Copying in data management is the action of replicating the value of one property into another. The idea behind this action is to be able to feed an object (ex “Company”) with the value of another object associated with it (ex “Contact”). In HubSpot you can copy any type of property from single-line text to dropdown menu.
The copying needs in HubSpot are, in my opinion, extremely situational because most of the time you will be able to achieve your targeting using the properties of other objects related to your contact.
However, this problem seems to come up often enough in the various HubSpot support forums that I frequent to justify this tutorial! Let's see together how to get around this need for copy in a simpler way, then, the cases where copying is necessary before ending with the presentation of the copying workflow.
Summary
When to use a Copy Workflow
When not to copy
If you want to segment your contact base by properties related to their associated companies or transactions.
HubSpot allows you to create lists using the associated object filters (explanations below). Create duplicate properties and copy workflows for this specific purpose affects negatively the clarity of your portal and will be confusing.
Most of the time, this feature will be enough to deal with your automation needs such as qualification workflows, lifecycle automation or trigger nurturing workflows for instance.
When to copy
The only reasons that come to my mind are:
- When your portal is integrated with third-party services that only support property mapping of a particular object. In this case you might want to copy the value of the “mapped” property into the object that makes the most sense for your organization.
- When using a HubSpot meeting form that only allows contact properties to be collected.
- When using a HubSpot Pop Up form that only retrieves contact properties. (Get to learn more about HubSpot forms.)
- When wanting to convert a property type into another (for instance, during the creation of an automated lead assignment workflow)
Prerequisites
To complete this workflow you will need:
- At least one Pro HubSpot offer: Marketing/Sales/Operations/Services (required for creating Workflows).
- An original property
- A destination property
To illustrate this workflow, we are going to copy a “Drop-down menu” property from Contact to Company.
Preparations
Define your copying needs
Before starting to create the Workflow, try to make a list with the criteria wishing to be copied and decide if a copy workflow is necessary or if the list is sufficient for the action you want to perform.
If you want to copy a company property to a contact, create a contact list.
Create a filter based on associated company property.
Enter the desired filtering criteria.
Create the destination property
If targeting by associated objects is not sufficient for your project, you will have to create a copy workflow and therefore a copy of the property to copy.
To do this, create a property of the destination object. (If you want to copy the value of a property from Contact to Company, create a company property. Pay attention to the following points
- Select the correct object
- Name it in a recognizable way
- Choose the same type of property (in our case drop-down menu)
- If applicable, enter the exact same property values as the original property.
Workflow
Create the Workflow
When creating a workflow, you will be able to define its “nature” via three options:
- From scratch or from a template
- The type of workflow (based on contacts, companies, deals etc.)
- The starting conditions (empty Workflow, from a date, a date property etc.)
In the case of our Workflow, we will choose: From scratch, based on *The type of object whose property you want to copy* starting from an empty workflow.
Enrollment Triggers
The only enrollment trigger is that the original value is known.
It is important to activate re-enrollment to guarantee a good copy of the latest value.
Workflow Building
The workflow is based on a single step. Copy the property of one object to another.
To do this add a step and choose “Copy a property value”
You can see that HubSpot natively offers to copy a company property to a contact property. This option allows you to “go faster” but only works one way.
Next, set the copy options:
- Select the property to copy
- Select destination object type
- Choose if the copy will apply to all associated objects or just the primary one
- Select your destination property
Save the action and voila, your copy workflow is complete.
Publishing
Now that everything is set up, click Publish. A verification window will open and you will be asked to choose between two publishing options.
This workflow can be retroactive depending on whether you want to copy all the values of this property that already exist on your portal.
Make your choice and select the corresponding option.
Endnotes
If you want to find all the workflows created and presented by HS Simple, do not hesitate to request your free access to the workflow box. A private web page listing all the workflows requested by the community with a video explanation and a simple action plan in the form of a “to-do list”.
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