The 6 Essential HubSpot Workflows for Lead Scoring We Use At Breadcrumbs

Top sales performers automate their routine tasks on HubSpot to save time. 

From nurturing high-value leads to identifying customers at risk of churning, anyone can easily check off a manual task using the HubSpot workflow tool.

It sounds all fine and dandy, but this brings us to the next question:

What kind of HubSpot workflows should you create to ensure that no one across the entire sales pipeline slips through the cracks?   

In this guide, we pull back the curtain to show you how the Breadcrumbs team goes about it.

HubSpot Workflows: Marketing

Our marketing HubSpot workflows align marketers and sales on what needs to be done, while nurturing leads in our pipeline at scale. Here’s a closer look at our process.

1. Nurturing leads

The lead nurturing workflow builds relationships with prospective customers, educates them about your product, and engages them throughout the journey. 

This stage usually involves lead scoring and customer segmentation based on behavior and attributes. 

Your users receive hundreds of emails every week, so you want to be sure you capture their attention with targeted messages and tailored content.  

While the sequence depends on your industry and vertical, says Tory Wenger, marketing manager at Breadcrumbs, the overall theme remains the same—hitting leads with your best content out of the gate.

Like offering a free ebook:

Triggers workflow: Form submission for “Download your free ebook!”
Email 1: “Your ebook is here!” (includes PDF download + links to relevant resources + invite to schedule a demo)

These subscribers continue to hear from us. Note this email we sent to promote our virtual conference, Hot Takes Live. 

It also includes our latest blog posts, other relevant downloads, and a call-to-action to schedule a demo. 

HubSpot Workflows: Sales

Our sales HubSpot workflows automate multiple manual tasks like notifications, lead routing, and assignments. Take a look at how we handle leads further down the funnel.

2. Notifying everyone about high-quality and engaged leads

Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) refer to leads who are likely to make a sale down the road (but not ready to buy) based on firmographic fit and behavioral activity.

These leads possess the attributes in your ideal customer profile (ICP) (e.g., job role, industry).

They also actively check out your website (e.g., read blog posts, sign up for webinars, browse features page).

One of the first steps in a sales workflow is to zoom into what makes an MQL and how it differs from a sales-qualified lead (SQL).

For context, we define SQLs as leads who have attended a demo and were personally vetted by the sales team. Our marketers and sales team work closely together to nurture and pitch to our MQLs.

We do this using our own contact scoring tool. Every lead meeting our enrollment criteria will automatically be added to our MQL count.

Here’s how it looks:

• Connect CRM with Breadcrumbs
• Define who makes an MQL in the Fit model (e.g., CFO in a company of 51-100 employees and a $50ARR)
• Define what makes an MQL in the Activity model (e.g., signs up for a webinar, subscribes to email newsletter)

We then assign a grade (and score) for leads who meet these predefined characteristics. For example, a CMO might get an “A” grade, whereas a marketing manager a “B”.

All scoring information is sent back to our CRM, notifying the sales team of the opportunity.

Notice how this narrows down leads who are below the funnel. It tells marketing and sales that these leads meet the characteristics in the ICP and are more likely to convert to customers.

Here’s what your HubSpot workflow might look like if you use this approach:

[Create list] “High-quality and engaged leads” that collects a list of users who signs up for a free trial + webinar + request a demo
[Triggers workflow] List = “High-quality and engaged leads”
[Step 1] Increment property value: Breadcrumbs Activity Score (i.e., 1 or 2)
[Create list] “ARR” that collects a list of leads with $10 to $30 million in ARR
[Create list] “Leads to pass to sales” that collects a list of leads with a score > X
[Action] Sends Slack notification to #sales-update channel

This keeps everyone posted on all high-quality leads and aligns our marketing efforts to sales outcomes. 

If you’d like to replicate this in your marketing HubSpot workflows, grab your free plan on Breadcrumbs today. 

3. Creating tasks for quality prospects

Just because a prospect isn’t ready to buy now doesn’t mean they won’t in the future.

There are a variety of reasons customers leave websites without completing their purchase. Budget, timing, lack of features… or even something as simple as content. 

Whatever the reason is, ensure that you keep these potential buyers on your radar.

In this stage, we automate task notifications for highly engaged top-fit prospects. This involves auto-sending direct messages and creating tasks for the sales team. 

Whenever there are A/B grade buyers with a corresponding activity score of 1/2, our workflow automatically creates a task to notify assigned reps to reach out to that prospect.

Here’s what your HubSpot workflow might look like if you use this approach:

[Create list] “High-quality prospects” that collects a list of prospective customers who fit our ICP
[Triggers workflow] List = “High-quality prospects”
[Step 1] Increment property value: Breadcrumbs Score (i.e., A2 or B1)
[Create list] “ARR” that collects a list of prospects with $10 to $30 million in ARR
[Create list] “Prospects to pass to sales reps” that collects a list of prospects with a score > X
[Action] Sends Slack notification to assigned rep
[Action 2] Creates task on Asana

This ensures no prospective buyer gets forgotten.

