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How to Set Up Automated Workflows in HubSpot CRM (Step-by-Step Guide for 2025)
How to set up automated workflows in HubSpot CRM offers a step-by-step guide to streamlining your sales, marketing, service, and operations processes. Whether you're nurturing leads, assigning tasks, or triggering internal updates across teams, HubSpot’s visual workflow builder makes it easy to automate key actions with precision and flexibility.
To begin, navigate to Automation > Workflows, where you can choose to build a workflow from scratch or select a pre-built template. From there, you'll define the object type - such as contacts, deals, or tickets - set up enrollment triggers, and configure whether contacts can re-enter the flow.
HubSpot also lets you insert actions like sending emails, updating properties, or assigning owners, while offering personalization tokens to keep the messaging dynamic. You can even use Breeze, HubSpot’s AI assistant, to generate recommended triggers and actions automatically.
Once your workflow is built, use the minimap to easily navigate between steps, test it in preview mode, and then publish it live. When done right, these workflows not only reduce manual work but also improve engagement and keep your entire CRM ecosystem running in sync.
Navigating to the Automation Tab and Accessing Workflows
To begin creating automated workflows in HubSpot CRM, start by logging into your HubSpot account and navigating to the main dashboard. From the top navigation menu, hover over the “Automation” tab and select “Workflows” from the dropdown. This is your central hub for building, managing, and optimizing all automation workflows across your CRM.
Once inside the Workflows tool, you’ll see a list of your existing workflows (if any) and a prominent button labeled “Create workflow” in the upper right corner. Clicking this will launch the workflow setup wizard, where you can choose to build your workflow from scratch or use one of HubSpot’s pre-made templates. Templates are especially useful if you’re setting up common processes like lead nurturing, internal notifications, or follow-up sequences.
For example, if you want to automate follow-up emails after a contact fills out a form, you can use the "Lead Nurturing" template and customize it to fit your message and timing. If you prefer full control, select the “From scratch” option to build your workflow structure step-by-step, defining every trigger and action manually. Both options will lead you to the workflow editor, where the visual canvas and settings panel become available.
This section is the gateway to building automation that scales with your business. Whether you’re working in marketing, sales, service, or operations, everything starts by accessing the right workflow view through the Automation tab.
Choosing Between Scratch and Prebuilt Workflow Templates
When creating a new workflow in HubSpot, you’ll be prompted to choose between starting from scratch or using a prebuilt template. Each option serves a different purpose depending on your level of experience and the complexity of the automation you need. Scratch workflows give you full control over every condition, action, and branching path, making them ideal for custom logic or multi-step processes.
On the other hand, templates offer a time-saving shortcut by providing a pre-configured structure tailored to common business scenarios. Examples include "Welcome New Contacts," "Assign New Leads," or "Re-engage Cold Prospects." These templates include placeholder triggers and actions, which you can easily customize to fit your specific use case.
If you’re just getting started or want to standardize basic tasks like internal notifications or post-form follow-ups, templates are a reliable choice. For more advanced workflows—like syncing deal stages across pipelines or building conditional delays based on contact behavior—a scratch build may be more suitable.
No matter which you select, both approaches lead into the same visual editor where you’ll define triggers, set actions, and configure settings. The key is choosing the path that matches your goal and workflow complexity from the beginning.
Selecting the Right Object Type for Your Automation
After choosing your workflow type, the next step is to select which object the automation will act upon. HubSpot supports workflows for several object types including contacts, companies, deals, tickets, quotes, and custom objects. Each object type determines what kind of data your workflow can interact with and which actions are available.
For example, if you're creating a lead nurturing campaign, you’ll likely choose the contact object to trigger emails and property updates based on user behavior. If your goal is pipeline management, selecting deals allows you to automate tasks like moving a deal to the next stage or assigning a sales rep.
Ticket-based workflows are ideal for service teams looking to route support inquiries, update ticket statuses, or trigger follow-ups. Similarly, quotes and custom objects open the door for more specialized automations tailored to unique business models or products.
Choosing the correct object from the start ensures your workflow is relevant and effective. It also affects the kind of enrollment triggers and available actions you’ll be able to set up, so take time to match the object type to your business goal.
Setting Up Enrollment Triggers Based on Behavior or Properties
Enrollment triggers are the conditions that determine when a record enters your workflow. In HubSpot CRM, these triggers can be based on user behavior, such as form submissions or email interactions, or on property-based criteria like lifecycle stage, deal amount, or custom field values. Setting up the right trigger is essential to ensure your automation starts at the right moment in the customer journey.
For behavior-based triggers, examples include a contact filling out a demo request form, clicking a specific email link, or visiting a certain page on your site. These actions signal engagement and are often used to trigger follow-up sequences, lead scoring updates, or internal notifications.
Property-based triggers are ideal for workflows tied to structured data points. For instance, you can enroll all deals with a stage of "Proposal Sent" or tickets marked "High Priority." This approach is useful for automating task assignments, escalating service issues, or updating deal owners based on deal size or type.
