9 Ways to Use HubSpot Workflows to Automate Your Business

Unlike so many other tools and native applications, HubSpot comes with the benefit of continuous innovation, releasing new products and solutions every year. 

One of its most versatile tools for business is the ability to automate tasks, segment data, and track conversion goals through its Workflows feature. 

While many of us may have some experience using HubSpot Workflows, we’ve found that businesses are often surprised by what they didn’t know or didn’t think they could automate with HubSpot’s Workflows. Once you start using HubSpot Workflows, you’ll find yourself automating every minuscule task and integrating every available tool. 

We understand that automation may feel intimidating, but HubSpot Workflows makes automating tasks easy and intuitive. 

To learn more about getting started with HubSpot Workflow automation, we’ve provided this guide to help you understand more about this tool and nine real-world business uses. 

What Are HubSpot Workflows?

The HubSpot Workflows tool is an automation builder that allows you to enroll contacts, companies, deals, and more in a series of automations to send marketing emails, create tasks, update property values, and more. 

For example, HubSpot Workflows in the Marketing Hub can be used to act on leads with a certain HubSpot Score by automating an email drip campaign or passing off those leads to a sales rep. 

HubSpot Workflows are located underneath the Automation tab at the top of the HubSpot portal and allow users to automate virtually any task or action supporting their Revenue Operations strategy. 

Additionally, HubSpot integrates with several tools and platforms to add additional Workflow Action. These integrations include Salesforce, Asana, Slack, and Microsoft to improve communication and data sharing.

Benefits of HubSpot Workflows and Integrations

HubSpot Workflows are incredibly easy to use and manage, so even if you don’t get it right the first time, you can easily fix any errors and format data appropriately. 

Once mastered, HubSpot Workflows offer several benefits to your business that will reduce costs and labor, and boost qualified conversions. For example, you can set up a HubSpot Workflow to do any of the following tasks:

• Automate email follow-up and drip campaigns for contacts who view your website
• Create tasks for sales to call leads who contact your business
• Send out internal notifications using Slack, SMS, or email
• Seamlessly create tasks directly in your favorite project management software
• Segment leads by dozens of pre-determined filters, including job title, company size, or degree
• Format data to keep data useful and consistent
• Track campaign performance based on goals, assigned values, and dozens of additional factors

With this in mind, let’s discuss nine incredibly easy and powerful uses of HubSpot Workflows for your business. 

9 Useful HubSpot Workflow Examples

1. Automate Sequence Enrollment for Sales

   Personalization is the key to any marketing success, but personalization often runs counter to automation. However, with Automated Sequences Enrollments in HubSpot Enterprise, users can automatically send personalized, one-on-one emails to qualified leads in the Sales Hub. 

   New contacts who visit your site or click on an ad can automatically enroll in an email sequence, sending timely and customized emails based on their prior engagement. 

   Once that contact books a meeting or responds to an email, they will be automatically unenrolled from the sequence to stop sending emails to contacts that have already converted.

   

2. Re-Engage Lost Contacts

   If your initial email reachout doesn’t result in a conversion, don’t fret, as you can achieve massive success by re-engaging dead contacts with follow-up emails long after they go cold.

   For example, HubSpot has a Workflow template for a follow-up email based on enrollment triggers, such as users who still subscribe to your emails but haven’t opened your last 5 emails. 

   Using this Workflow, you could send out an email with a special promotion or just to ask contacts if they still want to be subscribed to your email. Next, you could assign an action based on their engagement to either update their lifecycle or move them to a separate list to no longer send them emails. 

   

3. Create a Salesforce URL in HubSpot

   Even after a Salesforce integration, your sales team may likely use Salesforce, which is not a problem, thanks to HubSpot Workflows. 

   Teams using HubSpot often want to notify Sales teams when contacts submit a form. The standard form notification emails only include a link to view a record in HubSpot. So, what if you don’t want your sales team in HubSpot? How can they see the record?
   We’ve designed a workflow to populate a text field for “Salesforce URL” using the Salesforce Contact and Lead ID in HubSpots. This Salesforce URL guide provides all of the steps needed to create a custom Salesforce URL and send notifications to Sales users not in HubSpot with a link to a HubSpot contact’s Salesforce record.
   

4. Trigger Action Based on Lead Scores

   HubSpot’s Lead Score is one of its most beloved tools and helps users grant points to contacts based on how likely they are to complete a conversion task. Marketers can assign positive or negative points to a lead’s score based on previous action or contact record data. For example, marketers could assign positive points to contacts who fill out a lead generation form or deduct points from contacts with entry-level job titles that don’t make purchasing decisions at companies. 

