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Folders, Tags, Names, Oh My: The organizational system for our Appcues experiences

Strategy
USE CASE
Strategy
FEATURES
made with appcues logo

Folders, Tags, Names, Oh My: The organizational system for our Appcues experiences

Bill Williams
Lifecycle Marketing Manager

Background

When you are Appcues, your account fills up fast. Dozens of teammates, hundreds of Flows—it adds up.

Eventually, things got hard to find. Tags were inconsistent. Naming was all over the place. And search wasn’t always enough to save us.

So when Folders launched (yay!), we took the opportunity to reset. Not because there’s one right way to organize—but because any system is better than none. We also used it as a chance to clean house and archive Flows we didn’t need anymore.

Here’s the system we landed on (and how you can find your own).

What we built

1. Our Folder system: Lifecycle-first

You can only put a Flow in one Folder—so we use Folders to reflect the primary purpose of each experience.

We organize at the top level by lifecycle moment:

  • Activation – Flows that help new users find value
  • Adoption – Flows that drive usage of key features
  • Expansion – Flows for upsells, upgrades, and advocacy

Each Folder has sub-folders grouped by feature, campaign, or moment. It gives us a clear picture of what’s happening across the journey—and a consistent place to put new things.

We also have standalone Folders for CS and Product, since those teams aren’t running lifecycle campaigns but still need a place to manage their Flows.

If you’re setting up Folders, ask:

  • How does your team think about your experiences?
  • Would it be easier to group by team, journey sTage, product area, or something else?
  • What will make the most sense to someone new coming into the account?

Other ways to organize Folders:

  • By team (e.g. Marketing, Product, CS)
  • By initiative or project (e.g. Q3 trial campaign)
  • By product area (e.g. Billing, Dashboard)
  • By audience segment (e.g. Admins, New users)

Pro tip: Use the "Unassigned" view to quickly find experiences that aren’t in a Folder and get them organized.

2. Our Tag system: Team, product, purpose

Tags let us add extra context without cluttering our Folder structure.

We Tag for:

  • Team – who owns or built the experience
  • Product or feature – what the Flow supports
  • Purpose – NPS, feature tour, tooltip, announcement, etc.

We don’t Tag for status—Appcues already makes it easy to filter by Live, Draft, or Archived.

If you’re setting up Tags, ask:

  • What extra info would help you filter or search more easily?
  • What’s helpful to see when skimming a list of Flows?
  • What could stay consistent across teams?

Other useful Tag ideas:

  • Audience (Trial, Admin, Enterprise)
  • Lifecycle sTage
  • Campaign or initiative
  • Goal or KPI
  • Priority

Pro Tip: Let Folders and Tags do different jobs. If you're using the same labels in both, you're not adding as much value. Let Folders give you structure, and use Tags to layer on flexible context.

3. Our naming convention: Simple and scannable

Our format:

[Use Case] Description (Date)

Examples:

  • [Feature Release] Folders Release Tour (July 2025)
  • [Upsell] Seats Limit (Feb 2025)
  • [Trial] Welcome to Appcues Tour (June 2025)

It gives just enough context to know what something is and when it was built—without needing to open it.

If you’re setting up naming rules, ask:

  • What does someone need to know at a glance?
  • Do you want to include audience, owner, or feature?
  • What kind of format will be easiest to stick with?

Other elements you might include:

  • Channel (in-app, email, push)
  • Feature or product area
  • Campaign name
  • Creator or owner

Our approach

What's next

We’re starting to map each live experience to a key lifecycle moment—giving us a refreshed view of what we’ve built, what’s missing, and where we can improve. It’s helping us tighten up our system and make more intentional decisions going forward. We’ll share more on that soon.