You can also combine multiple conditions using “AND” and “OR” logic to fine-tune your enrollment criteria. This allows you to create highly targeted workflows—like enrolling contacts only if they submitted a form and have a company size over 50 employees. HubSpot also supports schedule-based triggers, allowing workflows to run at fixed intervals or on specific dates.
Configuring Re-Enrollment to Keep Workflows Dynamic
Re-enrollment settings allow a record to enter the same workflow more than once, keeping your automation responsive to changes over time. By default, HubSpot workflows only enroll an object once unless re-enrollment is specifically enabled. For workflows that need to respond to recurring actions or repeated property updates, configuring re-enrollment is essential.
For example, a contact who submits a form multiple times should trigger the same nurturing workflow each time they express interest. In this case, enabling re-enrollment based on the form submission trigger ensures they receive follow-up emails every time they fill it out. This is particularly useful for ongoing campaigns, event registrations, or periodic surveys.
Re-enrollment can also be based on property changes, such as when a contact’s lifecycle stage is updated from “Lead” to “Marketing Qualified Lead” more than once. You can select specific criteria for re-enrollment so that only meaningful changes re-trigger the workflow.
Carefully configuring these rules prevents unnecessary repetition while still allowing your automation to adapt to new user actions. It’s especially powerful when combined with delays and goal-based workflow exits, allowing contacts or deals to re-enter when it’s most relevant.
Using HubSpot’s AI (Breeze) to Recommend Smart Actions
Breeze is HubSpot’s built-in AI assistant designed to help you build smarter workflows faster. As you start creating your workflow, Breeze can suggest enrollment triggers, workflow actions, and logic paths based on your workflow’s goal and object type. This is especially helpful for beginners or teams looking to save time by avoiding manual setup.
For instance, if you're building a workflow for re-engaging stale leads, Breeze might recommend actions like sending a personalized email, updating the lead status, and assigning a follow-up task to the sales rep. It learns from common patterns across HubSpot's dataset, allowing it to surface best-practice automation strategies tailored to your workflow type.
You can accept Breeze’s suggestions as-is, modify the logic, or discard them entirely. It’s fully optional and designed to work alongside manual customization. Breeze also adjusts suggestions dynamically as you add or remove elements in your workflow.
| Suggested Action by Breeze | Object Type | Use Case Example |
|---|---|---|
| Send a re-engagement email | Contacts | Triggered when lead hasn’t opened last 3 emails |
| Assign follow-up task | Deals | After deal stage changes to “Qualified to Buy” |
| Update ticket status | Tickets | Once a feedback survey form is submitted |
Breeze accelerates the setup process while helping ensure your workflow aligns with common best practices. It’s particularly valuable for teams who want to avoid missing key actions or logic gaps in complex automations.
Adding and Customizing Workflow Actions like Emails and Tasks
Once your workflow is triggered, the next step is to define what actions should take place. HubSpot provides a wide range of actions including sending marketing emails, creating tasks, updating properties, assigning owners, and more. These actions help automate repetitive tasks and keep your teams aligned without manual intervention.
To send an email, select “Send email” as your action, then choose a pre-existing marketing email or create a new one directly from the editor. For task creation, you can specify the task type, priority, due date, and assignee, making it easy to push follow-ups to sales reps or service agents automatically.
You can also use actions to create records like deals, tickets, or custom objects as part of your workflow. This is especially useful when automating handoffs between marketing and sales or creating service tickets based on contact behavior.
Each action can include personalization tokens that pull in contact or deal-specific data, such as first name, company, or deal amount. This keeps your communications relevant and dynamic, improving engagement across every step of the workflow.
Inserting Personalization Tokens for Dynamic Messaging
Personalization tokens in HubSpot workflows allow you to insert dynamic fields into emails, tasks, and internal notifications. These tokens pull real-time data from contact, company, deal, or ticket properties, making every message feel custom and relevant. They’re essential for building trust and improving response rates in automated communications.
- First name: Personalizes greetings like “Hi {{ contact.firstname }}” in emails
- Company name: References the contact’s company to tailor the message
- Lifecycle stage: Adjusts messaging based on the contact’s stage in your funnel
- Last interaction date: Highlights recent activity to guide the next steps
- Deal amount: Useful for sales-focused messages tied to deal value
Using personalization tokens ensures that automated messages don’t feel robotic or generic. When used strategically, they enhance customer experience and help improve engagement metrics across your marketing, sales, and service workflows.
Organizing and Editing Workflow Steps with the Visual Minimap
HubSpot's visual minimap is a built-in navigation tool that makes it easier to manage large or complex workflows. As your workflow grows with multiple branches, actions, delays, and conditions, the minimap helps you stay oriented and make edits more efficiently. You can pan across the layout, zoom in and out, and quickly jump to specific sections without getting lost in the visual canvas.
The minimap displays your entire workflow structure at a glance, showing every node and connection in a compact view. Whether you’re building a lead nurturing sequence with multiple conditional branches or automating cross-object updates, this tool gives you a clear overview of all paths. It’s especially useful for spotting logic gaps, disconnected actions, or duplicate branches.
