What is a lifecycle stage?

With the lifecycle stage in HubSpot, you specify which stage of the sales process your contacts are in. This process runs from Subscriber to Evangelist.

The "lifecycle stages" that HubSpot distinguishes between are:

• Subscriber
• Lead
• Marketing qualified lead (MQL)
• Sales qualified lead (SQL)
• Opportunity
• Customer
• Evangelist

By setting requirements for reaching each lifecycle stage, you determine when a lead (or customer) enters a particular stage. For example, you could determine that someone who fills out a form once becomes a lead. For example, upon downloading a gated content piece such as a white paper. And that someone who fills out a form three times becomes a Marketing Qualified lead (at that point, you also know more about that contact because you're figuring out a piece of information with each download).

Lifecycle stages in HubSpot

Lifecycle stages come in handy for the following marketing automation activities:

Creating lists: To get a good picture of all your contacts, create lists based on the lifecycle stages your contacts are in. By setting in the 'enrollment criteria' that the lifecycle stage should equal 'lead', you can find all your leads in one list. By creating such lists, you are able to easily reach all contacts from the same stage. For example, you can create an email intended only for leads. You then easily send this to your lead list.

HubSpot Workflows: By using lifecycle stages for a workflow's enrollment criteria, you set up specific workflows that apply only to contacts that are in a particular lifecycle stage.

Smart CTAs and smart content: With smart CTAs and smart content, you show content to specific contacts based on their attributes. For example, you create a call to action suitable only for marketing qualified leads. All contacts who are in other lifecycle stages will not see this CTA.

Because the lifecycle stage is an important feature for Sales as well as Marketing, you'll find it in the HubSpot CRM, as well as in the Sales Hub and Marketing Hub.

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