Use lifecycle stages

Categorize your contacts based on the lifecycle stage they are at in your marketing and sales processes. Updating the Lifecycle stage property consistently allows your team to determine where a specific contact is in your processes, and understand better how leads are handed off between marketing and sales.

What are the lifecycle stages?

The default Lifecycle Stage property contains the following stages as options:

• Subscriber: contacts who know of your business and have opted in to hear more from your team. This are likely visitors that have signed up for your blog or newsletter.
• Lead: contacts who have shown sales readiness beyond being a subscriber. An example of a lead is a contact who signs up for a content offer from your business.
• Marketing Qualified Lead: contacts who have engaged with the team's marketing efforts, but are still not ready to receive a sales call. An example of a MQL is a contact who respond to a specific form in a marketing campaign.
• Sales Qualified Lead: contacts who have indicated through their actions that they are ready for a direct sales follow up. An example of a SQL is a contact who submits a question about your product through a contact form.
• Opportunity: contacts who are real sales opportunities.
• Customer: contacts with closed deals.
• Evangelist: customers who advocate for your business and whose networks may be leveraged for further leads.
• Other: a wildcard stage that can be used when a contact does not fit any of the above stages.

The lifecycle stage of a contact or company can be changed by automatic syncing and therefore cannot be edited. The default stage for a new contact is determined by how they were created.

If your contacts have a different lifecycle, learn how to create a custom lifecycle stage property.

How do I update the Lifecycle stage property?

To keep the Lifecycle stage property updated, you can do the following:

• Manually update the Lifecycle stage property for your contact
• Import to update the Lifecycle stage property for a list of contacts
• Use Set a property value action in a workflow (Professional or Enterprise accounts only)
• Use a hidden form field (Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise only)

Please note: lifecycle stages are only meant to progress forward, down the funnel. Imports, workflows, and form fields can only set the default Lifecycle Stage property for contacts and companies to a lifecycle stage down the funnel. You can only set a lifecycle stage backwards manually, or in a workflow by clearing the Lifecycle stage property prior to setting the new value.

What is the difference between the Lifecycle Stage and Lead Status properties?

• New
• Open
• In Progress
• Open Deal
• Unqualified
• Attempted to Contact
• Connected
• Bad Timing