Best Practices for Tagging

Learn how to tag your insights for analysis, reports and more.

• What are tags?

• Why do tags matter?

• How do I use tags? What are best practices?

• What should I avoid doing with tags?

• How do tags differ from initiatives?

What are tags?

Tags are keywords and phrases that highlight important terms within free-text insights. These terms may include medical conditions (diseases and disorders), healthcare terminology (“investigator-sponsored research” or “patients”), or custom words and phrases specific to your organization (“for discussion” or “trending”). 

Click on an insight to view the tags. See example:

We offer two types:

1. Automatic tags. When your MSLs enter a free-text insight, Kernel automatically tags the insight with one or more keywords and phrases. Kernel uses ClinicalTrials.gov, the National Library of Medicine's MeSH database and proprietary methods to identify medical keywords in your insights. The Kernel library contains over 280,000 medical keywords and phrases.

2. Custom tags. In addition to automatic tags, you can add custom words and phrases specific to your organization or therapeutic area. For example, an MSL team in oncology may wish to add “trending” to filter new information from conferences. Alternatively, a team in psychiatry may wish to add “brightening,” which describes the improvement in a patient's mood after positive events. Custom tags will apply retroactively to past insights and proactively to future insights.

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Why do tags matter?

In a changing landscape, tags are an agile way to manage and analyze free-text insights. Tags provide you with valuable context so you can identify patterns, view trends and make sense of your insights. With tags, you can easily filter your insights to discover potential issues and strategic opportunities.

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How do I use tags? What are best practices?

Setting up your tags. For first-time setup, follow these steps: 

1. Merge and select tags. Scroll through your insights and scan the automatic tags associated with each insight. If you see duplicate or repetitive tags, merge the tags together and select which tag to display in reports. Examples:

   1. “cancer” and “oncology”

   2. “patients” and “pts”

   3. “treatment” and “tx”

   4. “discontinue” and “d/c”

   5. scientific name (“adalimumab”), abbreviation (“ADA”) and brand name (“Humira”)

2. Hide any unnecessary tags. Scan the automatic tags associated with your insights. If you see any unnecessary or irrelevant tags that are not useful for analysis or reports, hide the tags. Examples:

   1. ”company name”

   2. ”product name”

3. Add custom tags. To add words and phrases that are specific to your organization or therapeutic area (and not automatically added by Kernel), add custom tags. Examples:

   1. “for discussion” or “trending” for an organization

   2. “brightening” in psychiatry

   3. “DOC” for the product “docetaxel”

   4. “AE” for “adverse event”

   5. “Facebook” or “Twitter” for social media posts

You can also add custom tags on a temporary basis. For example, to highlight insights from a medical congress (“ASCO 2020”).

Merge, hide and add your tags in the Team Admin section.

Training your MSLs. To train your MSLs to add custom tags to their insights, create guidelines for when and how to use tags:

• “Use this custom tag ASCO 2020 when…”

• “Here's how to add the custom tag ASCO 2020...”

Using your tags. To use your tags, visit the Insights by Tag report and filter by one or more tags. Try different combinations: 

• “docetaxel” AND “carboplatin”

• “docetaxel" OR "chemotherapy”

Also try high-impact tags:

• “concern” or “concerned”

• “increase”

• “decrease”

• “ISR/ISS/IST”

• “needs”

• “patients”

• “research”

This will create shortlists that can help you identify patterns and themes. Within a theme, view the tag counts (for example, 15 insights tagged “research”) to help you assess potential issues and strategic opportunities.  

To monitor trends for important tags, create a custom report (personalized dashboard). Watch this video.

To find new tags which are emerging within your insights, visit the Emerging Tags report and scan for tags marked “NEW.” Click the tag to view the insights.

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What should I avoid doing with tags?

A common mistake is using too many tags, which clutters your reports and impedes your analysis. Review your tags every month to ensure your critical keywords are properly tagged and hide any unnecessary or obsolete tags. 

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How do tags differ from initiatives? 

On your homepage, Kernel organizes surveys and insights by initiative (your organization may refer to these as “key insight topics,” “listening priorities,” “scientific imperatives,” or other). See example:

Initiatives are first-level categories to help you organize and view surveys and insights. When your MSLs enter a free-text insight, they can tag the insight with an initiative (for example, “HCP Demographics”). When you select “HCP Demographics” on your homepage, this will display the associated insights.

Tags are second-level categories to help you organize and analyze free-text insights.

Tags apply to free-text insights only.

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