Lifecycle Stages Not Tracking in Full

[CSmith08]

Hello! I am searching for help with a reporting issue we are having.

We are trying to track contacts through every point in the lifecycles (ours is: MQL, SQL, Opportunity, Customer). But we are finding that HubSpot is not tracking those stages correctly.

We have a workflow that is supposed to automatically take each contact through funnel stages in order. For example, a lead will become an SQL when they submit a form on our website. But the workflow should make them MQL then SQL. However, it is skipping over this step entirely, so we are missing a lot of numbers from higher in the funnel.

Does anyone have an idea on how to fix this? I am happy to share the workflow as well for further clarity. As a marketer, I am missing key data information because it is repeatedly skipping over MQLs.

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @CSmith08,

You can check what causes the skip by looking at the property history for the lifecycle stage for one or multiple of the affected contact records: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/records/view-record-property-history

My first tip would be that you didn't disable the default lifecycle automation under Settings > Objects > Contacts > Lifecycle stages. If this is still on, as shown below, it'll likely be faster than your workflows and skip stages.

My next guess would be the workflow setup. If you share screenshots of the workflows, I can help identify the issue.

Best regards

[CSmith08]

Hello! Thank you for your help, I looked at the automations for lifecycle stages, but that doesn't appear to be triggering anything since it is only set for Opportunities and Customers.

I went into a recent record's property history and it said that the person became an SQL from "HubSpot calculation." Would you know where that would be located?

As for the workflow, this was built by a contractor when we first made the switch over, so I don't have all the history into why it is set up like it is, but I am happy to change it. I have included photos of the Branch that determines actions, as well as the steps that should categorize the lead into SQL (while also hitting the MQL stage).

Does any of this look like it could be triggering something incorrectly?

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

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@CSmith08 wrote:

I looked at the automations for lifecycle stages, but that doesn't appear to be triggering anything since it is only set for Opportunities and Customers.

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Well, that would already mean that for all newly created deals and for won deals, previous lifecycle stages are consistently skipped – in my opinion, this should also be handled by a workflow.

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@CSmith08 wrote:

I went into a recent record's property history and it said that the person became an SQL from "HubSpot calculation." Would you know where that would be located?

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What is the current lifecycle stage of that particular contact? Is the sync option disabled? Otherwise, the lifecycle stage of an associated company would cause a calculation:

Also make sure that, if there is a previous form submission, the form is not set to update the contact directly to SQL. With custom lifecycle stage automation, all HubSpot automation and settings (forms, sync, toggles in the settings) must be disabled.

As for the workflow, I would need to see the entire workflow please, the screenshots are unfortunately not enough.

There are however a series of things that immediately strike me as potentially incorrectly set up by your previous contractor:

• Clearing the lifecycle stage means that you will lose certain previously gathered lifecycle stage date information. It would also potentially reset a contact and then move it to SQL although the record has a later lifecycle stage already, at least judging from the screenshot.
• The delays are unnecessary and could prevent fast executing and re-enrollment if a contact takes action in a short time frame, resulting them to be first marked as MQL, then SQL. As long as a record is still within a workflow, they can't reenroll.
• The workflows are not updating the company lifecycle stage which is typically something that would be included in such an automation.

If you share the full enrollment criteria (and re-enrollment settings) along with the entire workflow, I can become more specific.

@Jnix284 I would disagree a bit with you on this point here, "that a workflow that sets MQL and then 2 minutes later sets SQL is somewhat useless and will provide very misleading reports." – I know a lot of companies which would like to see the conversion rate between all stages, even if a company hasn't necessarily had a marketing touchpoint. That would require pushing them through the MQL stage, if only briefly. Others, following what you said, do have that distinction – in which case this can be solved nicely with a branch (checking for a previous marketing touchpoint) – that would then require two funnel reports from that point on. It really comes down to the MQL definition and reporting requirements, I would say.

Best regards!

[CSmith08]

You helped me figure it out! It was a two part issue. Our forms were automatically enrolling people as SQL instead of a Lead, and the enrollment criteria was only accepting those who came in at a lead level. Thank you so much!

[Jnix284]

@karstenkoehler while I'm not saying there aren't exceptions to the rule, building your funnel report and falsely passing every lead through MQL to SQL is not setting a good precedent for quality data or reporting.

If you have leads that aren't converting via marketing, it's easy enough to build a separate funnel that removes MQL so you can see the flow of leads from SQL to customer - is that two separate reports? yes. Whether that is good or bad is very dependent on the business use case.

With that said, I agree that an MQL can have a different definition depending on the org - so if a single marketing interaction qualifies someone as an MQL then passing them through that stage may be sufficient, however there is a much bigger strategic picture that's missing here to determine if that's the case.

@CSmith08 without knowing how the previous provider was engaged and your unique business structure, there is a technical solution that can resolve the issues you are experiencing but that may not be the best way forward.

[Jnix284]

@CSmith08 I'm sure @karstenkoehler will chime in with helpful advice, just calling out that a workflow that sets MQL and then 2 minutes later sets SQL is somewhat useless and will provide very misleading reports.

It isn't indicating that marketing has actually qualified anyone or that it was passed to sales who then qualified it further - it's just looking at a few data points and passing it through the funnel. I'd have to know a lot more about your sales process and pipeline to understand why this might be necessary, but at first glance it seems that you likely don't need MQL at all and it's redundant to run every single lead through that stage if they're just going to become an SQL 2 minutes later.

[Jnix284]

@CSmith08 I would start by digging into 2-3 contacts who skipped MQL and see what order the workflows triggered in. It's likely that your SQL workflow is being triggered ahead of MQL and may require additional criteria (such as lifecycle stage = MQL if that's required).

With that said, there isn't anything wrong with a lead that skips MQL if they genuinely come in new and are sales ready, raising their hand to purchase - you need that data too and it can be represented in a different report.