What Is Workflow Automation? 9 HubSpot Workflows Worth Building

Most HubSpot portals have workflows. Fewer have workflows that fix a real problem. The difference is usually where you start: with a list of clever automations, or with the manual step your team keeps forgetting.

Key takeaways

• Workflow automation is the use of software to carry out a sequence of business steps automatically when a set condition is met, such as assigning a new lead, sending a follow-up or updating a record.
• In HubSpot, a workflow has an enrollment trigger (what starts it), actions (what it does) and optional delays between steps.
• HubSpot workflows are available on Professional and Enterprise subscriptions of Smart CRM, Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, Data Hub and Revenue Hub.
• The most valuable workflows remove a step people forget: assigning leads, following up, updating lifecycle stages and alerting sales at the right moment.
• Start with the two or three workflows that fix your biggest leak, test them properly, and give someone ownership before adding more.

What is workflow automation?

Workflow automation is the use of software to carry out a series of steps automatically when a specific condition is met. Instead of someone remembering to assign a lead, send an email or update a record, the system does it the same way every time.

In HubSpot, every workflow has three parts. An enrollment trigger decides which records enter the workflow: for example, a contact submits a form, a deal reaches a certain stage, or a property changes. Actions are what the workflow does: send an email, create a task, rotate a record to an owner, update a property or notify a colleague. Delays space the actions out, so a follow-up email goes two days later rather than instantly.

A simple example: when someone submits the "Contact us" form, HubSpot assigns them to the next sales rep in rotation, creates a task to call them within a day, and sends the rep a notification. Nobody has to notice the enquiry for it to be handled.

How it differs from marketing and sales automation. Workflow automation is the underlying mechanism. Marketing automation applies it to marketing tasks such as nurturing emails and segmentation; sales automation applies it to sales tasks such as lead assignment, follow-up reminders and deal updates. In HubSpot, all three run on the same workflows tool. For the marketing side in more depth, see what marketing automation is and how it lifts conversion rates.

According to HubSpot's knowledge base, the workflows tool is included in the Professional and Enterprise editions of Smart CRM, Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, Data Hub and Revenue Hub. Simpler automations, such as the follow-up emails attached to forms, are available elsewhere in the platform.

9 HubSpot workflows worth building

Each of the workflows below solves a specific, common problem. For each one: what triggers it, what it does, and when it's worth building.

1. Lead assignment and follow-up tasks

Trigger: a new contact submits a form or is created from a specific source.
Actions: rotate the contact to the next sales rep (or assign by region or product), create a follow-up task with a due date, notify the owner.

Worth building when: new enquiries depend on someone noticing an email, or leads sit without an owner. This is often the single most valuable workflow a sales team can have, because every other step depends on someone owning the lead.

2. Lead scoring and sales hand-off

Trigger: a contact's lead score passes a threshold you've agreed with sales.
Actions: update the lifecycle stage to marketing qualified lead, assign or notify the right sales rep, create a task to make contact.

Worth building when: sales complains about lead quality, or marketing passes over everyone who fills in a form. The workflow is only as good as the scoring model behind it, so agree the criteria with sales first. Our article on using lead scoring in HubSpot the right way covers how to build one.

3. Lifecycle stage updates

Trigger: a record reaches a milestone, for example a deal is created, a deal is closed won, or a lead is disqualified.
Actions: set the contact's and company's lifecycle stage to match (opportunity, customer, and so on).

Worth building when: your funnel reports don't add up because lifecycle stages are updated by hand, or not at all. Automating them is unglamorous, but it's what makes marketing and sales reporting trustworthy.

4. Behaviour-based follow-up emails

Trigger: a contact takes a specific action, such as visiting the pricing page, downloading a guide or opening a key email.
Actions: after a short delay, send a follow-up email relevant to that action, and stop the sequence if they book a meeting or reply.

Worth building when: your follow-up is the same for everyone regardless of what they've shown interest in. Keep these sequences short; two or three well-timed emails usually do more than a long drip.

5. Internal alerts for high-intent actions

Trigger: an existing lead or customer does something that signals buying intent, such as requesting a quote, returning to the pricing page or replying to a campaign.
Actions: notify the contact owner by email or in the HubSpot app, and create a task to follow up.

Worth building when: sales reps have too many contacts to watch manually. Be selective about what triggers an alert; if reps get ten notifications a day, they'll ignore all of them.

6. Lead nurturing for new subscribers and downloads

Trigger: a contact subscribes to your newsletter or downloads content, but isn't ready to talk to sales.
Actions: add them to a short series of helpful emails, update their lead score as they engage, and hand them to sales when they cross the threshold (see workflow 2).

Worth building when: you collect contacts through content but do nothing with them afterwards. For worked examples, see how to use HubSpot workflows to automate lead nurturing.

7. Event and webinar reminders and follow-ups

Trigger: a contact registers for an event or webinar.
Actions: send a confirmation, reminders before the event, then different follow-ups to people who attended and people who didn't.

Worth building when: you run events regularly and the follow-up currently depends on someone exporting a list afterwards.

8. Abandoned-cart reminders

Trigger: a shopper adds items to a cart in your online store but doesn't complete the purchase. This needs an ecommerce integration, such as Shopify, that sends cart data to HubSpot.
Actions: after a delay, send a reminder email with the items left behind; optionally a second reminder later.

Worth building when: you sell online and your store data already flows into HubSpot. If it doesn't, the integration comes first; see our step-by-step guide to integrating HubSpot with Shopify.

9. Re-engaging inactive contacts

Trigger: a contact hasn't opened an email or visited your site for a set period, for example six months.
Actions: send a short re-engagement message; if they respond, return them to active nurturing; if not, mark them as unengaged so you stop emailing them.

Worth building when: your contact database is growing but engagement is falling. Re-engagement also protects your email reputation, because you stop sending to people who never open.

Where to start, and what to avoid

You don't need all nine. Look at where leads and customers currently fall through the gaps, and build the workflows that close those gaps first. For most teams that means lead assignment (1), lifecycle stage updates (3) and one follow-up sequence (4 or 6).

A few mistakes are worth avoiding:

Building too many at once. 
Workflows interact with each other. Several that update the same property or send email to the same contacts can conflict. Add them one at a time.

Skipping testing.
Run each workflow on a few test records before switching it on, and check every branch, delay and email.

No owner.
Someone needs to review workflows regularly. Processes change, and a workflow that made sense last year can quietly cause problems this year.

Automating a process nobody agreed on.
A workflow enforces whatever rules you give it. If marketing and sales disagree on what a qualified lead is, automating the hand-off just automates the argument.

Workflows are one part of a well-built HubSpot setup. If you'd like them designed around how your teams actually work, Woven is a HubSpot Diamond Solutions Partner in Singapore offering HubSpot implementation services, including automation, integrations and training.