Cleaning up a marketing automation account

Clean up an account by identifying what still serves a purpose, checking what depends on it, and assigning an owner to each decision. Low activity makes an asset worth reviewing, not safe to delete.

Inventory the account

List the forms, lists or segments, workflows, emails and connected apps used by current and recurring campaigns. Include automations built inside other tools, such as a form’s simple workflow. For each asset, record its purpose, owner, current state, last meaningful use, next expected use and known connections.

Give uncertain items an investigation owner and next step.

In HubSpot, View forms permissions let you view forms and their submission data; Edit forms permissions let you edit, clone or delete them. The workflows tool requires Super Admin or Workflows permissions, and deleting a workflow requires Super Admin or workflow Delete permissions.

Check dependencies before changing anything

Use a review period that fits the campaign cycle. A seasonal form or workflow may be quiet for months and still be needed for its next run. Check scheduled sends, external form placements, audiences, reports and connected systems as well as recent activity.

HubSpot’s Unused workflow view includes workflows that are off or have executed no actions in 90 days, but excludes workflows referenced by a list or another workflow.

These views help find candidates; they cannot establish future business need. A segment’s Used in tab can help trace where it is referenced. Check external placements and integrations separately.

HubSpot's workflow index separates work by state: a Needs review tab lists workflows that encountered errors in the last 7 days, and a Deleted tab lists those deleted in the past 90 days. Workflows that reference a restricted property display as view-only for users with View only permissions and are greyed out for users with no access to those properties.

Key HubSpot Automation Metrics

Agree on the route that should remain

If suspected duplicate automations may overlap, confirm with the campaign owner which route should remain and record the decision.

Segment edits differ by type. Changing an active segment's filters determines which records are automatically added or removed from then on; changing a static segment's filters triggers a one-time reprocess that adds and removes records once. A segment's Used in tab shows where it is referenced, and its Details tab records the creator, dates and Segment IDs.

Retire assets in a controlled order

Start by deciding what replaces each asset and resolving its dependencies. Then, as a practical sequence, stop new submissions through forms, review and stop workflows after checking enrolled records and scheduled actions, retire segments once their references are resolved, and delete assets only after preserving needed evidence and confirming dependencies are clear.

The available controls have different effects. In HubSpot, unpublishing a form stops new submissions while existing submissions and analytics remain available; it also turns off that form’s simple workflows. Some HubSpot page, CTA and active-workflow uses must be removed first.

Deleted segments can be restored within 90 days. A deleted workflow can be restored within 90 days only as a new inactive workflow, without its former history, data or versions.

Turning a HubSpot workflow off stops new enrolments; records already in it remain enrolled, but actions other than delays will not execute. Review affected records before stopping or restarting it.

HubSpot's Account Cleanup (BETA) can be configured, in accounts that opt in, to automatically delete workflows that are turned off and have not been edited in over 6 months. A workflow used in another active process or automation cannot be deleted until its connections are removed, and one created from another tool, such as a form's simple workflow, must be deleted in that tool's editor.

Turning a workflow off does not pause enrolled records at a step; pause dates are the control for preventing actions on a particular day. A workflow can also be scheduled to turn off automatically on a chosen date and time, and turning one off manually requires Publish or Super Admin permissions.

An unpublished form can be republished at any time. The forms table shows Publish Status as Published or Draft, and Last Updated by names the user who most recently edited, saved or unpublished the form.

Retiring an asset is not the same as destroying the personal information it collected. Under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the OAIC’s guidance expects entities to take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information once it is no longer needed, unless an exception applies. Separately, from 11 December 2024, APP 11.3 provides that reasonable steps for securing personal information include technical and organisational measures.

HubSpot Asset States and Actions

Leave an operating record

Keep a register of live and retired assets, decisions, unresolved dependencies, owners and review dates.

A form's Last Updated by column names the user who most recently edited, saved or unpublished the form; segment details show the creating user, creation date and last updated date. Edit Segment permissions are needed to edit, delete or restore segments, and Edit forms permissions to clone or delete forms.