HubSpot Workflows That Will Help Improve Lead Nurturing

Reaching out to every single lead that makes it into the funnel can be time-consuming. Each message must be signed and sealed using personalization to create a more targeted message that will grab the attention of potential customers. Manually crafting each message for each lead can eat up a significant piece of your workday. Not to mention, creating additional personalized messages for leads at different stages of the funnel is simply not scalable. But with HubSpot workflows, you can send the right message at the right time all the time. In this blog, I will help you understand the capabilities of workflows when automating your lead nurturing initiatives and how you can align workflows with your lead nurturing strategy.

What is a Workflow?

HubSpot’s workflow tool automates your marketing, sales, and service processes. It is a set of actions that are triggered based on a person’s behavior or contact information and are established using a series of “if-then” commands based on leads’ behavior. The workflow tool is capable of automating both internal and external processes from assigning deals to your sales team based on qualifications and automating lead nurturing campaigns.  

What is Automated Lead Nurturing?

Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with prospects so you can earn their business when they’re ready to become a customer. Now, let’s add automation to the equation. Automated lead nurturing gives you the power to curate an email experience that sends potential customers the right content at the right time on their journey to becoming loyal customers. For your automated lead nurturing strategy to be successful, you will need the information collected from form submissions, any information collected that pushed prospects to land in your funnel or information on your contact’s behavior to segment your contact database to create a personalized marketing experience. Using HubSpot workflows will help you uncover creative ways to use automation to impact your inbound marketing efforts.

Why HubSpot Workflows Can Improve your Lead Nurturing Process

68% of marketing leaders currently use a marketing automation platform in some way. Many use HubSpot workflows to target users based on criteria and filters that are unique to their business. For more upside, you’re able to maintain and develop relationships at scale. You will not have to worry about sending out manual emails every time a potential customer forgets to log in to their account after 2 weeks or if a prospect never follows up after 7 days. You can set up a workflow to do that for you—all you need to do is decide what the goal of the workflow is and determine what you expect the outcome to look like. The objective is to create powerful, targeted messages that will nurture potential customers for you. The obvious challenge is to come up with the emails, content, or anything related that makes the most sense for your lead nurturing process to be successful. Every company’s unique message will be different, but what every company has in common is the ability to use automation to keep potential customers engaged when your hands are tied and bandwidth is low. You will need to create content that appeals to your customer personas at each stage of your sales funnel. The content you create will work together with HubSpot workflows to nurture leads and current customers. Content includes and is not limited to blog posts, video tutorials, ebooks, downloadable assets, case studies, and anything else you find fitting for your audience at every stage of the buyer’s journey. If it makes you feel a little better, 23% of marketers using a marketing automation platform are automating their content delivery. Without content, lead nurturing with automation is difficult and almost impossible.

Ways You Can Implement HubSpot Workflows for Lead Nurturing

Again, every business can use HubSpot workflows for different reasons. The messaging stage will be unique for each business, and that is okay. But there are several nurturing scenarios that companies commonly use to connect with their contacts that make for a good start.  

1. The First Submission

The first submission by a potential customer is crucial. This is the start of a potential new client relationship so you want to start on the right track. With HubSpot workflows, you can provide a positive nurturing experience with the first few emails potential customers will receive after they submit a form. This nurturing path is intended to provide immediate value to a potential customer who has submitted their first form. As shown in the image, the workflow is triggered once a new form is submitted. The criteria for this to happen is ‘number of form submissions is equal to 1’, meaning that any person who makes their first submission will receive the emails that are lined up. As soon as the form is submitted, the nurturing experience commences. A welcome email is sent to prospects and the last message sent is delayed for 7 days. The dates and messages are controlled by you, making HubSpot workflows the perfect tool to build an automated lead nurturing process for prospects at this stage.  

2. Lead Nurturing When Prospects are in the Funnel

Potential customers need to see the value before going all in. But now that you have an inventory of content ready for each stage that a lead is categorized under, you can set up workflows for each stage. Aligning content with a prospect’s stage in your buyer’s journey can boost conversion rates by 72%, signaling a significant ROI that your lead nurturing process can produce. The objective of this type of workflow is to send the targeted content that you created. Whether you have one workflow or multiple for different stages, the content you tie to each workflow must provide value that prospects will find both useful and exciting. Remember, they have not become customers for whatever reason. The main takeaway is to use workflows as a tool to send consistent, valuable messages based on criteria and filters pulled from the information captured on form submissions.  

3. Keep Your Customers Close

Another common way to implement HubSpot workflows for lead nurturing is to nurture current customers. Let’s not forget about your fans! The workflow can be set up the same way as the first submission workflow I described earlier. However, the enrollment trigger for this workflow should be ‘The contact property lifecycle stage is equal to customer’. Whenever a contact is labeled as a ‘customer’, the workflow is triggered and they will receive the content that is added to the workflow. A welcome email is expected, but the content can differ depending on the services they are paying you for. The challenge: Customers will pay for different services. This is where segmentation comes into play. Let’s say Group 1 enjoys the Palm Springs resort more than the Big Bear resort. You are responsible for knowing your audience as it will dictate what content you will include in the workflow. So sending Group 1 a guide on the best hiking trails located near the Palm Springs resort or a list of things they must visit in Palm Springs would be great content to follow up with once they have become a customer. But it’s important to remember that workflows allow you to be consistent with your company’s messaging.  

More HubSpot Workflow Examples

HubSpot workflows work for you! There are other ways you can utilize HubSpot’s marketing automation tool. Another example is the free trial nurture, which can be used to demonstrate how your product or service works to help prospects find value within the trial period. The milestone nurture is a type of workflow that can be used to remind customers about any notable milestones, goals, or anniversaries that can show them how much you appreciate them as a customer. The point is that you will always have a workflow sending the right messages at the right time as long as they are set up to complete the lead nurturing objectives that you want to accomplish. To add more upside, you are in full control of these workflows and can make any changes when you need to shift any business objectives. HubSpot workflows can also be turned off whenever.  

Boost Your Lead Nurturing Efforts with HubSpot Workflows

Marketing automation may be scary at first, but a tool like HubSpot workflows ensures you are always in control. Control the audiences you will target, the triggers and criteria that will initiate each workflow, the content that will be shared, and enjoy fueling connections that result in long-lasting client relationships.