How to Set Up Lifecycle Stages in HubSpot and Why They Matter ?

Setting Up Lifecycle Stages in HubSpot: What They Are and Why They Matter

• Personalize outreach
• Nurture leads properly
• Align marketing and sales
• Report accurately on funnel health

That’s where lifecycle stages come in.

In HubSpot, lifecycle stages let you define where a contact is in their journey and use that insight to automate, segment, and scale.

In this post, you’ll learn:

• What lifecycle stages are and how HubSpot uses them
• How to set them up correctly
• When and how to update them
• Why they’re critical to your marketing and sales funnel
• Best practices to avoid messy CRM data

How to Set Up Lifecycle Stages in HubSpot

Step 1: Understand the Property

In HubSpot, Lifecycle Stage is a default contact property.

You can view or edit it by:

• Going to a contact record
• Searching for the “Lifecycle Stage” field
• Manually updating it — or automating it via forms, workflows, or integrations

This field is readable and writable — but it doesn’t auto-update unless you set logic.

Step 2: Automate Stage Updates with Workflows

To prevent manual errors, use Workflows to update lifecycle stages based on:

Form submissions

• “Contact Us” = Lead
• “Request a Demo” = SQL
• “Free Trial Signup” = MQL

Lead scoring

• HubSpot score > 60 = MQL
• Score > 80 and visited pricing = SQL

Deal creation

• If a deal is created → change to Opportunity

Closed deal

• If deal = Closed-Won → change to Customer

Workflows ensure that lifecycle stage data is accurate, up to date, and actionable.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Not updating lifecycle stages automatically (leads get stuck)
• Treating every contact as a lead (no segmentation)
• Confusing lifecycle stage with lead status (they’re not the same!)
• Skipping stages or skipping documentation

Lifecycle = relationship status. Lead Status = sales process progress.

Bonus Tip: Sync Lifecycle Stage Across Objects

If you’re using companies, deals, or custom objects, use workflows to sync lifecycle stages from

• Contact → Company
• Contact → Deal (and vice versa)

This creates consistency in how accounts are handled and measured.

Final Thoughts

Lifecycle stages are the backbone of your HubSpot CRM strategy.

They help you:

• Align your team
• Trigger the right campaigns
• Clean your data
• Measure what matters

The best part? Once it’s set up properly, it runs in the background giving your marketing and sales engine the structure it needs to grow.