Hi all - I’ve recently started using Hubspot again at a new job and I’m trying to find a way to accurately capture customer journey data.
I’m trying to emulate what I’ve done in the past - which is to generate a report that shows the journey through each deal stage in the respective pipeline (from initial inbound through stages like SQL, Closed Won, etc.). The problem I’m running into is that we manage closed lost deals in a separate “lost” pipeline - thus when I’m reporting on Pipeline A, I’m only capturing what is still in that pipeline. I’m losing all of the data for the deals that exit Pipeline A - so I can’t really report accurately on attrition through stages et al because it’s not all in the same place. If I try to pull in things in the “lost” pipeline, I pull in things that have been lost out of not only Pipeline A, but Pipeline B, etc. So my data on what percentage of deals are actually moving stage to stage is wildly inaccurate.
Has anyone come up with a way to do this? I’m hoping it’s just something simple that I’m missing, but starting to think it might not be.
Hi DamirM,
The obvious and first question is why a separate “Lost” pipeline? “Lost” is really just a terminal stage for any sales pipeline.
Nevertheless, I know sometimes companies get wrapped up in old processes and they are the way they are, and not much can be done.
Since you have multiple sales pipelines (A, B, etc.) all feeding into one “Lost” pipeline, you need a workaround that’s more generic. You’ll need two custom properties and two workflows to capture the state of the deal right before it was lost.
Do you have access to create custom properties and workflows? You might be able to do something like this.
First, create a property called “Originating Pipeline”. Then, create a workflow that triggers only when a deal is created. This workflow’s only job is to copy the deal’s “Deal Pipeline” value into your new “Originating Pipeline” property. This stamps the deal with its source.
Second, create another property called “Last Known Active Stage”. Then, create a second workflow. This one should trigger every time the “Deal Stage” is changed. But—and this is the key part—you must add a filter so this workflow only runs if the “Deal Pipeline” is not “Lost Pipeline”. This workflow will copy the current “Deal Stage” into your “Last Known Active Stage” property.
This setup captures the deal’s last stage in Pipeline A or B before it’s moved to “Lost”.
Now, you can create your report. Filter it to only show deals where the “Deal Pipeline” is “Lost Pipeline”.
To analyze, you would group the deals in that report by two properties: first by “Originating Pipeline”, and then by “Last Known Active Stage”. This will give you a clean breakdown of exactly how many deals you lost, from which pipeline, and at which stage.
Hi @DamirM,
As a general rule in HubSpot: Deals should never move between pipelines.
While some users want to have deals disappear once closed lost, to have a clean pipeline, this is better achieved through filtered views. Simply filter out deals where “Is closed lost” is true.
If the goal is to have the ability to easily identify closed lost opportunities for retargeting, then this can also be done through filters.
In other words: Each of your pipelines should have the last stages “Closed won” and “Closed lost”.
The easiest fix in your situation would be to do the following:
- Create the closed lost stage in each of your pipelines
- In the pipeline settings, disable the automation that the close date updates when deals are moved there
- Move the deals into their respective closed lost stages
- Re-enable the automation that the close date updates when deals are moved there
The previous deal stage entered dates should still be there, last I tested HubSpot retained these also for pipelines that a deal moved out of – you can test this by starting to move just a handful of deals first or even just checking in the deal properties whether date information for the original pipeline is still there.
This means that after moving deals back, you should have the ability to create the reports you want.
Best regards!
Hi Damir,
I hope the solution I shared a few weeks ago has been working well for you. I’m reaching out because my business partner Ross and I are conducting research on HubSpot pain points, and your perspective would be incredibly valuable.
Would you have 20-30 minutes for a quick call or Zoom chat? To be clear, we’re not selling anything—we’re developers trying to identify gaps in the HubSpot ecosystem that need addressing.
If you’re open to it, feel free to email us at rossandjohn3@gmail.com or reply here with the best way to reach you.
Thanks for considering it!
John