Stopping trial email workflow when contact responds

[fergsforecast]

Hi folks,

New Hubspot user here. Recently started a new job and inherited a product trial process which includes a Hubspot workflow that sends automated emails over a certain time period (Example: Day 01: Welcome, Day 03: Reminder, Day 05: Last chance etc.).

The workflow is fine but the problem is that it doesnt stop when a prosect responds to an email. So for example, a prospect could respond to the 'Day 01:Welcome' email and confirm their interest but they will still receive the 'Day 03: Reminder' email unless their lead status has been manually updated in Hubspot.

Any suggestion as to how I can ensure the workflow stops when a prospect responds to one of the workflow emails?

Thanks.

[Phil_Vallender · Accepted solution]

Hi @fergsforecast 

As you've already discovered, HubSpot workflows can't detect an email reply. Sequences can, but I don't think you depend on any system to be 100% accurate when it comes to catching replies. 

So, some options are; try to create another, more reliable trigger to stop the workflow (like a form submission or a custom property populated by API) or adjust the workflows so that receiving all emails isn't a problem. 

Hope this helps.

[fergsforecast]

Thanks for your suggestion, Phil. I'll check whether sequences can be a solution here. 

[mgandi]

Hi Phil,

You mention stopping a workflow based on a form being filled out. What about a contact who fills the form to book a meeting with a user? Would that be a possible trigger to unenroll a contact from a workflow?

Thanks for your help on this.

[Aakar]

Hi @fergsforecast 

As @Phil_Vallender  suggested, there's no way tell whether contact replied your email. HubSpot is not an email inbox. 

However, if applicable you can use the marketing email activity. If the contact clicks a link in an email, stop sending an email or something like that. Or, if there is an activity, just increase the delay time for your next email, and in that time frame, you can manually check whether they responded to that email and update their lead status. 

Alternatively, you'd want your contact to fill up the form and use that as validation and stop sending the email.

[fergsforecast]

Thank for your suggestion, Aakar. I dont think that identifying an engagement with an email would be a solution unless it was a 'reply' action which I dont believe is captured. It looks like we manually need to update the lead status once a contact responds to one of our emails.