The whole aim of marketing automation is to guide your users through your site and its marketing content, using specific actions that you will send via email.
Workflows and workflow logic are both a fundamental part of ensuring that customers receive timely, relevant content from you, without you having to manually sending formation to individual contacts.
What is a workflow?
HubSpot defines workflows as:
"Workflows are intended to help you automate and scale your marketing interactions to find out more about your contacts so that you can provide them with contextual information that relates to their specific needs and questions."
In simple terms, a workflow is the process that you set up which will pre-determine the email marketing messages a contact will receive, based on a user's interactions with your website and marketing content.
For example, if Joe downloads Awareness Ebook 1, we want him to download Consideration Ebook 1 and then download Decision Ebook 1.
This is his 'conversion path', basically his journey down the buyer's funnel, converting further with you, to the point where he's 'sold' on the idea of your company and simply wants to reach out and tell you 'I want you' (yay!).
The Thriveability Plan helps you to produce persona-specific workflows as the content is already set out. Most workflows contain:
- 3-4 emails pointing towards different ebooks (Suited to either the awareness, consideration or decision stages)
- 3-4 emails pointing towards different blog posts (Preferably either persona or subject-specific)
Of course, this is simply a guideline and can include more or less.
Workflows can be set up to be triggered when a known contact (one who is already registered on your website i.e. filled in a form and consented to receiving email updates) either:
- Views a particular page
- Subscribes to blog posts
- Downloads a premium content offer
- Registers for a webinar
- Opens a marketing email i.e. blog newsletter, etc.
Or they can be set up based on criteria of your choice i.e. you add them to a specific list:
- 'Warm prospecting leads, or
- 'Recently attended our event', etc.
Once these criteria are decided draft out the content that would be of specific interest to them, this can be based on their recent activity, their stage in the buyer's journey (awareness, consideration, decision) or their persona.
This is why our Thriveability Plan is highly recommended to all of our customers who adopt the inbound marketing methodology, and particularly for those that purchase HubSpot. The Plan outlines a huge content strategy, meaning putting together content campaigns and workflows is much easier!
An Example Workflow
Goal: Get Percy the Persona to register for the Decision stage webinar, Meet Smiths Accountants.
Criteria: Add all members of the list, 'Percy the Persona', to this workflow.
Send EMAIL guiding readers to visit the blog post, Best Practices for Managing Your Boss.
Now add a TIME DELAY to your workflow - a generic guideline would be around 2-3 business days.
If YES (they opened email and clicked blog post), send an EMAIL to the blog post, X TED Talks to Make You a Management All-Rounder.
If NO (they didn't click the blog post), you can choose another option or end the workflow.
Send EMAIL guiding readers to visit the blog post, How Do I Supervise Friends at Work?
If YES (they opened email and clicked blog post), send an EMAIL to the AWARENESS stage EBOOK, The Middle Manager’s Guide to Managing Up and Down the Ladder.
If NO (they didn't click the blog post), you can choose another option or end the workflow.
Now add another TIME DELAY to your workflow - a generic guideline would be around 1-2 business days.
This workflow to date will simply confirm the lead is at the Awareness stage of the buyer's journey. You would then need to build up the workflow with more content - emails pointing to various blog posts, ebooks and webpages - to push them towards both the consideration and decision stages of the journey.
We typically recommend that workflows are started from the point a user identifies at the awareness stage - i.e. they download an awareness ebook. You would then fill a workflow with enough content to push them through the remaining stages of the funnel.
Elements we can support you with or deliver for you are:
- Email copy for workflows
- Blog posts
- Ebook content
- Ebook design
- Landing page and thank you page copy
- CTA button copy
- Workflow logic and/or rollout
If you require further information and guidance about the Workflows tool, or planning your workflow logic, you can get in touch with our team for support or to arrange a meeting.
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