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Choose your workflow actions

Last updated: March 10, 2023

Applies to:

Marketing Hub Professional, Enterprise
Sales Hub Professional, Enterprise
Service Hub Professional, Enterprise
Operations Hub Professional, Enterprise

After creating your workflow and setting enrollment triggers, choose actions to add to your workflow. Actions are functions that the workflow will execute for enrolled records. 

For example, you can add actions to send emails, create new records, manage your contacts' subscriptions, and more. You can also use workflow actions from connected apps. 

Many workflow actions, such as Create task and Send email, can be saved without setting details. You can add your actions first as placeholders. Then, fill out your placeholder actions before turning the workflow on. Learn more about placeholder actions.

Please note: the actions available to you depend on your subscription. Locked actions locked require an account upgrade to use.

Delay

Use delays to add a pause between actions in your workflow. Learn more about using delays with your workflows.

Action  What the action does

Delay for a set amount of time

 Delay enrolled records for a specific amount of days, hours, and minutes. Enrolled records will wait in the delay before they move to the net action.  For example, when a contact submits a form, you can set a one-day delay before sending an automated marketing email. 

If you have a Center on a date or Center on a date property contact-based workflow, delays are relative to the selected date or date property instead. Learn how to schedule actions in a contact-based workflow to execute at a specific date and time.

Delay until a day or time

 Delay enrolled records until specific days of the week and/or time of day. For example, if you're using a workflow to send a series of promotional emails, you might want certain emails to only go out on Tuesdays. You can add a delay just before the Send email action to pause delayed contacts until Tuesday at 11:00 AM.

Delay until event happens 

 Delay enrolled records until a specified event occurs. For example, you can delay a contact until they visit a page or fill out a form. 

 

Workflow

Action What the action does 

Enroll in another workflow

 Enroll the record in the current workflow into another active workflow. You can only enroll a record in a workflow of the same type. For example, deals can only be enrolled in deal-based workflows.

If the record is already enrolled in the selected workflow, they won't be re-enrolled. Instead, you'll see an error in your workflow history. The record will then proceed to the next step of the workflow. 

Trigger a webhook (Operations Hub Professional and Enterprise only)

 Trigger a webhook to an external application. This allows your workflow to communicate with this external application. For example, webhooks can send a HubSpot company's information (formatted in JSON) to an external CRM.

Learn more about triggering webhooks.

Custom code (Operations Hub Professional and Enterprise only)

 Write and execute JavaScript in your workflow. You can extend workflow functionality within and outside of HubSpot with custom code actions.

Learn more about using custom code actions, and view examples of custom code actions in HubSpot's Programmable Automation Use Case catalog.

Format data (Operations Hub Professional and Enterprise only)

 Automatically format and maintain your CRM data. For example, you can use this action to capitalize contact or company names, calculate values, or structure your date properties.

Learn more about formatting data with workflows.

 

Branches

Use branches to direct your enrolled record down specific workflow paths based on set criteria. Learn more about using branches in your workflows.

Action What the action does

If/then branch

 Direct enrolled records down a certain path based on filter criteria. You can use AND and OR criteria when setting up this type of branch.

 

Value equals branch

 Use this type of branch to send enrolled records down paths based on properties and the outcomes of previous actions.

This type of branch cannot be configured with AND and OR criteria. Each branch can create up to 250 unique branches for a single property.

Go to other action

 Connect if/then branches with this action. This streamlines your workflow building process by consolidating if/then branches.

Go to other action actions can only be added within if/then branches, and you can only select actions in other if/then branches. This prevents workflow loops. Actions that are not available for selection will be greyed out.

Learn more about using the Go to other action action.

 

Internal communication

Use the following actions to automate internal communications and keep your team updated.

Action What the action does 

Send an internal email notification

 Send an internal email to specific users, teams, or owners. This type of email notification has similar formatting options to other rich text editors across HubSpot. You can set and format text, insert images, and use tokens based on the type of workflow (i.e., contact-based workflows can use contact tokens). 

In contact-based workflows, this action is different from the Send internal marketing email action, because you cannot select from existing automated emails. The internal email notification must be created from within the workflow editor. 

Send internal marketing emails (Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise only)

 Send an automated email to specified email addresses, or a contact property that stores an email address, including any custom properties.

This action is different from the Send internal email action because you're able to select existing automated emails. This action is only available in contact-based workflows.

Send in-app notification 

 Send an in-app notification to specified teams or users. The notification will appear in both the HubSpot notification center and in the HubSpot app as a notification. 

 

External communication

Use the following actions to automate external communication and nurture your contacts.

