  1. Open Project settings.
  2. Find AI tag suggestions.
  3. Turn the switch on.
  4. Click Save.

When Pulseahead finds useful themes, they appear in the Suggestions section on the Response Tags page.

Review each suggestion before you use it:

  1. Click the check button to add the suggestion to your active project tags.
  2. Click the X button to dismiss a suggestion you do not want.
  3. Edit an accepted tag if the name or description needs to match your team’s language.

If there are no suggested tags yet, keep using manual tags. Pulseahead may skip a run when the recent answers are too sparse, too generic, or already covered by your existing tags.

AI auto-tagging

Section titled “AI auto-tagging”

AI auto-tagging applies your approved tags to new open-text responses automatically. It also adds response sentiment, so you can quickly separate positive, neutral, and negative feedback while reviewing responses.

Auto-tagging only uses tags that already exist in your project. If Pulseahead cannot confidently match a response to one of those tags, it leaves the response untagged. Sentiment can still be applied even when no tag fits.

To turn on auto-tagging:

  1. Open Project settings.
  2. Find AI auto-tagging.
  3. Turn the switch on.
  4. Click Save.

After auto-tagging is enabled, new open-text responses can show:

  • Tags: Approved project tags that match the response.
  • Sentiment: Positive, neutral, or negative. See Response Sentiment for how these labels work.
  • No sentiment: Used in filters when no sentiment has been assigned yet.

Tagging responses

Section titled “Tagging responses”

Once you have created tags, you can assign them to responses as you read them.

  1. Open the Response Feed by clicking Responses in the sidebar.
  2. On any response card, click Add Tag.
  3. A menu appears with your available tags. Click a tag to assign it to the response.
  4. To remove a tag, click the X on the tag badge.

Tags appear as badges on the response cards, making it easy to spot themes as you scroll through the feed.

Best practices for tagging

Section titled “Best practices for tagging”

Effective tagging helps product managers, designers, and user researchers spot trends without drowning in unstructured data. To get the most value out of Response Tags, follow these guidelines:

Use clear naming conventions

Section titled “Use clear naming conventions”

Keep your tag names action-oriented or categorized so their purpose is obvious at a glance. Good examples include:

  • bug
  • feature-request
  • ux-friction
  • pricing
  • onboarding

Avoid vague tags like interesting or important, which don’t tell you why the response matters.

Start small

Section titled “Start small”

Aim for 5 to 10 core tags when you begin. Too many tags lead to decision fatigue and inconsistent usage across your team. You can always add more specific tags later if a broad category like feature-request becomes too crowded.

Maintain consistency

Section titled “Maintain consistency”

Agree on tag definitions with your team so everyone applies them the same way. The description field on the Response Tags page is a great place to document these definitions. For example, clarify whether a missing button should be tagged as a bug or a feature-request.

Focus on the value

Section titled “Focus on the value”

Structured tagging turns qualitative feedback into quantifiable trends. While tagging takes a few extra seconds per response, it pays off when you need to justify a roadmap decision or prioritize bug fixes based on user volume.

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