How to create a custom Lifecycle Stage property ... (potential issues)

[MFrankJohnson]

Custom Lifecycle Stage can be a valuable tool when none of the limitless combinations of HubSpot default Lifecycle Stage (100% locked) & Lead Status (100% customizable) will work for an organization.
-- see image

HubSpot Built-in Lifecycle Stage & Lead Status Combination

That being said, it would be helpful to include some additional information around any significant limitations if/when deciding to use a custom Lifecycle Stage.

Example:
- see image

HubSpot Built-in Funnel Report

When using a custom Lifecycle Stage, how do we report on the custom Lifecycle Sage funnel in ways similar to HubSpot’s built-in Lifecycle Stage Funnel reporting?

Specifically, …
-- can we report on the number of contacts at each stage?
-- can we report on the conversion percentage between each stage in the new funnel?

In a nutshell, using a custom Lifecycle Stage in HubSpot substantially reduces (or totally eliminates) our ability to analyze funnel stages inside of HubSpot. Reduced funnel stage analysis hampers our ability to perform conversion rate optimization inside of HubSpot. Since these data, once lost, can never be recovered, embarking on this path may be viewed as an analytical point of no return.

If you are aware of additional limitations introduced by a custom HubSpot Lifecycle Stage solution, please include them in this thread so other’s may make a fully informed choice before deviating from HubSpot built-in Lifecycle Stage best practices.

Best,
Frank

[This post is just one response to HubSpot’s READ-ONLY post entitled, How to create a custom Lifecycle Stage property.]

[Jenny]

Thanks for sharing @MFrankJohnson!

[nforgione]

This is a really great question, one we are also trying to replicate with our newly designed lead funnel. The customization within Hubspot is amazing however the areas I’d like to see built out surround the contact property reporting and to be able to dig deeper into the analytical aspect of custom propeties.

[Dwain]

I feel peoples pain with this issue. I was told by HubSpot if their Lifecycle stage doesn’t work for us then we could build our own. After I created our own company lifecycle only to find we cant build the reports we need to track the data going through the funnel month by month. I’m hoping this is something that can be worked on as this is the only thing so far I have found that causes our company an issue.

[Dwain]

With my knowledge of CRM system, I have achieved the following report based on my own custom lifecycle. I will let you know how this works for me as the mon changes.

-- can we report on the number of contacts at each stage?

Dwain

[jabguiap]

Hi @Dwain do you have any updates on your results? how this works for you?

[JamieTS]

Just implemented our own custom lifecycle stages and discovered we can’t create the same funnel reports now. Great if we could choose our own lifecycle stages for funnel conversion reports.