What’s the difference between a sequence and a workflow in HubSpot?

🔄 Sequences: Personalized Sales Automation

Sequences are designed for sales teams to manage personalized, multi-step outreach to prospects. These are typically used for:

• Following up after a sales call or demo

• Reaching out to new leads with a series of emails and tasks

• Sending reminders or check-ins over a set period

Key Characteristics:

• Triggered manually by a sales rep for one or multiple contacts

• Includes a mix of automated emails and manual tasks

• Stops automatically when a contact replies or schedules a meeting

• Ideal for prospecting and lead nurturing in the sales cycle

⚙️ Workflows: Automated Marketing & Operational Processes

Workflows are more robust automation tools used across marketing, sales, and operations to drive efficiency and engagement at scale. Common use cases include:

• Nurturing leads with behavior-based email campaigns

• Automatically updating contact or deal properties

• Assigning leads to team members

• Sending internal notifications or alerts

• Managing ticket or deal pipelines

Key Characteristics:

• Triggered automatically based on behaviors, data changes, or time-based rules

• Can include multiple actions: emails, property updates, task assignments, branching logic

• Ideal for scalable marketing automation and internal operations

🧠 Quick Comparison