   Users can optimize HubSpot’s lead scoring with contact enrollment triggers that initiate an action or notification once a lead reaches a certain score.

   For example, if a lead reaches a score greater than 60, a Workflow can be set up to automatically:

   Change a contact from an MQL to a SQL Switch the contact owner to a sales rep

   Send out an internal notification to the sales rep

   Using HubSpot’s Workflows to streamline lead scoring prevents companies from losing highly qualified leads and potential business opportunities. 

   
   
   

5. Automate Lead Assignment

   Furthermore, the HubSpot Workflows help you quickly get leads to your sales team with automated lead assignments. For example, you can use criteria-based lead assignment to assign leads by territory or certain property values on their Contact record. Or, you can use the "Rotate record to owner" workflow action to use Round Robin lead assignment amongst certain Teams or sales team members in HubSpot.

   

6. Nurture Leads 

   Lead nurturing helps marketers push qualified contacts closer to a conversion.

   Using HubSpot Workflows, marketers can set up enrollment triggers anytime a lead downloads an asset from their website or completes a desired action, such as signing up for a Webinar or downloading an eBook. 

   Once enrollment is triggered, you can send out a series of emails designed to speak directly to the buyer’s persona and encourage action.

   For example, you could send out an initial email providing awareness of your brand, such as an informative infographic with stats relevant to that contact’s industry. Next, set an action to delay your next email for five business days. Then, send another email containing mid-funnel content with a case study or whitepaper that speaks to the buyer’s persona. Finally, if the user remains engaged, you could delay your final email for five more business days and send out an email with a pricing or demo page that encourages action. Based on which action is taken, if/then logic can be set up to update a contact to an MQL or SQL. 

   
   
   
   

7. Manage Bounced or Unsubscribed Contacts 

   Despite all of your best efforts, some contacts simply won’t convert or just may lose interest over time. 

   Luckily, a Workflow can be created to change the Marketing Contact Status for contacts who have unsubscribed from your marketing emails or for email addresses that have hard bounced when sent an email. 

   

   This Workflow reduces the volume of marketable contacts in your account so you’re only paying for contacts that have opted into your communications and have a valid email address. 

   As a bonus, we’ve created a guide that helps businesses resubscribe contacts with HubSpot and manage unsubscribes. 

8. Create Webinar Campaigns

   Webinar communications can be a pain. Fortunately, the HubSpot Workflows tool makes webinar invitations, webinar registration confirmations, and webinar follow-up communications a breeze. By using a HubSpot landing page and the integration with Zoom or GoToWebinar, you can automate webinar invitations, confirmations, and follow-up emails.

   Wondering how to get started?

   First, create a landing page to capture registrations using a HubSpot form.

   Then, create three Workflows.

   The first workflow is a Contact-Based Workflow. Set the enrollment criteria for contacts you'd like to invite to the webinar. Then, add a series of 2-3 marketing emails to direct contacts toward your registration page.

   Next, create a Contact-Based Workflow that enrolls contacts once they've submitted the form. Then, add Workflow Actions to trigger a confirmation email to registrants and another to add the contact to the webinar in GoToWebinar or Zoom.

   Finally, create a Contact-Based Workflow based on the webinar's date. Use this workflow to thank attendees for coming, manage their Salesforce campaign management, or invite registrants who did not attend the next webinar.

9. Create Salesforce Tasks using HubSpot Workflows

   Marketing shouldn't be the only team benefiting from the data HubSpot offer your organization. Using the HubSpot Workflows tool, you can create automated tasks for your sales team to follow up with contacts when they submit a form, visit a specific website page, or open a key email in a nurture series. Using the "Create Salesforce Task" Workflow Action, you can bring the power of HubSpot data to your Salesforce users and act on Contact behavior quickly.

   

   Automation may feel intimidating, but it’s just one more thing that HubSpot simplifies for your business process. Whether it’s automating email reach outs or qualifying leads, HubSpot Workflows save you time and help you grow your business. 

   To take back control of your HubSpot CRM or learn how to properly utilize it, be sure to contact our team at Coastal Consulting. We offer packages that help our clients integrate HubSpot with software like Salesforce, set up property management automation, and provide support for all of HubSpot’s different services. Select any of our HubSpot Onboarding services to learn more or click the Connect with Coastal button in the top right corner to schedule a free call and consultation.