5 Ways That Law Firms Can Test Their Workflows on HubSpot

Have you ever spent months developing a complicated workflow in HubSpot only to discover that it didn’t launch properly? Anyone who has created a robust lead nurturing campaign complete with branching logic understands how much work goes into it – and how nerve-wracking it can be to finally turn it “on”. How can you be sure it’s really working?

Because of this common trepidation, we are sharing some of the best ways to test your workflows on HubSpot. 

5 tactics To Ensure HubSpot workflows function properly

1. Send test emails. This is a best practice that should be followed no matter which platform you’re working in. Just because you’re using workflows doesn’t mean you should forgo this portion of the process. Proofread every single individual email before it goes out, and get multiple eyes on each part of the workflow. Send everything to a trusted colleague before launching, as well. 
2. Test enrollment criteria. In HubSpot, you can test a contact against your enrollment criteria to ensure you are targeting the right audience. When you create your workflows, chances are you have a contact in mind who would be a great fit. Find the “test criteria” button within the edit enrollment screen, and use it to visually confirm that you successfully targeted the right audience. A green light will appear if the contact meets any part of your enrollment criteria, signaling that they will make it into your workflow. On the other hand, the color red shows that a contact won’t make it into the criteria. You can try this method out with a few different contacts to be sure your audience is shaping up the way you expected. 
3. Test branching logic by cloning your workflow. Longer workflows are more likely to include multiple branches, which can get confusing. There are a few steps you can take to ensure that once it executes, it works the way you planned. 
   • Clone your workflow. 
   • Change all delays to five minutes. 
   • Delete all of the enrollment criteria. 
   • Turn the workflow on. 
   • Manually enroll yourself.

When you follow these steps, you can go through the workflow just like an enrolled contact would. Then you can take appropriate actions to try out the different branches you created. If you want to test out the execution of a longer nurture campaign, you can follow similar steps but wait one week after enrolling yourself.

4. Utilize workflow history information. If you go to the “history” tab of a workflow, you can find detailed updates about contacts who are actively going through the workflow along with historical information about those who have previously completed your workflow. This is a good way to be sure that the actions you designed are happening the way you intended. Look for things like properties being updated, branching logic working, and emails being sent. You can also explore a detailed timeline of all enrollments, suppressions, scheduled and completed actions, delays, branches, and workflow completions. This is where you can find gaps in your workflows and address them as needed.

5. Use the workflow test function. After you’ve compiled your workflow with all of the emails and actions needed, you can find the test function and then choose a contact to see what their workflow experience would look like. The first thing you’ll see is whether or not the contact you chose will be enrolled in the workflow. If they meet the criteria to be enrolled, you will see the dates and times that the following actions would occur as well as which branches the contact would experience.

Takeaway: 

Building out effective workflows is a crucial part of marketing in today’s landscape. However, many people find the process stressful, and it doesn’t seem to get easier no matter how often you create them! Use these testing methods to eliminate some of the stress of developing HubSpot workflows. If you need a little more support, you can also take a look at the HubSpot Knowledge Base or browse our blog for the latest HubSpot tactics and trends.