Understanding the Default Lifecycle Stages

1. What Are Lifecycle Stages?

A Lifecycle Stage in HubSpot is a built-in property on contacts (and optionally companies) that shows where each contact stands in a typical marketing and sales pipeline. Key benefits include:

• High-Level Funnel Structure: You can quickly see how many contacts are at each stage (e.g., Lead vs. Opportunity).
• Reporting: HubSpot offers default funnel reports showing conversion rates between stages.
• Automation: Workflows can automatically move contacts forward based on triggers, like a deal creation or a form submission.

Important: Lifecycle Stages differ from Deal Stages. A Deal Stage is for an individual revenue opportunity (e.g., “Proposal Sent,” “Negotiation”), while Lifecycle Stage characterizes the contact’s overall relationship with your firm.

2. HubSpot’s Default Lifecycle Stages

HubSpot comes with a fixed set of stages that reflect a common SaaS or inbound marketing funnel:

Subscriber

• Definition: A contact who has opted in to hear from you—perhaps they subscribed to your blog or email newsletter.
• Typical SaaS Usage: They’re aware of your brand but have shown minimal engagement beyond consuming content.

Lead

• Definition: A contact who’s taken some action indicating slight interest (e.g., filled out a demo request, downloaded a resource, or engaged more deeply on your site).
• Typical SaaS Usage: The first stage for more active marketing or nurturing; marketing teams might begin targeted emails.

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

• Definition: A contact deemed more likely to become a customer, usually by meeting certain behavioral or demographic criteria (like scoring above a threshold).
• Typical SaaS Usage: Marketing hands them off to sales after seeing strong engagement or fit.

Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)

• Definition: A contact that sales has confirmed is worth pursuing—someone who might have explicitly requested a call or demo, or meets strict fit criteria.
• Typical SaaS Usage: The sales team actively reaches out, scheduling demos or in-depth consultations.

Opportunity

• Definition: A lead who is associated with an open deal in HubSpot; there’s a recognized revenue opportunity.
• Typical SaaS Usage: The contact is in the pipeline with a forecasted potential purchase.

Customer

• Definition: A contact who has purchased from or signed with your company.
• Typical SaaS Usage: Once the deal is closed-won, the contact moves to Customer, reflecting their paid subscription or purchase.

Evangelist

• Definition: A customer who promotes or advocates for your business—through referrals, testimonials, social proof, etc.
• Typical SaaS Usage: Marking an especially satisfied or vocal customer who might join case studies, user groups, or referral programs.

Other

• Definition: A catch-all for contacts who don’t fit neatly into the funnel (e.g., vendors, personal contacts, press).
• Typical SaaS Usage: Used sparingly, often for internal or external stakeholders who aren’t potential leads or customers.

3. How Lifecycle Stages Are Generally Updated

Though you can manually change a contact’s Lifecycle Stage, larger teams often rely on automation:

• Manual Updates: A user can open the contact record and select a stage from the dropdown. Helpful for smaller teams or quick changes.
• Workflows & Triggers: If a contact downloads a high-value resource, the system might set them to MQL. If a deal is created for them, it might bump them to Opportunity.
• Progressive Movement: By default, HubSpot doesn’t automatically move contacts backward (e.g., from Opportunity back to Lead). The logic is that once they’ve advanced to a higher stage, they remain at least that advanced unless someone purposely reverts it.

4. Lifecycle Stages in a Consulting Context

For a typical SaaS funnel, each contact is ultimately expected to buy. For independent consultants:

• You might not have as many direct “subscribers” or “evangelists,” and a smaller portion of your network is “opportunity” material.
• Still, you can adopt these stages if you do have a funnel-like process for prospects who request discovery calls or proposals.
• Or you might set non-buying contacts to “Other.”

The next lesson, Recommended Custom Names for Lifecycle Stages, will detail how you can adapt or repurpose these stages for the many categories of relationships you maintain as a consultant.