Knowledge base

Tips when categorizing comments

But first, why should you categorize the comments?

For role and purpose, categorizing the follow-up questions will show if there are missing alternatives, or if the respondents are misinterpreting the alternatives. For cannot find and improvement suggestions, the categories will help identify problem areas on the website.

What names should you give the tag?

Follow-up questions (for example 'Other role' and 'Other purpose')

Use the alternatives for the main question when relevant. For example, if one of the options for role is 'Potential customer' and you have text answers for 'Other role' suggesting they want to purchase from you, you should categorize them as 'Potential customers'. This will make it easier to see if respondents are misinterpreting the alternatives, or if they are just not reading carefully (maybe there are too many alternatives, making the respondents skim the list).

Purpose 

When naming purpose themes, try to use existing headings or actions on the website as this will make is easier to analyze where the visitors are struggling, for example 'Log in', 'Sign up for newsletter' or 'Contact information'.

Cannot find and suggestions

Use the purposes when naming the themes, as this will make the analysis easier. For example, if the cross-tabulation shows that the visitors are struggling to find job opportunities, it is helpful to be able to read the comments for those that say they cannot find jobs or that want you to improve the career pages.

Use the same tags for what visitors cannot find and their suggestions

By using the same tags as much as possible, you can easily see both what the problems are and what the visitors think you should do to fix those very problems. However, as these are two very different questions, there will always be tags that are only relevant for one of them.

General tips

When do you add a new alternative?

If you have a high share of 'Other' for the main question, that indicates that there are missing alternatives. Use the tags in the categorized follow-up question to determine which alternatives should be added. Calculate approximate share based on share that answered 'Other' and share of the tag. At least 3% is a good start.

Avoid too specific tags

With very specific tags, there will only be a few answers per tag, which makes it harder to analyze. For follow-up questions, too specific tags make it harder to determine if new alternatives should be added to the main question, as all tags will have small shares. For cannot find and suggestions, too specific tags make it harder to draw any conclusions about the problem areas.

Avoid too general tags

Too general tags are also hard to analyze as they contain too diverse information. If a tag is getting very big, see if you can split it into more specific themes. Usually, you will already have noticed
sub categories while tagging.

You do not have to tag every answer

Even with a tag called ‘no/na’ you may not be able to find a tag for every answer without ending up with lots of tiny tags, and that is okay. The point of categorizing is to find the main themes. If you only have a couple of respondents saying one thing, they don't need their own tag.

Also tag “non-answers”

You will always get “non-answers”, such as ‘.’ or ‘no’ or ‘n/a’, especially for improvement suggestions. Tag these answers too, as for example ‘no/na’. Tagging “non-answers” will help you see if you have
gone through all the answers, as the shares in the summarizing chart will be closer to 100%.

Tips when categorizing many comments

If you have a lot of visitors on your website or if you rarely categorize your text answers, you may end up with hundreds or even thousands of uncategorized text answers. It can feel a bit overwhelming to start, but here are some tips to help you.

But before, please note that you can only view 1000 text answers for a selected time period. If there are more than 1000 text answers for the date range you want, you need to look at shorter date ranges to cover all answers.

Use search words

In the column for the text answers in the categorization tool, there is a search function. If you notice that there are commonly used words, for example "consultant" or "yearly report" or "diet", you can search for those words to filter the answers. Once you have filtered your answers, select the suitable category in the "Select tag" field in the top left corner. With the tag selected, you can use the button "Add to X responses". 

This way of categorizing is a lot quicker but less precise. You should therefore only use this method for words that are unique for that category. However, you can also skim through the answers and see if you need to change the category for any of them.

Filter alphabetically

When categorizing answers individually, a way to pick up the pace is to filter the answers alphabetically. You do that by clicking on the table title "Text" in the tool. By having the answers in alphabetical order, you often end up with similar answers after each other, which means less time looking for the appropriate category. This usually makes the categorization quicker.

Use wider categories

With a lot of answers, you will most likely find more categories. However, if you use very precise categories, you may end up with too many categories and results that become more difficult to analyze. For example, do you need to know the specific job title of the respondents, or is it enough to know that the area of work (e.g. "finance" or "law") or simply enough to know that they are visiting as private persons and not in a professional capacity?

Likewise, do you need to know which type of diet they are looking for, or can you have a category for all types of diets or even dietary advice in general?

There are no rules when it comes to creating the categories. Only you know what information you need, and this may change from year to year. One year you may need specific categories in one area but not another, and the next year it may be the opposite. Whenever a category feels unnecessary, see if you can combine it with another one, or several other, to make a broader category. In this case, we recommend that you create a new, wider category instead of changing already used categories. It makes the result easier to look at, and won't affect categorized answers for earlier date ranges.