You can click on any element within the minimap to instantly scroll to that part of the workflow. This saves time when working on lengthy automations or when reviewing workflows created by team members. It also makes collaboration smoother, as teams can discuss and revise specific steps with precise visual reference.
| Feature | Benefit | Best Used For |
|---|---|---|
| Click-to-navigate workflow view | Speeds up access to specific steps | Large multi-branch workflows |
| Compact visual overview | Helps identify structure and logic flow | Reviewing before testing or publishing |
| Real-time updating during edits | Keeps layout accurate while building | Ongoing adjustments and collaboration sessions |
The visual minimap enhances both the building and editing experience by reducing friction when navigating complex logic. It supports better organization, faster revisions, and fewer overlooked steps—especially in workflows involving multiple Hubs or conditional branches.
Testing Workflows Before Launch to Prevent Errors
Before publishing your workflow, it’s crucial to test it thoroughly to avoid logic errors, broken actions, or unwanted outcomes. HubSpot provides built-in testing tools that simulate how a record will move through the automation. This helps you catch problems early, especially when working with enrollment criteria, branching logic, or time-based delays.
To begin testing, select a sample record that meets your workflow’s trigger conditions. HubSpot will show a preview of the workflow path that record would follow, highlighting which steps will be executed and which will be skipped. You can also simulate property changes or form submissions to test different trigger scenarios.
Testing is especially valuable when workflows include emails, internal tasks, or property updates that affect other automations. Without testing, you risk enrolling the wrong contacts or triggering unintended updates. Always test before launching, even if the workflow appears simple.
| Testing Step | Purpose | Example Scenario |
|---|---|---|
| Simulate contact enrollment | Verify entry conditions | Contact filled out “Free Trial” form |
| Preview path with logic branches | Confirm correct routing | Contact has different lifecycle stages |
| Check action sequencing | Ensure delays and tasks fire properly | Follow-up email sent 2 days after form submission |
Thorough testing prevents costly mistakes and ensures your workflow behaves exactly as intended. It provides peace of mind and allows teams to launch with confidence, knowing that automation supports rather than disrupts daily operations.
Publishing and Monitoring Workflow Performance
Once your workflow is fully built and tested, the final step is to publish it. Publishing activates the workflow, allowing new records that meet your enrollment criteria to begin flowing through it. After activation, HubSpot automatically tracks workflow performance with metrics and reports that help you understand impact and identify opportunities for improvement.
- Click the Review and publish button in the upper right corner of the workflow editor.
- Confirm your enrollment settings, trigger logic, and action sequence.
- Activate the workflow and monitor initial activity in the Performance tab.
- Use metrics like completion rate, action execution count, and error logs to evaluate effectiveness.
- Make ongoing optimizations based on engagement data, skipped steps, or performance trends.
Publishing is just the beginning—monitoring helps you maintain and improve automation over time. Whether you’re nurturing leads or routing support tickets, reviewing performance regularly ensures your workflow stays aligned with evolving goals and user behavior.
Common Workflow Use Cases Across Marketing, Sales, and Service
HubSpot workflows are designed to support automation across multiple departments, making it easier to align teams and create seamless customer experiences. In marketing, one of the most common use cases is lead nurturing—automatically sending a sequence of emails based on form submissions, page views, or lifecycle stage. Workflows also help marketers score leads, update properties, and notify the sales team when a contact becomes qualified.
In sales, workflows are often used to manage deals and streamline handoffs. For example, when a deal reaches a specific stage, HubSpot can automatically assign a task to the rep, send a follow-up email, and update the deal’s close date. Sales teams also use automation to rotate leads among owners, create deals when a contact meets specific criteria, or send internal alerts for high-value opportunities.
Service teams benefit from workflows that manage support tickets and customer feedback. When a ticket is submitted, a workflow can route it to the right team based on priority or category, trigger SLAs, or create escalation alerts. After a ticket is closed, workflows can automatically send satisfaction surveys or reopen a case if feedback indicates unresolved issues.
Cross-functional automations are also possible, such as syncing contact records between marketing and service hubs or updating lifecycle stages based on interactions across channels. These workflows help maintain consistent data and create a unified customer journey across the entire CRM.
Pros and Benefits of Automating with HubSpot CRM
Automation in HubSpot CRM brings major productivity gains by reducing repetitive manual tasks and streamlining workflows. Instead of spending time assigning leads or sending follow-up emails, your team can focus on higher-value work. This leads to faster response times, fewer errors, and better use of internal resources.
Another key benefit is the ability to scale personalized experiences without sacrificing efficiency. With personalization tokens, smart content, and behavior-based triggers, each contact receives messaging relevant to their actions and attributes. This level of targeting increases engagement and conversion rates across all customer-facing teams.
HubSpot’s automation also improves internal alignment. When marketing, sales, and service use workflows to pass data and actions between Hubs, collaboration becomes more seamless. Whether it’s a lead alert, a task assignment, or a lifecycle stage update, automation keeps everyone on the same page.
Lastly, HubSpot’s visual editor, testing tools, and performance analytics make automation accessible even for teams without technical backgrounds. You can build, monitor, and improve workflows quickly, making it a powerful engine for growth across all stages of the customer lifecycle.
