Set a date property as "x days after" day of step

[SmartAcre]

Hi, currently we are working on a new Free Trial experience, whereby users are now given 30 days to test out software and are then shut off after that period. 

When users sign up for a free trial, we would like to populate a Date Property that is "30 days after" the time they fill out that form. As far as I can tell, workflows can only set a date property on the day of the step, or a set date. Is there a way around this so we can use that "End Date" property to customize warning emails telling contacts that their trial is running out?

Thanks!

[DSelucky · Accepted solution]

Hello everybody,

this is quite a time after the question was posted, but let me exercise here one low key solution. 

I had a similar question and what happened is that I came up with 2 simultaneous automation at the same time - just for fun. 

The task at hand:

When the deal is created, let the salesperson pick the interval after which he will follow up with the deal based on its ripeness. Make sure the salesperson has the ability to change intervals as he goes.

Solution 1:

Create a simple workflow that once the picked interval is known, set the date of when the interval has been set. This date then being known triggers a workflow that based on the interval picked triggers its own workflow with a delay of the days that correspond to the interval. 

Each of the workflows has a goal set that when a property "Restart Timer" is "1" then the deal gets kicked out of the workflow, so it could then enroll again if needed to reset its delay. 

In the picture below there is this resetting property set to 1 and then to 0 again and then there is 15 minutes window for HS to realize it has been reset back to its default value. I tried originally 5 minutes, but HS sometimes didn't realize after 5 minutes that the property is back to 0 and it was kicking deals from the next pipeline right after it enrolled. So 15 minutes it is. 

See pictures below.

Solution 2: Create a property "Days Till Reminder" which will be basically just a number property that will update daily as a countdown of days till the reminder. Hook it to something that runs through the system daily to be sure it updates as important system properties update with it so you don't get some serious misalignment in data. 

I hooked it up with my "Today's Date".

And once it gets to 0 it's up to you if you set a new workflow that triggers a task, or that sends an internal email to your sales that its time to contact them or trigger your Paid Membership Pro integration to limit their access to your paid content. In my case, it is purely decorative so when our sales team opens the deal they see not only the interval that was picked and the start date but also how long till it's due. Needless to say, this value is being reset with the interval once the interval is set as per my first image. 

I know it's not much, but on our end, it's doing magic without any other integrations. We try to use as few as we can to keep data in one system, eliminate errors and eliminate costs for additional systems. 

[BLewty · Accepted solution]

Hi all, 

This is now possible through a HubSpot workflow but requires Operations Hub Pro or Enterprise. 

By using the 'Format Data' option, you can set a future date based on a present date.

Please see an example in this video or the workflow options below:

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @SmartAcre,

HubSpot expanded on the functionalities of calculation properties: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/properties/create-calculation-properties

What you're trying to do,can now be easily achieved with such a property, see this example that calculates a date 30 days after the record create date:

The number of days is the first number in brackets. The rest of the numbers are there to calculate the amount of milliseconds as that's the unit HubSpot uses here.

If you want to calculate a date before, simply switch the + for a - sign.

Best regards!

[NCorliss]

This worked great! Exact same use case for a sequence of email based on the trial. Do you think this logic makes sense? 

• Trial + 7 days = new date-stampe property that was created
• The workflow trigger is that the new calculation based date stamp is less than 0 days. 

[AMammarella]

Hi everyone,

since we had the common need to find a solution to this problem, we have published in the HubSpot marketplace "Future Date Calculator" app.
The app adds a new deal-based workflow action that enables you to dynamically include a line item in an already existing deal.

The Future Date Calculator app automatically populates a property with a future date based on another chosen date property.
Furthermore, it calculates the number of days until the specified date, so all you need to do is enter the desired number of days.

Try it and send us a feedback!
We're constantly working on new features for this app, every feedback would be very helpful.

https://ecosystem.hubspot.com/marketplace/apps/productivity/workflow-automation/future-date-calculat...

Best,

Alessio

Alessio Mammarella HubSpot Specialist Exelab

333-6580788 alessio.mammarella@exelab.com exelab.com

[NPW]

Hello All,

If anyone is still searching for a workflow action to set a future date and/or specific date X days from Y, please upvote the following thread: https://community.hubspot.com/t5/HubSpot-Ideas/More-workflow-options-for-date-properties/idc-p/75030...

Thank you!

[mamersfoort]

I agree, the optio nto choose a variable for the delay or set the due date using any (deal property) date variable should be standard included in the Sales Pro package

[BLewty · Accepted solution]

Hi all, 

This is now possible through a HubSpot workflow but requires Operations Hub Pro or Enterprise. 

