by Ryan Thibodeaux, August 2024
In the ever-evolving landscape of CRM and automation tools, HubSpot has consistently been at the forefront of innovation, ensuring that businesses can streamline operations and improve efficiency. One of the latest advancements in HubSpot’s beta features is the ability to manage record associations and association labels directly within workflows. This new capability opens up a world of possibilities for businesses looking to enhance their data management and workflow automation.
At Goodwood Consulting, we’ve been actively implementing these features for our clients in the financial services sector, where precise data management and streamlined operations are critical.
Before diving into the new feature, let's briefly recap what record associations and association labels are:
- Record Associations: These define the relationships between different types of records in HubSpot, such as linking a contact to a company, a deal, or even a custom object like a branch or a team.
- Association Labels: These are tags that describe the nature of the relationship between associated records. For example, a contact associated with a company might be labeled as 'Primary Contact' or 'Decision Maker.'
Traditionally, managing these associations and labels required manual effort or custom-coded solutions. However, with HubSpot’s new beta feature, you can now automate this process directly within workflows.
With the new feature, HubSpot users can create, modify, or remove record associations and apply association labels within their workflows. This brings a new level of precision and efficiency to automation, ensuring that your CRM data remains accurate and up-to-date.
One of the projects we’ve been working on at Goodwood involves managing contacts and their associations with various companies. Previously, ensuring that each contact was correctly linked to the appropriate company, and labeled accurately, required manual intervention. This was particularly challenging in scenarios where a single contact might be associated with multiple companies in different roles.
Example Workflow:
Imagine a scenario where a new contact is created in HubSpot through a form submission. With the new feature, you can set up a workflow that automatically associates this contact with the correct company based on their email domain. Additionally, the workflow can apply an association label such as 'Sales Lead' or 'Prospective Partner' depending on predefined criteria.
This automation not only saves time but also reduces the risk of errors, ensuring that sales and marketing teams have the most accurate data at their fingertips.
In another project, we dealt with the challenge of associating deals with multiple internal teams and branches. Each deal needed to be associated with the relevant team and branch, with labels indicating the nature of each association, such as 'Primary Team' or 'Primary Branch Office.
Example Workflow:
When a deal reaches a specific stage in the pipeline, a workflow can automatically associate it with the relevant team and branch based on predefined criteria (e.g., deal type or region). The workflow then applies appropriate labels like 'Lead Branch' or 'Secondary Support Team,' ensuring clarity in how each deal is managed and reported on.
This not only streamlines the management of complex deal structures but also provides clear visibility into team responsibilities and deal progress.
We’ve also been working on cleaning up data by removing outdated or incorrect associations, especially in scenarios where associations might have been duplicated or misapplied.
Example Workflow:
Consider a workflow designed to audit and clean up associations. For instance, if a contact is associated with multiple companies due to a data import error, the workflow can identify and remove incorrect associations based on specific rules (e.g., only retaining the most recent or most relevant association). It can also reassign correct associations with appropriate labels, ensuring data integrity.
HubSpot's introduction of automated record associations and association labels in workflows is a game-changer for businesses seeking to maximize their CRM’s potential. This feature enhances the ability to maintain accurate data, streamline complex workflows, and ensure that teams can focus on what they do best – building relationships and closing deals.
At Goodwood, we’re excited to leverage this new capability to further enhance our services for clients in the financial services sector. As we continue to explore the full potential of this new feature, we anticipate even more ways it will revolutionize the way data and workflows are managed.
To learn more about the new beta feature and how Goodwood can help, schedule a call.