Action What the action does 

Send Email (Marketing Hub and Service Hub  Professional and Enterprise only)

 Send marketing emails that have been saved for automation to contacts associated with the enrolled record. You can select from existing automated marketing emails, or create a new automated marketing email by clicking 
+ Create new email.

When using this action, please note the following: 

Service Hub Professional and Enterprise users can use this action to send automated emails when a ticket is received or closed. Learn how to send an email when a ticket is received or closed.

Please note: if you have access to Service Hub Starter and Sales Hub Professional+ or Marketing Hub Starter+ you will see emails in the Send email action section in the Workflows tool. However, these emails are not available to use and the action can only be used to send automated emails when a ticket is received or closed.

Enroll in a sequence (Sales Hub and Service Hub Enterprise only)

 Automatically enroll contacts in a sequence. You can select a specific sequence, along with the sender and sender's email address. Only users with a paid Sales Hub or Service Hub Enterprise seat can be selected as the sequence sender.

Learn more about automating sequence enrollment using workflows.

Unenroll from sequence (Sales Hub and Service Hub Enterprise only)

 Automatically unenroll contacts from the sequence they're currently enrolled in.

Learn more about automating sequence unenrollment using workflows.

Send WhatsApp message 

(Marketing Hub and Service Hub Professional and Enterprise only)

Automatically send WhatsApp messages to a contact's Whatsapp phone number. Contacts must have a valid number in the default property and be opted in to receive WhatsApp messages. 

Learn more about connecting a WhatsApp channel to the conversations inbox.

 

 

Assignment

Use assignment actions to automatically assign contacts to your team. 

Action What the action does 
Rotate record to owner

(Sales Hub and Service Hub  Professional and Enterprise only)

 Assign the enrolled records to users equally within a selected team or between specified users. This action is only compatible with activated, paid users. When using this action, please note the following: 
  • If the HubSpot owner property syncs to Salesforce, the action may not work as expected. Salesforce may try to update HubSpot with the previous owner even after HubSpot clears ownership.
  • If you want to reassign records that already have owners, select the Overwrite if [object] has an existing owner checkbox
  • If you select to rotate between a team, only primary team members will be considered by the workflow. Records will not be rotated to additional team members.
  • If you add or remove owners from the action after your workflow has been turned on, the assignments counts for that action will reset and the random assignments will start again. Newly enrolled records will be rotated to all of the selected owners or team members evenly, regardless of the rotation assignment counts for previously enrolled records.

 

Create

Use a create action to create a new record and associate it with the enrolled record. You can select the record associations when setting up the action.

Action What the action does

Create record 

 Automatically create new records. You can create records for the following object types:
  • Contacts
  • Companies
  • Deals
  • Custom objects (Enterprise only)
  • Tickets (Service Hub Professional and Enterprise only) 

Learn more about creating records with workflows.

create-deal-record-workflow

 

Create task

 Automatically create new tasks.

Delete

Use delete actions to bulk delete records with a workflow.  

Action What the action does

Delete contact 

 Automatically delete enrolled contacts. For example, you can set up a workflow to enroll and delete inactive contacts in bulk. 

This action is only available in contact-based workflows. Contacts can be restored within 90 days of deletion, learn how to restore deleted contacts.  

List management

Use list management actions to add records to and remove records from contact and company static lists. These actions are only available in contact and company-based workflows. 

Action What the action does

Add to static list (Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise)

 Add enrolled contacts or companies to a static list.

Remove from static list (Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise)

 Remove enrolled contacts or companies from a static list.

 

Ads management

Use ads management actions to add contacts to and remove contacts from your ad audiences. These actions are only available in contact-based workflows. 

Action What the action does

Add to ads audience (Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise)

 Add contacts to a new or existing ads audience. When selecting an existing audience, you can only choose an audience that was created in the workflows tool.

Remove from ads audience  (Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise)

 Remove contact from an ads audience. You can only choose from audiences that were created in the workflows tool.

 

Property management

Use these actions to update the properties of enrolled records. You can use property management actions for records that are available for your subscription:

  • Contact, company, and deal properties can be managed in all products and plans that include workflows. 
  • Quote properties can only be managed in Sales Hub Enterprise accounts.
  • Ticket properties can only be managed in Service Hub Professional and Enterprise accounts.
  • In conversation-based workflows, you can only manage properties of contacts associated with the conversation. Conversation properties are automatically set by HubSpot and cannot be edited.
  • Email subscription status and Marketing contact status can only be set in contact-based workflows.  

Action What the action does

Set property value 

 Set a property value on the enrolled record, or set a property value in an associated record. For example, you can set the Industry property of an associated company in a deal-based workflow. When using this action, please note the following: 
  • When using this action with an associated record, you can select both the property to update and the association label. All associated records with this association label will be updated. 
  • When setting a multiple checkbox property, you can select one of the following options:
    • Append to current value(s): adds the selected values to any of the record's existing values. Select this option if you want your records to keep any values currently in the property.
    • Replace current value(s): sets the property for each record to the selected values. Select this option if you want to overwrite a record's existing values in the property.

