Updating Contacts through workflows

[DStone1]

For context: We are a school and use HubSpot forms for our applications. On the applications we ask for 2 contacts - usually mum and dad - and use a workflow to create the 2nd contact based on the form submission. We then associate the 2nd contact with the deal (application).

However, there are many cases where families are applying for more than one child. The first application works as expected, but when the second application is submitted,  the 2nd contact doesn't update as the only option in workflows is to create a contact, rather than update.

Is there any way around this at all? We have a lot of deals missing an associated contact as the workflow is unable to update them.

[TomM2]

Hey @DStone1 one way to filter this could be to set an if/then branch in your workflow. If you say something like contact enrolls in workflow every time they submit the form, then "if associated deals has 2 or more associated contacts" as an if/then branch. If the deal already has 2 associated contacts (meaning the parents are already createad) you can send them down one branch, if they don't have this you could run them through the process of creating them you already have. 

Associating the new contact record with the existing deal records is a lot trickier though as HubSpot doesn't have an "associate" automation step built in. This would require operations Hub to run some custom code, or you could use a 3rd party integration to do something like this. I know something like associ8 can offer automated associations within workflows and might be what you're looking for! 

https://hapily.com/associ8

If that's something you're interested in feel free to drop me a DM! I'd be happy to setup a demo.