By using the 'Format Data' option, you can set a future date based on a present date.

Please see an example in this video or the workflow options below:

[kvlschaefer]

Thank you for sharing this update with the Community, @BLewty! 

[borisgdrz]

Hey for anyone trying to figure this out. You can actually create a custom property and use a workflow to set the time of the step to that custom property upon an action taking place. Then in the next action, you can use the format data feature and modify the previously set date, and finally, you can use this property as a token in your email.

[PamCotton]

Hey @borisgdrz , thank you for sharing this with us!

Kindly,

Pam

[AFreemerman]

Hi,

 If you have the operational hub, you can do this  date  formating on the husbpot workflows: 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kyleanthonyjepson_hubspottipsandtricks-hubspot-automation-activity-68... 

[kvlschaefer]

Thanks for sharing this tip with us, @AFreemerman! 

[RMorgan]

This is such a fundamental feature that's missing for any SaaS business - work arounds are so clunky. Please review this.

[kvlschaefer]

Hi @RMorgan,

Thank you for feedback.

I would highly recommend you to please post this product suggestion at our ideas forum.

Our product team, who monitors the forum regularly, can read your specific use case and understand why this would be a useful functionality or change. It also helps other customers facing the same issue to advocate for its implementation on your behalf by upvoting on the thread as well.

Thank you,

Kristen

[DSelucky · Accepted solution]

Hello everybody,

this is quite a time after the question was posted, but let me exercise here one low key solution. 

I had a similar question and what happened is that I came up with 2 simultaneous automation at the same time - just for fun. 

The task at hand:

When the deal is created, let the salesperson pick the interval after which he will follow up with the deal based on its ripeness. Make sure the salesperson has the ability to change intervals as he goes.

Solution 1:

Create a simple workflow that once the picked interval is known, set the date of when the interval has been set. This date then being known triggers a workflow that based on the interval picked triggers its own workflow with a delay of the days that correspond to the interval. 

Each of the workflows has a goal set that when a property "Restart Timer" is "1" then the deal gets kicked out of the workflow, so it could then enroll again if needed to reset its delay. 

In the picture below there is this resetting property set to 1 and then to 0 again and then there is 15 minutes window for HS to realize it has been reset back to its default value. I tried originally 5 minutes, but HS sometimes didn't realize after 5 minutes that the property is back to 0 and it was kicking deals from the next pipeline right after it enrolled. So 15 minutes it is. 

See pictures below.

Solution 2: Create a property "Days Till Reminder" which will be basically just a number property that will update daily as a countdown of days till the reminder. Hook it to something that runs through the system daily to be sure it updates as important system properties update with it so you don't get some serious misalignment in data. 

I hooked it up with my "Today's Date".

And once it gets to 0 it's up to you if you set a new workflow that triggers a task, or that sends an internal email to your sales that its time to contact them or trigger your Paid Membership Pro integration to limit their access to your paid content. In my case, it is purely decorative so when our sales team opens the deal they see not only the interval that was picked and the start date but also how long till it's due. Needless to say, this value is being reset with the interval once the interval is set as per my first image. 

I know it's not much, but on our end, it's doing magic without any other integrations. We try to use as few as we can to keep data in one system, eliminate errors and eliminate costs for additional systems. 

[HLovatt]

We need this as well to set close dates automatically to 90 days in the future, not the end of the current month

[PDuque]

I suggest using GoTellMe Calendar Toolkit https://gotellme.com/which-functions-does-calendar-toolkit-have

https://hubspot.gotellme.com/CalendarToolkit/

[SaWells]

I can't find pricing, how much does it cost?

[MSchmidl]

it would be great to have this as a native feature - I don't want to buy an additional tool to have this kind of basic functionality. If you're running a subscription business for example, I don't want to calculate the term of notice manually, this should happen in the CRM (e.g. calculate Licence End Date minus 90 days)

[JSchiraldi]

We are trying to automate based on contact relationship status and 30 days prior to a date field and need this ability as well.

[MFrankJohnson]

Q: Is there a way we can set a date 'x' days from when an action occurs in HubSpot?

Short A: No. Not within HubSpot (yet), but ...

Longer A:

You can use tools like Zapier or Automate.io to listen for your original date action, calculate a future date, then populate a field in HubSpot. In fact, we do this all the time to push deal close dates out by 30+ days automatically at deal creation time.