The Custom Object: A Better Way to Track Your Funnel in HubSpot

First off, we have to give credit where credit’s due: our friends at CS2 inspired us to take a closer look at how to build a funnel tracking model in HubSpot using a custom object. And let us tell you, it’s a game-changer.

Think of it like this: your funnel model is your business’s lifeline. Leads come in, move through each stage, and eventually turn into paying customers. (It almost never works so linearly, but no model is perfect)

If your funnel data is messy or hard to trust, good luck figuring out what’s actually happening. That’s where a custom object comes in. 

Let’s break it all down.

What’s a custom object?

In Hubspot’s own words, “objects represent business relationships and processes.” Examples of standard objects that you’ll probably recognize are Contacts, Companies, and Deals. When you enter the information of an individual person or company into Hubspot, those entities are created as new records under each respective object. Each record is then broken down further by properties, or singular data points. Object records can be associated to each other in 1-1 or 1-Many relationships.

The problem

Funnel tracking models are complicated. They often pull data from multiple object types as contacts move through your GTM process, setting Status or Stage data and date-stamping stage movement. Hubspot has traditionally tracked the funnel with a property on the Contact and Company objects called Lifecycle Stage. This property is read-only and very rigid. For example, lifecycle stages cannot be moved backward without some automated finagling.

But the real-life buying process is messy and meandering - buyers typically do not move neatly through your lifecycle stages. They join a webinar or click an ad, express interest and then disappear for a year and a half, showing up again out of the blue and submitting a Demo Request form, forgetting that they’d already vaguely evaluated your platform a long time ago. They say they have a healthy budget, then tell you they don’t, but they will next year. They unsubscribe from all of your emails and tell you to never contact them again, then you meet them randomly at a conference and they’re ready to buy.

The bottom line is that the buying process isn’t really a nice, neat funnel shape at all. It’s a series of overlapping spiderwebs that try to make sense of. And the best way to do that is with a custom object dedicated to funnel tracking in your CRM.

All your funnel data in one place

Usually, funnel tracking data is spread across multiple places in HubSpot, like Contacts, Deals, and that one spreadsheet someone refuses to give up. With a custom object, you can bring everything together in one place and keep it there forever.

Here’s why that matters:

• Everyone’s looking at the same thing. Sales, marketing, and leadership don’t have to argue over which report is “right.”

• You get a clearer picture of how people are moving through your funnel without having to stitch data together from five different sources.

• The data doesn’t compete with itself. One contact can be associated with multiple funnel journeys, so you don’t have to worry about data being overwritten (more on this below)

When everything’s unified, it’s easier to figure out what each journey through the funnel means, instead of spending more time tracking down the data.

Keeping track of contacts who take the scenic route

Not everyone moves through the funnel in a straight line. Some people might drop off, then re-engage months later. Normally, that means their recent lifecycle stage and date stamps get overwritten, and you lose a piece of historical data. Now your historical counts and conversion rates are wrong.

With a custom object, each journey through the funnel gets its own record. That means:

• You can see the full story of how someone moved through your funnel multiple times.

• You don’t lose important data about what happened.

• You can compare and contrast lifecycle journeys against each other.

Why you should care

When your funnel data is clean, clear, and all in one place, it’s easier to make good decisions. You can spot problems in your funnel faster, improve funnel efficiency, and, ultimately, drive more business.

So, if you’ve ever struggled to understand what’s really happening in your funnel, a custom object might just be the solution you didn’t know you needed. And if you want help setting it up, you know where to find us.