Why it’s useful:
- Keeps your CRM clean and up-to-date.
- Saves time by reducing repetitive manual tasks or may get missed.
- Prevents contacts from accidentally staying in email sequences or marketing lists.
The challenge:
Out-of-office replies often signal that a contact is no longer active, but there’s no native HubSpot feature to handle them automatically. Without a process, sales and marketing teams can miss these updates, sending irrelevant emails and cluttering the CRM.
How to implement it:
- Create a workflow:
- Trigger type: Manually triggered only.
- Actions:
- Create a note on the contact (audit trail)
- Remove from all sequences
- Opt out of marketing emails
- Optionally, set as non-marketing contact
- Create a note on the contact (audit trail)
2. Add the workflow to your contact sidebar:
- Open any contact record.
- Go to the Customize button find the Record view you would like to edit. click Add card, under Card library choose Enroll in workflow, → select the workflow.
- Trigger type: Manually triggered only.
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- When you receive an out-of-office that indicates the contact has left, open their record and click the manual opt-out button. Done in seconds.
- When you receive an out-of-office that indicates the contact has left, open their record and click the manual opt-out button. Done in seconds.
Result:
- A quick, consistent process for handling out-of-office replies.
- Keeps your CRM tidy and ensures no contact is mistakenly left in sequences.
- Creates a clear audit trail for accountability.
By Carl Griffiths