Make sure you tap into this specific customer segment. It gives you another dimension to narrow down on who you should focus on.

HubSpot Workflows: Product

The quicker users reach the “aha” moment, the sooner they convert to paying customers. Here’s how we approach onboarding at Breadcrumbs using HubSpot workflows.

4. Onboarding freemium users

Great onboarding guides users every step of the way. 

It’s a pivotal point where users experience a product for the first time and visualize what it’s like to use it in their work. In this stage, you must show value and position your product as an irreplaceable solution.

In our case, we require users to perform several actions before reaching the “aha” moment.

These workflow emails are triggered by a series of actions (and lack thereof), such as adding data sources, creating a model, and completing a model. 

Users who don’t perform any action will receive a bunch of emails to overcome potential objections.

Our goal here is to get them to build their first scoring model so that they can start seeing results in their contact-scoring efforts.

Here’s an example of a HubSpot workflow to use in this case:

[Create list] “Free plan users” that collects a list of users who sign up for our free plan 
[Triggers workflow] List = “Free plan users”
Email 1: “Welcome to your Breadcrumbs free account!” (includes introduction to Breadcrumbs + short tutorial on how to connect a data source)
Step 1: Increment property value =  Incomplete action (users didn’t connect their data source with Breadcrumbs)
Email 2: “Forgot something?” (includes a reminder to connect a primary data source / schedule a call with lead scoring expert / invite user to upgrade to a paid plan and delegate scoring efforts to the Breadcrumbs team)

Given it takes a while to see results in lead scoring—especially for customers with long sales cycles—it’s critical that every single one of them is able to extract value from every action they take in our product. 

The sooner they realize value, the quicker they can get to the “aha” moment.

We refrain from cramming too much information in our onboarding emails. Instead, we break it down into multiple emails guiding users to complete a single action. This is fairly simple to do with HubSpot’s conditional triggers.

HubSpot Workflows: Customer Success

The post-purchase experience impacts revenue acceleration. The HubSpot workflows for this stage involve reducing churn and understanding customer satisfaction.

5. Surveying users 

Surveys uncover customer needs accurately. 

From brainstorming content ideas to deciding what features to focus on in the product roadmap, surveys provide the quickest way to recognize customer needs and decide what you should prioritize on.

At Breadcrumbs, we send customer satisfaction score (CSAT) surveys to two customer segments: free and paid users. 

For free plan users, we send two different versions depending on where they sit on in the customer journey:

1st version: Users who haven’t connected their primary data source to Breadcrumbs (for reasons like security concerns and connectivity issues)

2nd version: Users who have used Breadcrumbs 

Our goal is to understand how these relatively new users interact with Breadcrumbs and whether it meets their needs.

Here’s a simple HubSpot workflow that can help you get feedback from your users:

[Create list] “Surveyed users”
[Triggers workflow] List = Surveyed users
Email 1: “Freemium Feedback - Breadcrumbs”

We also send a similar survey to paid customers quarterly.

As you’re creating a bunch of surveys in this phase, we recommend assigning someone from the team—SalesOps or RevOps—to manage the different HubSpot workflows and monitor how each of them affects the business bottom-line.  

“This person should evaluate new workflows to understand the goal,” advises Joe Aicher, Director, RevOps Solutions, at Breadcrumbs.

“They must also quickly check for overlaps or proliferation of unnecessary workflows.”

6. Assessing health score

Customer health score measures whether your customers are healthy or at risk of churning.

It’s a vital metric to focus on when identifying blockers, negative patterns, and high-stake accounts.

Using this internal workflow, we’re able to identify at-risk customers ahead of time and catch them before they leave for a competitor.

[Create list] “At-risk customers”
[Triggers workflow] List = At-risk customers
Step 1: Increment property value = Breadcrumbs Score that surfaces inactivity (users didn’t login within X days + didn’t use X features*)
[Action] Sends Slack notification to assigned CS rep

We determine our churning customers based on the “15 golden rules of a high-performing scoring model” they have completed.

You can learn more about these rules for creating, implementing, and measuring your scoring model.

Build these HubSpot workflows to engage with customers at every stage of the sales pipeline

HubSpot makes setting up workflows an incredibly easy feat. 

Pick a template, edit the enrollment triggers, and customize the actions accordingly. It doesn’t take long to figure it out, even if you’re starting from scratch.

If you want to engage with customers all the way from acquisition to expansion, consider pairing these HubSpot workflows with our contact scoring tool, Breadcrumbs.

Breadcrumbs gather your existing marketing, sales, and product data into one place so that you have a bird’s-eye view of your customers.

Our tool also measures the recency and frequency of every customer’s behavior, so that you’re always focusing on your hottest leads. 

Use it together with the HubSpot workflow tool—you never have to worry about a revenue opportunity slipping away. Grab your free plan on Breadcrumbs today.