Lists, Lead Scoring & Workflows

TRichards
Contributor

Workflow adding contacts instead of removing them

SOLVE

Has this ever happened to you?

 

You set up a Workflow, starting with an Active or Static list. Before each subsequent email you do "if contacts are in X list" they don't get the next one. X list is a growing list of purchasers. 

 

Usually you end up with fewer delivered emails at the end, by design. I found some cases where the last email had more deliveries than the previous one, despite the if-then removing people. It's weird. 

 

Are there situations in Workflows where contacts are added into lists at steps? I always thought you started with Y number of people at the Contact Enrollment Trigger and that core group only could get smaller. 

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karstenkoehler
Solution
Hall of Famer | Partner
Hall of Famer | Partner

Workflow adding contacts instead of removing them

SOLVE

Hi @TRichards,

 

Is this a regular workflow or a date-centered workflow? In a regular workflow, contacts should go through all steps and not skip anything (unless designed so with "Jump to action" or if/then branches). In a date-centered workflow, contacts would skip anything that is in the past.

 

The enrollment setting does not affect this. This setting only matters when you switch the workflow on for the first time: Should the workflow get all contacts, ever, who meet the criteria, or only the ones that meet the criteria after switching the workflow on. It will not change which parts of the workflow a contact experiences.

 

Have you checked the path of a contact in your workflow that seems to skip earlier actions? What does the history of such a contact look like?

 

Best regards

Karsten Köhler
HubSpot Freelancer | RevOps & CRM Consultant | Community Hall of Famer

Beratungstermin mit Karsten vereinbaren

 

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TRichards
Contributor

Workflow adding contacts instead of removing them

SOLVE

Karsten-thank you.

 

I am finding that people are being created via our integration as new Leads and immediately being pushed into our Active list of Leads that we use to send emails. Which is what we want, generally- leads in a segment, ready to be used at any time.   

 

Then the workflows, that are already running, are finding these new people and throwing them into whatever stage they haven't missed yet. This explains why the number of sends has increased over time. People get created and start showing up just at the time to send email #3, #4, etc.

 

How do I avoid this? Should I avoid this?

 

It's just a little misleading in how the WF setup has the option "Yes, enroll those who meet the trigger as of now'" then keeps adding people as it goes.

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karstenkoehler
Solution
Hall of Famer | Partner
Hall of Famer | Partner

Workflow adding contacts instead of removing them

SOLVE

Hi @TRichards,

 

Is this a regular workflow or a date-centered workflow? In a regular workflow, contacts should go through all steps and not skip anything (unless designed so with "Jump to action" or if/then branches). In a date-centered workflow, contacts would skip anything that is in the past.

 

The enrollment setting does not affect this. This setting only matters when you switch the workflow on for the first time: Should the workflow get all contacts, ever, who meet the criteria, or only the ones that meet the criteria after switching the workflow on. It will not change which parts of the workflow a contact experiences.

 

Have you checked the path of a contact in your workflow that seems to skip earlier actions? What does the history of such a contact look like?

 

Best regards

Karsten Köhler
HubSpot Freelancer | RevOps & CRM Consultant | Community Hall of Famer

Beratungstermin mit Karsten vereinbaren

 

Did my post help answer your query? Help the community by marking it as a solution.

TRichards
Contributor

Workflow adding contacts instead of removing them

SOLVE

I am bumping this topic as I am still trying to solve this. Interestingly, over the course of the campaign the number of Sent emails went up by 390 people but the if/then step should have been reducing that number. 

 

Could there be settings to change? I have this one set as "Yes"

Contacts who are enrolled and no longer meet the enrollment criteria will stay in this workflow.

 

Should I be setting the workflow with a Goal instead, so people will unenroll or will that not solve the problem?

 

OR is the secret at the activation phase? I start with Active lists (integrated w/ CRM) of Leads, and I tell the WF "Yes, enroll those who meet the trigger as of now."   Does this not snapshot the list or does it allow people to flow in? If it lets them flow in I would need to make a Static list for each WF, which is not an efficiency.

 

 

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karstenkoehler
Hall of Famer | Partner
Hall of Famer | Partner

Workflow adding contacts instead of removing them

SOLVE

Hi @TRichards,

 

It's really hard to tell without being able to explore in your portal. Here's how I'd approach this: By building a list, find a contact that received an email sent later in the workflow but who did not receive an email sent early in the workflow. (Contact has received email X, Contact has not received email Y)

 

Once you have these contacts, check the History tab of the workflow and investigate how these contacts moved through the workflow.

 

Best regards!

 

 

Karsten Köhler
HubSpot Freelancer | RevOps & CRM Consultant | Community Hall of Famer

Beratungstermin mit Karsten vereinbaren

 

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TRichards
Contributor

Workflow adding contacts instead of removing them

SOLVE

Karsten,

Here are a couple of screenshots. The additional people get added at the last steps, where I have a function to remove/suppress some. 
Beginning listsBeginning lists
These steps seem to add, rather than subtract.These steps seem to add, rather than subtract.

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karstenkoehler
Hall of Famer | Partner
Hall of Famer | Partner

Workflow adding contacts instead of removing them

SOLVE

Hi @TRichards,

 

Could you share a screenshot of your workflow? It's hard to tell without having details but usually there is a good explanation.

 

Best regards

Karsten Köhler
HubSpot Freelancer | RevOps & CRM Consultant | Community Hall of Famer

Beratungstermin mit Karsten vereinbaren

 

Did my post help answer your query? Help the community by marking it as a solution.