Copy property value

 Copy a property value of the enrolled record to another property in the same record, or to a property in an associated record. For example, you can copy the value of an enrolled contact's Phone Number to a custom single-line text property in all associated deals.

This action can also be used to copy values from previous workflow actions. For example, if a workflow includes an Add to Zoom webinar action, you can copy the resulting Zoom webinar link into a custom contact property. Learn more about adding contacts to a Zoom webinar using workflows.

When using this action, please note the following: 
  • When using this action, ensure your source and target properties have compatible property types. Learn more about compatible source and target property types for copying property values.
  • When copying to associated records with a different object type, all associated records will be updated.  For example, if you copy a company property to a deal property in a company-based workflow, all deals associated with a company will be updated.
  • When copying between two multiple checkbox properties, you can select one of the following options:
    • Append to current value(s): adds the selected values to any of the record's existing values. Select this option if you want your records to keep any values currently in the property.
    • Replace current value(s): sets the property for each record to the selected values. Select this option if you want to overwrite a record's existing values in the property.

  • To use this action in a Custom object-based workflow, only objects that have an association created with the primary custom object will display in the dropdown menu.

Clear property value

 Clear a value in a property. This can be a property in the enrolled record, or a property in an associated record. For example, you can clear the value of the Lead Status property for an enrolled deal's associated contacts. 

When clearing the property value of associated records with a different object type, the property value for all associated records will be cleared.

Increase or decrease property value

 Increase or decrease the value in a Number type property of the enrolled record. For example, you can increase the value of a custom number property, Orders bought, for every enrolled company.

Manage email subscription status 

 Set the subscription status of the enrolled contact. You can set the subscription status for a specific subscription type, the lawful basis for communicating with the contact, and the explanation for this communication consent. This action is only available in contact-based workflows.

Set marketing contact status 

 Set the marketing contact status of the enrolled contact. Contacts can be set as marketing at any time, but will only update to non-marketing on the first of the following month or on your renewal date - whichever comes first. This action is only available in contact-based workflows.

Connected apps

When you connect an app to your HubSpot account, the app may include workflow actions. When a connected app provides workflow actions, those actions will be listed under the name of the integration.

HubSpot supports certain integration actions such as sending a Slack notification or adding data to Google Sheets. Integration partners can also create extension actions that interact with their application.


Action What the action does

Add contacts to a Zoom Webinar 

 Add contacts as registrants to a Zoom webinar. In the Webinar field, enter the Zoom webinar ID you'd like to register contacts to or use a personalization token containing a webinar ID.  Webinar IDs cannot contain hyphens or spaces. Learn more about syncing data from Zoom webinars to HubSpot. 

HubSpot’s integration with Zoom only accepts and syncs with three required fields in the Zoom registration link: First name, Last name and Email. If the registration link requires any other fields, the registration action will fail.

Send Slack notification

 Send a Slack notification to your integrated Slack workspace. Learn more about sending slack notifications through workflows.

workflow-action-send-a-slack-notification-1

Create a Slack channel 

 Create a Slack channel from within HubSpot. When the channel is created it will display on the associated Company or Deal record. The card will note that the channel was created by a workflow. This action is only available in company and deal-based workflows.

When using this action, please note the following: 
  • When setting up the Channel Name, you can specify the channel name or use a personalization token. Channel names must be 80 characters or less, and can only contain lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores.
  • When setting up the Channel Visibility, you can specify the channel name or use a personalization token. You can select whether the created channel will be public or private. A private channel will only be visible to the user who owns the enrolled record.
  • The record you are enrolling in the workflow must have an owner. If a company or deal record does not have an owner the channel will not be created.
  • By default, the record owner will be invited to the channel.

Create an Asana task 

 Create an Asana task from within HubSpot. Learn more about creating Asana tasks through workflows. 

   

Create a Trello Card 

 Create a Trello card from within HubSpot. Learn more about creating Trello cards with workflows.

Set a Salesforce task

 Set a customized Salesforce task associated with the enrolled contact. The contact owner or integration user will receive a task in Salesforce an assigned contact is enrolled in the workflow. This action is only available in contact-based workflows.

 

Set a Salesforce campaign

 Set a Salesforce campaign for the enrolled contact. This action is only available in contact-based workflows.

 

Create a NetSuite sales order

 Create a NetSuite sales order for an enrolled deal record, this action is only available in deal-based workflows.

Learn more about creating NetSuite sales orders through deal-based workflows.

 
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