HubSpot gives us two powerful tools: Marketing automation and Sales sequences. They might sound like cousins at the same family reunion, but they definitely don’t bring the same dish to the table. Let’s break it down
Branching Logic
| Marketing automation | Sales sequences |
| Supports complex if/then branches, allowing for dynamic automation based on how contacts interact with your emails, website, or other triggers. This feature enables creating personalized experiences and advanced segmentation. | Does not support if/then branching. Sequences are linear, with a fixed set of emails and tasks that execute in order without deviation. This simplicity keeps sales follow-ups straightforward and focused. |
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| Marketing automation | Sales sequences |
| Emails in workflows can be personalized using tokens (e.g., first name, company name) and tailored content based on contact properties or behaviors. | Also supports personalization tokens and allows for personalized content. However, the nature of sales sequences is inherently more personalized, focusing on direct, one-to-one communication. |
| Marketing automation | Sales sequences |
| Can automate tasks like updating contact properties, adding contacts to lists, sending internal notifications, creating tasks for sales reps, and much more. It's suitable for broad marketing automation. | Limited to creating tasks for follow-up actions by sales reps. The focus is on keeping sales representatives engaged with prospects through personalized follow-ups rather than broader automation tasks. |
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| Marketing automation | Sales sequences |
| Offers detailed analytics and reports on the performance of workflows, including email performance, contact engagement, and conversion rates. | Provides reporting on sequence performance, such as open rates, reply rates, and meetings booked, which helps sales reps understand the effectiveness of their outreach. |
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| Marketing automation | Sales sequences |
| Contacts can be automatically unenrolled from workflows based on specific criteria or manual action. | Contacts are automatically unenrolled if they reply to an email or book a meeting, ensuring the sales rep can take over the conversation personally. |
| Marketing automation | Sales sequences |
| Offers flexible timing and delays between actions. You can set specific delays (e.g., wait 3 days, 3 minutes) or conditional delays (e.g., wait until the contact opens the email). | Has predefined delays between each step, typically set by the user (e.g., 3 days between each email). These are simpler and less flexible than workflow delays. You can change the delays for specific people you manually enrol too. So if you know the CEO is going to be away for 2 months, don't send the first email until 2 months later but everyone else can be the other delays. With enterprise, we can do 0 delay = immediate trigger but Pro we cannot. We also cannot do minutes type delays. only days in sequence. |
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| Marketing automation | Sales sequences |
| Can automate communications across multiple channels, including emails, SMS, internal notifications, and integrations with third-party applications (e.g., Slack, Salesforce). | Limited to email and task reminders. The main goal of sequences is to automate email follow-ups and to-dos for sales reps, focusing on direct email communication rather than a multi-channel approach. |
| Marketing automation | Sales sequences |
| Offers a wide range of triggers to start automation. Triggers can be based on contact properties, deal stages, form submissions, page views, list memberships, and more. | Typically started manually by a sales rep when they decide a contact should enter a sequence. While there are some automation features (e.g., enrolling contacts from specific lists), the primary method is manual enrollment, reflecting the hands-on nature of sales outreach. The automatic enrollment into a sequence via workflow requires Enterprise. Via workflow means we can do all sorts of criteria and much more flexible. The automatic enrollment into a sequence via form submission requires Pro. but cannot do via workflow with Pro. it's limited, only from form submission. |
| Marketing automation | Sales sequences |
| Emails sent through workflows can use both custom templates and HubSpot's rich email editor, offering a wide range of design and formatting options. This is useful for branding and visual consistency in marketing emails. | Emails in sequences typically use simpler templates that prioritize plain text or minimal HTML, reflecting the personal touch of a sales email. |
| Marketing automation | Sales sequences |
| You can set specific goals for workflows, such as form submissions, lead conversion, or deal creation. Goals can be used to track the success of the workflow and automatically unenroll contacts once goals are met. | While sequences track basic metrics like open rates, click rates, and replies, they do not have advanced goal-setting features. |
| Marketing automation | Sales sequences |
| Can automate internal processes like assigning leads to sales reps, updating deal stages, sending internal notifications, and more. | Focus on external communication with prospects. While sequences can remind sales reps of follow-up tasks, they are not designed to automate complex internal processes. |
In short, Marketing automation shines when you need scale. Workflows handle broad campaigns, branching logic, and A/B testing with plenty of design flexibility, from plain text to polished, image-rich emails.
On the flip side, Sales sequences keep things simple and personal. They follow a straight-line path for one-to-one outreach. Emails are typically plain, natural, and focused on conversation rather than design flourishes.