Nurture back to Marketing - what happens to the "lifecycle"?

[TDelafosse]

Hi there,

We are working on a "nurture back to marketing" process, with a Lead hand-back procedure from Sales to Marketing. 

All good with the content and workflows, however I was wondering what the best practice is for the "lifecycle" properties. Are we downgrading rejected MQLs to Leads if they are not ready yet?

Thanks!

[danmoyle · Accepted solution]

@TDelafosse in addition to what @CateDuarte & @Ben_M offered, I'd ask if you've thought about customizing the lifecycle stages? If you don't want to "go back" to MQL, maybe there's a different lifecycle stage they could return to between MQL and SQL. This could also help you measure how many contacts go into that stage, and you could begin to analyuze why. In fact, you could create a custom property and require it for that stage. Something like "Why 'back to marketing' stage" and then use that to understand why the contacts aren't truly SQLs yet. 

[TDelafosse]

Thanks! I wasn't aware we could customise lifecycles. I may go with this option. 

Much appreciated.

[CateDuarte]

Hi @TDelafosse, 

When you handover to Sales are you moving them to SQLs? 

If yes, I think it depends on the level of rejection and the reasons. If the lead needs a lot more "nurturing" I would say back to lead. If it was just a matter of timing for not being ready to buy I would move them to MQL (or keep them in MQL's if you are not using SQL's - and maybe create a property with "reason for back to marketing")

For Workflows remember that before rolling back the lifecycle stage you should first clean the property or else HS won't allow you to. If manually you can always go back (ignore if you are already aware of it).

Hope this helps!

Catarina 

[TDelafosse]

Thanks @CateDuarte!  In our current process, we pass the leads as MQL. Sales then proceed to a qualification process. The lead then either progresses to an SQL, or is rejected for a host of reasons (budget, readiness, not eligible for our product...). 

[Ben_M]

You are correct that the best practice is to set them backwards in the lifecycle stage probably just to a lead if you are trying to use the standard lifecycle fields.  Personally speaking I typically work with a custom property that has stages of something along the lines of "Recycled" so that other processes can happen so the lead does not auto-qualify into an MQL again too quickly.

[TDelafosse]

Thanks @Ben_M