---
title: What is a lifecycle stage?
description: Knowing where a contact is in your processes, Lifecycle Stage, allows you to understand how to handle them, & know which part of the process they are.
---

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# [What is a lifecycle stage?](https://blog.hellomethod.co.uk/hubspot/whats-a-lifecycle-stage)

 Written by [James Roberts](https://blog.hellomethod.co.uk/hubspot/author/james-roberts) | August 16

All your contacts have a lifecycle stage applied to them (or they at least should).

Knowing where a specific contact is in your processes, allows you to understand better how to handle them, and know which part of the process they are.

Imagine a potential lead, who has actively engaged with you and could be in a position to buy, but is not categorised, they could fall by the way side.

### What are the lifecycle stages?

The HubSpot default Lifecycle Stage property are listed below:

- **Subscriber:** contacts who know of your business and have opted in to hear more from your team. Typically a visitor that has signed up for your blog.
- **Lead:** contacts who have shown sales readiness beyond being a subscriber. An example of a lead is a contact who signs up for a content offer from your business.
- **Marketing Qualified Lead:** contacts who have engaged with the team's marketing efforts, but are still not ready to receive a sales call. An example of a MQL is a contact who respond to a specific form in a marketing campaign.
- **Sales Qualified Lead:** contacts who have indicated through their actions that they are ready for a direct sales follow up. An example of a SQL is a contact who submits a question about your product through a contact form.
- **Opportunity:** contacts who are real sales opportunities.
- **Customer:** contacts with closed deals.
- **Evangelist:** customers who advocate for your business and whose networks may be leveraged for further leads.
- **Other:** a wildcard stage that can be used when a contact does not fit any of the above stages.

The lifecycle stage of a contact or company can be changed by [automatic syncing](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/articles/kcs_article/contacts/how-can-i-manage-the-automatic-syncing-of-lifecycle-stages-between-associated-records) and therefore cannot be edited. Learn how to [create a custom lifecycle stage property](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/articles/kcs_article/contacts/how-do-i-create-a-custom-lifecycle-stage-property).

### How do I update the Lifecycle stage property?

To keep the Lifecycle stage property updated, you can do the following:

- [Manually update the Lifecycle stage property for your contact](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/articles/kcs_article/contacts/how-do-i-manually-edit-a-property-for-a-particular-contact)
- [Import](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/articles/kcs_article/contacts/import-contacts-companies-deals-tickets-products) to update the Lifecycle stage property for a list of contacts
- [Use Set a property value action in a workflow](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/articles/kcs_article/workflows/choose-actions-in-a-workflow#set-a-property-value) (Professional or Enterprise accounts only)
- [Use a hidden form field](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/articles/kcs_article/forms/pass-contact-property-values-with-hidden-form-fields) (Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise only)

Please note: a contact's [lifecycle stage](https://www.hellomethod.co.uk/services/digital-marketing-and-lead-generation/) is only meant to progress forward, down the funnel. Imports, workflows, and form fields can only set the default Lifecycle Stage property to a lifecycle stage down the funnel. You can only set a lifecycle stage backwards [manually](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/articles/kcs_article/contacts/how-do-i-manually-edit-a-property-for-a-particular-contact), or in a workflow by [clearing the Lifecycle stage property](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/articles/kcs_article/workflows/choose-actions-in-a-workflow#clear-a-property-value) prior to setting the new value.

More on Lifecycle Stages can be found - [https://knowledge.hubspot.com/articles/kcs_article/contacts/use-lifecycle-stages](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/articles/kcs_article/contacts/use-lifecycle-stages)

[View full post](https://blog.hellomethod.co.uk/hubspot/whats-a-lifecycle-stage)

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