Theme Taxonomy Design: Build Themes from Your Own Feedback

Design a theme taxonomy from your product areas and real customer quotes, then apply it in Deck with clear names and descriptions, by hand or with your agent.

By Matt TeixeiraUpdated Nov 1, 2026

Time to Run: 1 hour
Uses: Themes,MCP Server
You Get: Theme Taxonomy Table
Run It: In Deck or with your agent

ThemesListening to 5 sources

All SentimentsAll TimeAll Segments

All ThemesHigh NegativeSurgesTop Feature Requests

Theme Name	Total Theme Insights	Last Insight Date	Sentiment Breakdown
Onboarding Experience	212	Sep 24th
Reporting & Analytics	184	Sep 25th
Integrations	141	Sep 25th
Pricing & Plans	96	Sep 22nd
Mobile App	88	Sep 19th

What Is a Theme Taxonomy?

A theme taxonomy is the list of product areas your customer feedback is sorted into. Each theme has a plain name, like Search or Billing, and a description of what belongs in it and what does not. A good taxonomy matches how your team talks about the product, so every count points at a real area.

Why Feedback Themes Turn into a Mess

Themes pile up one at a time. One is called “Bugs,” another “Search issues,” a third “Bad search.” Nobody can say which area gets the most feedback, because the same problem is split across three names and a catch-all theme holds the rest. Planning on top of that means arguing about labels, not customers.

How Deck Builds a Taxonomy from Your Product and Feedback

Deck builds themes from your feedback and reads each theme's name and description when it sorts new feedback. So you design the taxonomy once, from your own product areas and a sample of real quotes, and every theme says what belongs in it. Merges and renames keep the insights attached, and Deck archives themes instead of deleting them.

How to Design a Theme Taxonomy in Deck

Run it yourself in Deck, or hand it to your AI agent. Same steps, same result.

01
Describe Your Product Areas
Open Settings → Context and fill in Product information with your main modules and workflows. Deck's agents use it to map feedback to the right part of the product. An organization admin can edit it.
02
List Every Current Theme
Open Visualize → Themes and note each theme's name and insight count. The biggest themes show where feedback is concentrated. Empty themes may have no place in the new taxonomy.
03
Read Real Feedback in the Biggest Themes
Open a theme and read the quotes in the Theme Insights table. On the Starter plan or higher, the Subthemes card shows the finer topics. A subtheme that belongs to a different product area points at a theme to split.
04
Map Each Theme to One Action
For every current theme, choose keep, rename, merge, split, new, or archive. Use plain product-area names like “Search” or “Mobile app,” not a feeling or a solution. Write a description that says what belongs and what does not.
05
Apply Renames and Merges
Rename a theme from the editable title on its Overview page. Merge duplicates from Visualize. Check each merge before you confirm it, because it moves the insights of several themes into one.
06
Finish the Rest and Check the Result
New themes, splits, descriptions, and archives run through Deck MCP, so give your approved table to your agent. Then reopen Visualize → Themes and compare it with the table. Subthemes catch up on the next weekly synthesis run.

ThemesListening to 5 sources

All SentimentsAll TimeAll Segments

All ThemesHigh NegativeSurgesTop Feature Requests

Theme Name	Total Theme Insights	Last Insight Date	Sentiment Breakdown
Onboarding Experience	212	Sep 24th
Reporting & Analytics	184	Sep 25th
Integrations	141	Sep 25th
Pricing & Plans	96	Sep 22nd
Mobile App	88	Sep 19th

ThemesListening to 5 sources

All SentimentsAll TimeAll Segments

All ThemesHigh NegativeSurgesTop Feature Requests

Theme Name	Total Theme Insights	Last Insight Date	Sentiment Breakdown
Onboarding Experience	212	Sep 24th
Reporting & Analytics	184	Sep 25th
Integrations	141	Sep 25th
Pricing & Plans	96	Sep 22nd
Mobile App	88	Sep 19th

ThemesListening to 5 sources

All SentimentsAll TimeAll Segments

All ThemesHigh NegativeSurgesTop Feature Requests

Theme Name	Total Theme Insights	Last Insight Date	Sentiment Breakdown
Onboarding Experience	212	Sep 24th
Reporting & Analytics	184	Sep 25th
Integrations	141	Sep 25th
Pricing & Plans	96	Sep 22nd
Mobile App	88	Sep 19th

ThemesListening to 5 sources

All SentimentsAll TimeAll Segments

All ThemesHigh NegativeSurgesTop Feature Requests

Theme Name	Total Theme Insights	Last Insight Date	Sentiment Breakdown
Onboarding Experience	212	Sep 24th
Reporting & Analytics	184	Sep 25th
Integrations	141	Sep 25th
Pricing & Plans	96	Sep 22nd
Mobile App	88	Sep 19th

ThemesListening to 5 sources

All SentimentsAll TimeAll Segments

All ThemesHigh NegativeSurgesTop Feature Requests

Theme Name	Total Theme Insights	Last Insight Date	Sentiment Breakdown
Onboarding Experience	212	Sep 24th
Reporting & Analytics	184	Sep 25th
Integrations	141	Sep 25th
Pricing & Plans	96	Sep 22nd
Mobile App	88	Sep 19th

Design Your Theme Taxonomy with Your AI Agent

Prefer Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or another MCP client? Paste this prompt. Your agent runs the same workflow through Deck MCP and checks with you before it changes anything.

You need

Deck MCP connected to your agent
Customer feedback already in Deck

Your agent starts with get_overview.

Agent Prompt

Paste This into Your Agent

Use Deck MCP. Fetch and follow https://docs.getdeck.io/docs/agents/workflows/design-taxonomy.md

Read the agent workflow Connect Deck MCP

Theme Taxonomy Template

theme-taxonomy-table.md

1## Product areas
2- [Area 1]: [what customers do there]
3- [Area 2]: [what customers do there]
4
5## Target taxonomy
6Target theme | Description (what belongs, what does not)                   | From current themes (Deck count) | Action                                       
7-------------|-------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------|----------------------------------------------
8[Search]     | [Finding records with search and filters. Not saved views.] | [Search (88)]                    | Keep / Rename / Merge / Split / New / Archive
9[Theme name] | [Description]                                               | [Theme (count), Theme (count)]   | [Action]                                     
10
11## Naming rules
12- 1 to 120 characters, unique in the workspace
13- A product area, not a feeling ("Bad search") or a solution ("Add dark mode")
14- One product area per theme. Fewer, broader themes. Subthemes hold the detail
15- Description up to 1000 characters
16
17## Before applying
18[ ] Each merge approved: [source] into [target]
19[ ] Each archive approved: [theme] has 0 insights
20[ ] Team knows subthemes refresh on the next synthesis run

Plain text. Pastes into Docs, Notion, or your agent.20 lines

Frequently Asked Questions

No. The theme tools spend no credits. Any member with Deck MCP access can use them.

No insight is deleted. A merge moves every insight to the target theme and archives the sources. Deck archives themes instead of deleting them, but a restored merge source comes back empty.

Yes. The taxonomy is built from your own feedback. Upload a CSV or interviews in the web app, or ask an organization admin to connect an integration in Settings → Integrations.

Subthemes need the Starter plan or higher. They do not change when you edit themes. Deck rebuilds them on the next weekly synthesis run.

Yes. When new feedback fits no theme, Deck creates one. Review the taxonomy from time to time to keep it clean.

Yes. With Deck MCP connected, paste the prompt on this page. The agent reads your product context, themes, and sample feedback, shows you the target table, and asks before it changes anything. It asks again for each merge and each archive.