Structured Tagging for Enterprise Workflows

Company
Hootsuite
Role
UX Research Intern
Timeline
~4 Weeks
Methods
Interviews
Prototypes
Hootsuite structured tagging on a laptop and tablet

01. Overview

I led evaluative research on a new structured tagging system designed to replace Hootsuite’s existing flat tagging model. The proposed experience introduced grouped tags, administrative controls, and more advanced filtering to support how enterprise teams organize and report on social content. I tested the prototype across 4 product areas (Admin, Composer, Analytics, Inbox) and reporting workflows to understand how the system fit existing customer practices and which capabilities were required for an initial release.

9
Customer Interviews
60min
Moderated sessions
4
Product areas impacted

02. Problem

Enterprise customers were managing hundreds of tags in a single flat list, making it difficult to maintain consistent naming, find relevant tags, and use tagging data for reporting. Some teams were exporting data into Excel or Power BI because Hootsuite did not support the filtering and aggregation required for their reporting workflows.

The research focused on one primary question:

What structure, governance, and filtering capabilities do enterprise teams need for tagging to work consistently across publishing, engagement, and reporting workflows?

The study also needed to determine where the proposed design could remain simple and where enterprise requirements justified additional complexity, including permissions, mandatory tags, Boolean filtering, automation, and export structure.

03. Approach

I worked closely with the Product Manager and Lead Designer to define the prototype flows and research questions before testing. The study covered several parts of the tagging experience, including Admin, Composer, Analytics, and Inbox, so the discussion guide was designed to test both usability and how structured tagging would fit into existing enterprise workflows.

  1. Align

    Defined research questions for a 60-minute moderated usability test based on a prototype flow.

  2. Test

    Recruited 9 enterprise customers and conducted task-based prototype sessions across key workflows.

  3. Analysis

    Consolidated findings into 34 insights and 10 product recommendations.

  4. Share

    Presented findings to 20+ stakeholders and distributed the report across Product, Design, and Engineering.

Tag setup & selection

Create a tag group with required tags, visibility and administrator permissions
Create a tag group
Tag groups, automatic tagging rules and bulk tag import prototypes
Manage tags, rules & imports
Select tags organized by campaign, country, brand, product category and content objective
Select grouped tags

Tags across workflows

Inbox conversation tagging prototype
Tag conversations
Post filtering with default, strict AND and broad OR logic
Filter tagged content
Social posts filtered by brand and campaign tags
Review tagged posts
Figma prototype screens used during moderated usability testing across Admin, Composer, Analytics, and Inbox workflows.

04. Key Insights

Structure & governance

Grouped tags reduced complexity, but governance determined whether the system would scale.

  • Hundreds of Tags
  • Tree-style structure requested
  • Required groups
  • Separate Group Admin permissions

Design for findability and governance, not hierarchy alone.

Filtering & language

Advanced filtering was essential, but the proposed terminology was unclear.

  • AND / OR / NOT requested by all
  • Reporting logic done outside Hootsuite
  • “Broad” and “Strict” terminology unclear

Implement Boolean filtering, but simplify the language.

Reporting & workflows

Tagging needed to support reporting, not just content organization.

  • Excel + Power BI workarounds
  • Saved filters requested
  • Multi-network reporting needs
  • CSV by tag group

Treat reporting and export structure as part of the tagging experience.

05. Impact

The research translated enterprise needs into a prioritized set of requirements for the structured tagging MVP, helping Product and Design determine which capabilities were necessary for launch versus later iterations. Several of the capabilities validated through the study, including structured tag management and advanced filtering, have since launched in product, demonstrating a direct line from customer research to shipped functionality. The work supported an enterprise-requested capability associated with $5.5M in ARR and resulted in 13 prioritized product recommendations across tagging, governance, reporting, and workflow integration.

5.5M
ARR represented by enterprise requests
10
High priority MVP requirements
2
Core features launched (structured tagging + boolean filtering)

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