Clone branches within a workflow

[ckennedy]

It would be great if there was a way to clone an if/then branch within a workflow, especially with multiple "if" criteria. For example, if I'm setting up branches with the same SF campaign IDs but different interactions with an email, (bounce, open, click), it would be nice to create one branch, clone it, and just switch out the email action rather than selecting the same ID criteria over and over again. 

[ckennedy]

clone branch

re-order branch

[ckennedy]

Hi all,

We've now introduced the ability to clone branch conditions within a single branch. This will enable you to more easily create if/then branches with many similar conditions, instead of having to manually add the same filter numerous times, in every branch.

Individual branches can also now be re-ordered using drag and drop, or via the "move up" or "move down" buttons on each condition. Multi-branched if/then branches evaluate enrolled objects in order of the listed branch conditions. Now that you can re-order existing branch conditions, you'll have more control over this evaluation hierarchy and can make changes without the laborious task of deleting/re-creating branches.

See the following post for screenshots of these new features! Also, for anyone interested in cloning entire actions for re-use in a workflow, that is a project we're working on next 

Thanks for your continued feedback!

Megan

[ckennedy]

Hi everyone,

I’m Megan Legge, a product manager for HubSpot’s workflows tool. As others have mentioned, we've made a couple of improvements in the tool which have made building branching workflows easier. To recap the features that have been rolled out since this idea was posted:

1. Reconnect branches with a Go To action (read more) - This action allows you to connect if/then branches with the Go to other action action. This can help to streamline your workflow building process by consolidating if/then branches.

2. Add mutiple conditions to an if/then branch (read more) - Instead of creating many layers of branches, you can now add up to 20 unique conditions in a single branch, consolidating the power of many branches into just one! Enrolled objects will be evaluated against each condition in the branch, in the order that they're set. 

On top of those improvements, we're currently exploring the idea of cloning conditions within a single branch. This would enable users to more easily create if/then branches with many similar conditions, instead of having to manually add the same filter numerous times. Thank you for your comments and feedback, and I will follow up again when we have more information about this feature!

Best,

Megan

[DanielleHMY]

I have a workflow with quite a few (for eg, 5) steps, and a next step through IF branch can only be activated once a current step is fulfilled. As the steps proceed on, I'm just repeating the branches I've built on one side and doing the same things on the other side of the IF branch, which makes work highly repeated. (up to 2^4 = 16 same mini branches at the end of the workflow). Since as I progress through the workflow, many are repeated steps, I propose two ways:

Since as I progress through the workflow, many are repeated steps, I propose two ways:

1. To be able to clone a branch and use it on a separate branch, especially I'm using the same parameters/conditions, it can save so much time by allowing copying and pasting, instead of building the branch from the start of adding time delay and adding conditions and actions afterwards.

2. Allow nodes to merge. For some of the steps in the workflow, since they are identical, the actions follow will be the same; but currently, I can only continue the workflow by painstakingly building the workflow branches one by one afterwards, resulting in 2^n branches. If the nodes (if branches that end with the same action and should lead to the same step afterwards) are allowed to be merged, it will make the workflow so much easier to manage. 

Look forward to seeing more improvements on your product. Thanks. 

[ItaiBoublil]

This is a great idea! 

[tsprunk]

I agree, this feature would be great. In the meantime, you can reduce your workload by putting the repeated branches in their own workflow. Then, on the original workflow, use a workflow enrollment step for each branch instead of repeating all those steps. If you're familiar with how functions work in object-oriented programming, it's the same idea. 

For example, if you have one workflow that looks like this after an if/then branch:

Branch 1: Do steps A, B, C, D, E, F

Branch 2: Do steps B, C, D, E, F

You could put steps B, C, D, E, and F in their own workflow (Workflow 2) with manual enrollment. Then, your original workflow could look like this:

Branch 1: Do step A, enroll in Workflow 2

Branch 2: enroll in Workflow 2

[andrewrose789]

This is definitely needed - so labour intensive to create complex workflows at the moment.

[shacharb]

needed feature

[abrengues]

needed for myself too.

[Prosserman]

Being able to copy entire branches and quickly attach them to another process branch in the same workflow (or even different workflows of the same overall process) would be very beneficial.  So would being able to copy or clone specific building blocks, including items already selcted from the drop down menus.

Thanks!

[Jatin28]

NEED IT NOW, HubSpot! 

[JMcB]

100% agree. I'm really surprised there aren't more upvotes for this feature request. I run into this pain point on a regular basis. I wonder if I am using hubspot in a unique way by creating workflows on a regular basis... 

The "smarter" you make your workflow (the more you utilize the powerful tech of hubspot) the more complex these workflows get and the more you would run into the bad UX in this case.

The more people rely on these workflows (and the more effective they are), the higher retention for a hubspot subscriber i'm guessing. Seems like it's in hubspot's best interest to create the best UX for their more valuable customers. 

[jphilbrook]

Did HubSpot come up with a solution to this? It is SO much work to build these out for bigger nurture streams.

[GuillaumeCO]

 A big yes for this idea !

I'm currently creating big workflows reposing on if/so branch. I lost a big amount of time because I had to recreate the same branch.

[mfahad]

A definite yes for this idea. I am currently creating a huge workflow and it would definitely help to have this feature 

[Andrew3]

Really need this feature.  Creating workflows is currently very frustrating.

Proposal 3: Create a delay tool that waits until something logical has changed, for example:

--The previous task has been completed (marked complete)

--A selected contact/company/deal property has been set to a certain value or has been changed

Proposal 4 (may be the same as the merged nodes idea): Allow the workflow from an if/then (or any other node) to go to any other existing node.

[agkmay]

YES!   The ability to copy and or 'group' then copy elements of a workflow would be amazing.

We have specific and detailed lead routing criteria and it is a MASSIVE pain to rebuild this each time we need to route leads. 

[mfahad]

Would love to have this feature. We have a very extensive workflow structure and it would help IMMENSELY to have the capbility of duplicating branches of a workflow. 

[Brett_Fox]

Upvote, upvote, upvote!

[kmccabe1]

Yes, it shouldn't take all day to create a workflow when I'm just repeating the steps over and over in different if/then branches.

[rachaelshaw7]

Hi Everyone,

An idea similar to this seems to be in planning.
It doesn't ask for cloning per se, but does ask for branches to be reconnected to the main branch once an exception is dealt with - in most cases this would negate the need to clone branches over and over again
Vote here:

https://community.hubspot.com/t5/HubSpot-Ideas/IF-branches-reconnection/idi-p/11322

Rachael

[rachaelshaw7]

Hi Everyone,

An idea similar to this seems to be in planning.
It asks for branches to be reconnected to the main branch once an exception is dealt with - in most cases this would negate the need to clone branches over and over again - since this feature is in planning you could vote and request the branches connect to any section not just the main branch

Vote here:

https://community.hubspot.com/t5/HubSpot-Ideas/IF-branches-reconnection/idi-p/11322

Rachael

[robert1]

+1

Merging if / then branch paths would be great, its often that I need to set a simple condition (eg assign an owner if no owner is assigned), and then have to build tow idendical branches.

And being able to clone nodes would be really great too. It takes a lot of time if you are using personalisation tokens to create meaningul tasks and the work is very repetitive, especially if you need to build the same branch multiple times.