Tagging is a great way to find themes in your research.
You can tag any of the following data in PlaybookUX:
Notes
Transcripts
Clips
Written responses
Analysis transcription charts
Manual & Automatic Tags
Tags can be created manually or generated automatically.
Manual tagging gives you full control: as you review notes, transcripts, clips, or written responses, you can highlight any section and apply a tag on the spot. This works well when you're doing a close read of the data and want to capture something specific or unexpected that a rule wouldn't catch.
Automatic tagging uses rules you set up in advance. Once a rule is active, PlaybookUX scans new transcripts and written responses as they come in and applies the tag whenever the condition is met, no manual review required. This is especially useful for recurring themes you already know you want to track, like specific keywords, phrases, or topics that come up across many sessions. Automatic tags are applied retroactively as well.
Most teams end up using both: automatic rules to handle the predictable, high-volume tagging, and manual tags to flag the nuanced or one-off moments automatic rules might miss.
Examples
Using tags will help you identify and keep track of patterns that emerge across your research data.
Imagine you're running a study to assess the usability of signing up for your website. You may want to structure your tag groups and tags like this:
Tag Group 1: Metrics
Tags: Success, Failure, Partial Success
Tag Group 2: UI Elements
Tags: Filters, Search, Navigation, Homepage, Settings, Layout
Tag Group 3: Login
Tags: Password Strength, Social Logins, Form fields
Tag Group 4: Account Settings
Tags: Delete button, Reset password, Billing, Remember Card
Tags are flexible to fit your needs. The more research you run, the more tags you'll create.
PlaybookUX "Reactions" are quick tags that will help you capture sentiment (more on that later in this article).
Creating tags
Go to the Account menu and click "Manage tags".
This screen will allow you to create Tag Groups & Tags.
Create a Tag Group by clicking the "Create Tag Group" button.
Expand the groups to view tags. You can create new tags by clicking "Create Tag" or by doing it on the fly (we'll get to that in a moment!)
Ungrouped tags are ones that don't belong to a tag group.
Editing a Tag Group or Tag
Hover over the row you'd like to edit and click Actions > Edit.
You can change a tag's group by clicking into the "Tag Group" dropdown and selecting the new group.
Delete a tag by hovering over the row, clicking Actions > Delete.
AI tags
Set tag rules so that tags appear automatically, but only when specific conditions are met.
For example, you can create a rule that says: if a transcript or written response contains a certain word or phrase, automatically tag it with a specific highlight. You can layer in multiple conditions using OR logic, so a response gets tagged if it matches any of the criteria you've set. This means tagging happens consistently in the background, without someone having to manually read through and tag each response by hand.
How to tag
Highlight a piece of a transcript or note and a modal will appear.
Locate the tag you'd like to use with the search and toggle it on.
Alternatively, enter a term in the search bar and hit enter to create a new tag. All new tags will be Ungrouped.
Toggling on the tag will add it to the bottom of the transcript task or note.
Transcript:
Note:
The number next to the tag is the tag count. It tells you how many times someone on your team tagged it. For example, "Usability issue" was only used once.
Remove a tag by hovering over it and clicking the X.
Reactions
Reactions are quick, standardized tags. They're stuck to the bottom of the tag module.
Click on one or more reactions.
Analyzing tags
Click on the "Tags' tab on the top right of the page.
The bar chart is a visual representation of tags across all projects.
Use the Dates & Projects filters to narrow down the chart.
Click on the bars to view what was tagged.
The data source (i.e. notes, transcript, clip) is hyperlinked. If you want to view the highlight, click on the hyperlink and it will open in a new tab.
