HubSpot Alert: Sunsetting "Became a" Lifecycle Stage Properties Nov. 20, 2024

HUBSPOT ALERT! Don't ignore this message that you may be seeing in your HubSpot portal: "Legacy contact properties will begin to be deprecated starting Nov. 20, 2024." Click in and the underlying message is chilling. HubSpot is sunsetting the "Became a" Lifecycle Stage properties and replacing them with the "Date Entered" Lifecycle Stage properties. It's a big deal because in all HubSpot portals, before August, 2024, the "Became a" properties control so much within HubSpot (reporting, notifications, workflows, views, and more). Orange Marketing has investigated and is providing step-by-step instructions to avoid calamity after sunset. 

Here is a video with an overview of the changes and issues:

And, here is a summary of the changes and the issues. 

After chatting with HubSpot Support, we were told that even though the history of the "Became a" properties is being transferred to the "Date Entered" properties, the old properties will no longer be updated after the deprecation date. They pointed us to this Dev Document. which states, "There is no need to merge the new data with the old. Integrations only need to switch over to the new v2 properties. The new properties were backfilled and should offer historical values. Now that there is a replacement set of properties for the legacy properties, integrators will need to migrate to the new v2 properties by November 20th, 2024."

This regular Knowledge document provides another piece of the puzzle: any accounts created on or after August 1, 2024, only use the new properties. We had noticed the disappearance of the legacy properties in new accounts but didn't stop to examine what was happening.  By the way, the new properties are great and allow some interesting reporting not available before. 

However, on Nov. 20, 2024, Anything using the old properties will cease to work properly (in kind of a slow mess that might take a few weeks to notice). In a robust implementation of HubSpot for an SMB B2B customer of ours, check out this screenshot of how many places these properties are being used.

Transitioning this company to the "Date Entered" properties will be quite a project. Orange Marketing will do this for them, and we estimate it will take about eight hours to do properly with appropriate QA.

Here is a step-by-step summary of the change.

1. Introduction

• Legacy contact properties in HubSpot will be deprecated starting November 20th, 2024.
• Legacy properties will be replaced with lifecycle stage properties called "date entered."

2. Importance of Lifecycle Stage Properties

• Lifecycle stage properties are crucial for marketers as they provide essential information.
• They are used in graphs to track metrics like MQLs per month and opportunity contact records per month.
• Helps in marketing attribution by determining the sequence of MQL, SQL, Opportunity, and Became a Customer dates.

3. Changes and Implications

• Historical data in legacy properties will remain, but new data will be recorded in the new properties.
• Users must manually migrate data to the new properties; integrations must switch to the new v2 properties.

4. Management in HubSpot

• For HubSpot users, especially in managing large B2B HubSpots, the transition is a significant task.
• Users need to identify where legacy properties are being used (lists, views, workflows, reports, etc.) and manually change them to the new "date entered" properties.

5. Implementation Steps

• Access the property view in HubSpot and search for the legacy properties "Became" to identify their usage.
• Update workflows, reports, and other instances where the legacy properties are being used to replace them with "Date Entered" properties

6. Preparation and Deadline

• Users must complete the migration before November 20th, especially in more complex  HubSpots where the legacy properties are extensively used for marketing reporting and operations activities.

7. Conclusion

• It is essential to proactively address the upcoming changes in HubSpot to avoid any last-minute rush.
• Seeking assistance and planning the migration process ahead of time can help in a seamless transition to the new lifecycle stage properties.

If you would like Orange Marketing to meet with you and show you your risk profile for these sunsetting properties in your HubSpot, just book a quick meeting. We would be happy to walk you through the legacy properties and what will be required to transition to the new properties.