Overview of HubSpot Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages help you categorize your contacts based on where they are in your marketing and admissions processes. Using the Lifecycle Stage property allows you to identify where a specific contact or household is in your pipeline, ensuring smoother handoffs between marketing and admissions teams.

While HubSpot provides default lifecycle stages, customizing them to suit your school’s needs can greatly enhance your process. It’s important to note that in most cases, the contact will represent a parent or guardian, as they are typically the primary decision-makers and the ones engaging with your school. However, in some cases—particularly for students in higher grade levels—the contact may represent the student themselves if they are more actively engaged in the decision-making process.

For most schools, we recommend the following custom Lifecycle Stages:

• Suspect: A family (typically a parent or guardian) or student whose activity suggests a potential match with your school but who has not directly engaged in outreach yet. This could include contacts acquired through list buys, integrations, or other third-party sources.
• Prospect: A parent (or occasionally a student) who has engaged passively with your marketing materials, such as reading a blog post, downloading a resource, or attending a fair. This indicates that they are exploring school options but have not yet expressed direct interest in your school specifically.
• Inquiry: A parent or student who has taken a clear, intentional step to engage with your school by submitting an inquiry form, requesting to speak with the admissions office, or scheduling a tour or interview. This stage reflects a stronger interest and readiness for personalized follow-up.
• Admissions Qualified Inquiry (AQI): A prospective family or student who has inquired about the school and whose interest and initial engagement have been reviewed by the admissions team. While they have not yet submitted an application, they are deemed promising enough to warrant personalized follow-up and further engagement. These leads have not been disqualified and are considered worth stewarding through the next steps in the admissions process. 
• Applicant: A prospective family or student who has actively entered the admissions process by submitting an application, attending an interview, or completing other aspects of the admissions process. This stage represents families who are seriously considering enrolling at your school.
• Enrolled: A family who has completed the enrollment process and whose student has been accepted and/or is actively attending your school.
• Advocate: A current or former family who actively supports your school within their community by offering testimonials, referrals, or participating in promotional events. Advocates help expand your reach and bring in new inquiries.
• Other: A contact that does not fit into the above categories. This may include alumni, donors, community partners, or other individuals associated with your school in a variety of capacities.

For detailed guidance on how to customize the Lifecycle Stage property in HubSpot, please refer to this HubSpot Knowledge Base article.