Find out how to create Workflows step by step within HubSpot, how to set them up, types of workflows, and how they help companies automate processes.
Creating workflows within HubSpot can initially be a challenge for commercial teams (marketing, sales, and customer service). Even more so, when your company is in one of these 3 scenarios:
- Process automation is an unexplored topic for your company.
- You have not previously implemented a CRM with omnichannel business management areas.
- Your business is new to using HubSpot and its management modules.
If workflows are a completely new concept for your company and you haven't implemented a CRM before, I recommend you read our blog on: What are HubSpot workflows and how they can automate processes?
In that blog, you can learn more about what they are, their functionalities, real use cases, benefits, and how they improve customer experience.
However, if your company is in the third scenario, you may have more doubts about its operation, configuration, and how to empower the commercial areas with this tool, within HubSpot's automation module.
Therefore, in perspective, this blog will address the following approaches:
- How to create Workflows step by step?
- Aspects to consider when configuring a workflow.
- Types of Workflows by area and business processes.
- Why workflows are of utmost importance for your company today?
How to create Workflows step by step?
Workflows may seem challenging to set up, so internally it is necessary to understand our business processes, the problems or backlogs in our process chain, the complexity of the tasks we want to address those problems, among other aspects. I will now proceed to explain the configuration step by step:
- Each user must log in to their HubSpot account and authenticate.
- Once the user is authenticated, within the HubSpot modules that you will see on your home screen, you will see a box called "automation". In case a user does not have access to all the automation areas, they can find the box with the name "workflows".
- Click on workflows, once inside the tool, on the right-hand side you will see a button that says "create workflow".
- In the following visualization, you will see the types of workflows and customized templates, to configure one with respect to the business area it is aimed at, according to the problem you want to solve or the processes you need to automate.
Aspects to consider when configuring a workflow.
These aspects may vary according to the industry your company is in, here are some initial recommendations and tips to help you understand how to create workflows step by step:
Note: It should be noted that if your company uses only one of these licenses, you will be able to use the workflow tool, but you will not have all the workflow configurations of the other license types at your disposal.
- Start by defining the problem or processes that will be our first starting point: This will help the team or the person in charge of configuring the workflow as such to have an initial idea of the situation.
- Target the problem or process of the business area that requires automation to the workflow: According to the department or process, HubSpot recommends a type of workflow configuration.
- Roles or access to Workflows: Ensure that the users in your company who will create, modify, and develop workflows have the necessary access or roles to do so. In case you don't know how to verify accesses, in the following HubSpot knowledge base article you can learn how: HubSpot User Permissions Guide.
Types of Workflows by area and business processes.
Within HubSpot, there are many types of templates and workflow configuration types. So even if a company has not yet experienced the use of workflows, they may know or have an understanding of the different types that can be created and developed within their CRM environment.
It is important to note that not all of these types of workflows will be available but here is a list of the ones that your company might want to check out within HubSpot:
Types of workflows by business process template:
- Nurturing first conversions.
- Notification to a sales representative about a lead. (follow-up prospecting).
- Sending a notification when a meeting is scheduled.
- Assigning new leads to the website.
- Workflow to welcome new blog subscribers.
- Welcome to new contacts.
- Re-engagement workflow (interaction with prospects and/or customers with no activity).
- Workflow for obtaining customer feedback.
- Promotion of a product or service.
- Sending confirmation emails for events.
- Workflows for celebrating festive activities, anniversaries, or birthdays.
- Workflows for defining the ideal customer profile or ICP.
Types of workflows by business area:
These types of workflows, unlike process workflows, are specific to properties created by default within HubSpot or assigned to manage information in a business area. They can be used in many information channels such as forms, emails, within HubSpot itself, among other options. The types are as follows:
- Contact-based: Creation of custom workflows based on contacts (individuals or companies) within HubSpot. Can be created from scratch, based on the calendar, specific dates, and date properties of the contact.
- Company-based: Customised task flow based on companies. Can be created from scratch or based on the calendar.
- Deal-Based: Creation of workflows that are triggered based on business, lead generation, lead qualification, can be created from scratch or calendar-based.
- Ticket-based: Customised task flow based on service tickets. Can be created from scratch or based on the calendar. Indispensable for the entire customer service area.
- Quote-based: Creation of workflows based on quotes, can be created from scratch or based on the calendar.
- Conversation-based: Creation of workflows based on conversations through different information channels such as forms, emails, responses to live chats, chatbots, tickets including social networks such as Facebook.
Why are workflows so important for your company today?
Workflows are fundamental for a company today. This is because we don't find many companies today that maintain the same processes that they used 20 or 30 or more years ago.
Processes that today are already slow, take up too much of the teams' productive time, can make companies expensive, are not automated, and present too many challenges in their industries to make your company stand out from the competition.
If you are interested in learning more about how to create workflows and automate the different business processes and management of your company's commercial teams properly, schedule a meeting with our team at Imagineer.