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Taxonomy is BuildBetter’s intelligent categorization system that helps you organize signals by product area. Using AI, BuildBetter generates a structured hierarchy based on your product documentation, then automatically labels incoming signals to keep everything organized.

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What is Taxonomy?

Taxonomy provides a four-level hierarchy for categorizing your customer feedback and signals:

Domain

High-level product areas or customer journey stages (e.g., “Onboarding”, “Core Platform”, “Enterprise”)

Product

Specific offerings, modules, or major feature sets within a domain (e.g., “Recording Service”, “Analytics Dashboard”)

Feature

Individual capabilities or functionality (e.g., “Speaker Assignment”, “Export Options”, “Search Filters”)

Tag

Specific instances, variations, or fine-grained labels (e.g., “CSV Export”, “PDF Export”, “API Export”)

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Why Use Taxonomy?

Keep signals organized at scaleAs your team captures thousands of signals from calls, support tickets, and feedback forms, taxonomy provides structure:
  • Group related feedback together automatically
  • Find all signals related to a specific feature instantly
  • Track feedback trends by product area over time

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How Taxonomy Works

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The Hierarchy Structure

Domain (Level 1)
├── Product (Level 2)
│   ├── Feature (Level 3)
│   │   ├── Tag (Level 4)
│   │   └── Tag
│   └── Feature
│       └── Tag
└── Product
    └── Feature
        └── Tag
Auto-labeling levels: Product, Feature, and Tag levels are automatically applied to signals by AI. Domain is intentionally not auto-labeled to encourage high-level human decision-making about product organization.

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Example Taxonomy

Here’s what a taxonomy might look like for a project management tool:
DomainProductFeatureTag
Project ManagementTask BoardKanban ViewDrag & Drop
Project ManagementTask BoardKanban ViewSwimlanes
Project ManagementTask BoardList ViewSorting
Project ManagementTime TrackingTimerManual Entry
CollaborationCommentsMentions@User
CollaborationCommentsThreadsReply
IntegrationsCalendar SyncGoogle CalendarTwo-way Sync
IntegrationsCalendar SyncOutlookImport Only

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Getting Started with Taxonomy

1

Generate Your Taxonomy

Navigate to Settings > Taxonomy and click Generate Taxonomy. You’ll be prompted to provide product documentation or a description of your product.
The more detailed your input, the better your taxonomy will be. Include feature lists, documentation pages, or a comprehensive product description.
2

Review and Refine

After AI generates your taxonomy, review the hierarchy in the Taxonomy Editor. You can:
  • Rename nodes to match your team’s terminology
  • Add missing features or products
  • Remove irrelevant categories
  • Reorganize the hierarchy structure
3

Enable Auto-Labeling

Once your taxonomy is finalized, BuildBetter will automatically apply relevant labels to new signals. You can also backfill existing signals with the new taxonomy.

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The Taxonomy Editor

The Taxonomy Editor provides full control over your product hierarchy:

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Viewing Your Taxonomy

See your entire taxonomy as an expandable tree structure. Click the arrow next to any node to expand or collapse its children.
Each level is visually distinguished:
  • Domain: Top-level organizational categories
  • Product: Major offerings (auto-labelable)
  • Feature: Specific capabilities (auto-labelable)
  • Tag: Fine-grained labels (auto-labelable)

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Editing Operations

ActionDescription
Add NodeClick the + button on any node to add a child at the next level
Edit NameClick on any node name to edit it inline
Edit DescriptionAdd context to help AI understand when to apply this label
Delete NodeRemove a node and all its children
ReorderDrag nodes to change their order within a level

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AI Labeling Instructions

For each node, you can provide custom instructions to guide the AI when auto-labeling: 
Example for "Mobile App" feature:
"Apply this label when the customer mentions the iOS app,
Android app, mobile experience, or phone-based usage."
Custom instructions are especially useful for:
  • Ambiguous features that might overlap
  • Product-specific terminology your customers use
  • Features with multiple common names

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Auto-Labeling Signals

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How Auto-Labeling Works

When a new signal is extracted:
  1. Content Analysis: AI reads the signal’s summary and context
  2. Taxonomy Matching: Compares content against your taxonomy definitions
  3. Label Application: Applies the most relevant Product, Feature, and Tag labels
  4. Confidence Check: Only applies labels when confident about the match

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Managing Auto-Fill Jobs

You can trigger bulk auto-labeling for existing signals:
Only labels signals that don’t have taxonomy values yet. Use this when adding taxonomy to an existing workspace.
Auto-labeling uses credits based on the number of signals processed. Check your usage before running large backfill jobs.

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Using Taxonomy with Signals

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Filtering by Taxonomy

On the Signals page, use taxonomy filters to narrow down results:
  • Domain Filter: See all signals in a product area
  • Product Filter: Focus on a specific offering
  • Feature Filter: Find feedback about particular functionality
  • Tag Filter: Get granular with specific variations

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Taxonomy in Slack

When creating signals from Slack messages, you can select taxonomy labels:
  1. Use the BuildBetter Slack app to create a signal
  2. In the signal creation modal, select relevant taxonomy tags
  3. The signal is created with your selected categorization
Selecting taxonomy labels during Slack signal creation overrides auto-labeling for that signal, giving you manual control when needed.

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Best Practices

Start broad, then refine: Begin with major product areas and add detail as you learn what categorizations are most useful.
Use your customers’ language: Name taxonomy nodes using terms your customers actually use in conversations.
Add descriptions: Help the AI by adding clear descriptions to ambiguous or similar-sounding features.
Review periodically: As your product evolves, update your taxonomy to reflect new features and retired ones.
Don’t over-categorize: A taxonomy that’s too granular creates noise. Focus on distinctions that matter for analysis.

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Taxonomy vs. Tags

TaxonomyCustom Tags
Hierarchical (4 levels)Flat list
AI-generated structureManually created
Auto-applied to signalsManually applied
Product-focusedFlexible use cases
System-managedUser-managed
Use taxonomy for product categorization and custom tags for cross-cutting concerns like “urgent”, “competitor mention”, or “follow-up needed”.

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FAQ

Currently, BuildBetter supports one product taxonomy per workspace. This ensures consistent categorization across all signals.
Deleting a node removes it from the hierarchy. Existing signals that were labeled with that node will retain the label as historical data, but new signals won’t be categorized with the deleted node.
Auto-labeling accuracy depends on your taxonomy quality and the clarity of your signal content. Well-described taxonomy nodes with clear instructions achieve higher accuracy. You can always manually adjust labels if needed.
Yes, you can regenerate your taxonomy at any time. This will replace your existing hierarchy, so export or note any customizations you want to preserve before regenerating.
Taxonomy transforms your signal library from a collection of feedback into a structured knowledge base organized around your product. Combined with AI auto-labeling, it ensures every piece of customer feedback finds its proper place automatically.