Start Utilizing HubSpot's Date Property Workflows

Workflows are superpowers given to your team as they allow small teams to do the work of far larger ones. Often overlooked however are the date property workflows. Unlike the specific date-based workflows, the dates in these workflows are dynamic as they depend on the contact themselves.  These workflows can prevent customers from slipping through the cracks, help delight customers by personalizing interactions and standardize your customer journey. 

What are the benefits of Property- Date Based Workflow?

Prevents contacts from slipping through the cracks:

Customers all need varying levels of delighting and handholding. Some customers may be more vocal and ask more from your team directly, however, you do not want to get caught neglecting the quieter ones. Sending check-in emails at different milestones and reminding teams to check on customers that have not been contacted in a while are just two examples of ways the property-based workflow can help avoid overlooking anyone. 

Standardizes the process:

Connected to preventing neglecting records, is the ability to standardize the process. The same actions will be taken for all contacts despite when they entered each stage. Having workflow to create tasks for members of the customer success team, or 

Personalizes interactions:

Remembering milestones, checking in different stages, and property-based workflows can allow teams that would not have the bandwidth otherwise, to acknowledge and delight throughout. 

Limits REPETITIVE work: 

No need to create the same email to send to different people at different times. These workflows can include one email, sent out whenever is set to be opportune. No need to manually set the same renewal task over and over, the workflow will do this for you. 

Saves Time:

Most obviously, automation saves time. Team members do not have to check check-in dates constantly to ensure they do not miss them, they do not need to recreate the same email over and over, or spend the time creating tasks they have done before. A few minutes, every day, every month, every year - it all adds up. 

What are a Few Examples of Different Workflows you can Create?

Birthday Workflows:

• • While this is the most common example we often use to explain a date-property workflow, it is also a popular one. Often, companies will send out a discount code or free product while also wishing the customer a happy birthday.  This delights customers encourages them to buy more than just the birthday freebie, and also builds brand loyalty. A non-direct benefit of birthday workflows can also be SEO linking as third-party sites reference these perks often. For example, many of the companies mentioned in this article operate these birthday offers using HubSpot Workflows.

Renewal Workflows:

• • As renewal dates are dependent on the purchase date and subscription term,  customers will likely have unique renewal periods. Renewal workflows can be used to make these processes far more streamlined and successful. They can include reminder emails to internal team members, emails to the customers, and tasks created for actions that need to be done for resigning. Many times this will take a 90-60-30 day format. For example, 90 days before the renewal date, send the customer success manager an email letting them know that this date is coming up. Encouraging this member of your team to reach out and see how the customer is enjoying your product. Do they have any complaints? Are they resolvable? Then, perhaps 30 days before is when you remind customers they need to resubscribe or repurchase at the end of the month; perhaps you offer a discount for early renewing. 

Product-related / Service-related Workflows:

• This can look different depending on your industry and product. The options are really unlimited. 
  • • Perhaps you are a software company. You can send a set up a sequence of checkin actions depending on how long the contact has used your product. This may look like checking in with customers after the first month of use, including 10 tips for utilizing the product and linking to your Knowledge Base. 
    • Perhaps you are a staffing company that wants to maintain a relationship with the individuals you have placed. An email could wish this contact good luck on their first day,  linking to a blog post written about “starting the job on the right foot”. We categorize actions like these generally within the delight stage of the customer flywheel. It personalizes your interactions, without the need for 1:1 effort. This builds brand and company loyalty, as it is common for these contacts to reach out again for future career moves, as they remember the personal touch of these ‘first-day emails’.

Common Questions Portal Users Have when creating a Date-Property Workflow. 

Question:

Since Date Picker properties also include a year, does that mean that despite turning on "reoccur annually" the days set for action will not implement? As someone's wedding date is  1/30/2022, 1/1/2023 is not 30 days before anymore.

Answer:

Once you select to reoccur annually, the workflow will no longer reference the year. Therefore, the actions will execute relative to the day and month in the current year. 30 days before the property