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HubSpot Tasks and Task Queues: Managing Sales Activity at Scale
Every revenue team eventually hits the same wall: reps have too many follow-ups to track, too many deals moving at once, and not enough structure to keep it all from falling through the cracks. The result is missed callbacks, stale opportunities, and a pipeline that looks healthy in dashboards but quietly bleeds out in reality.
HubSpot Tasks are the operational backbone that prevents this. When used well, they transform a rep's day from reactive firefighting into a structured, prioritized workflow. When combined with Task Queues, automation, and thoughtful workflow design, they become one of the most powerful levers RevOps teams have for driving consistent execution across an entire sales org.
This guide covers everything you need to know about HubSpot Tasks and Task Queues: how they work, how to create them manually and through automation, how to build queues that keep reps focused, and how to measure whether any of it is actually working. Whether you're a solo rep trying to stay organized or a RevOps leader designing systems for a 50-person team, there's something here for you.
Understanding HubSpot Task Types and Properties
Before you can build effective task workflows, you need to understand what a task actually is inside HubSpot -- and what data it carries.
Task Types
HubSpot supports three core task types, each designed for a specific kind of sales activity:
| Task Type | Icon | Best Used For |
|---|---|---|
| To-do | Checkmark | General follow-ups, internal actions, research, CRM updates, sending proposals |
| Call | Phone | Outbound calls, scheduled callbacks, discovery calls, check-ins |
| Envelope | Follow-up emails, sending resources, re-engagement outreach |
The task type matters more than you might think. It determines the default action when a rep clicks into a task from a queue, and it shapes how you can filter and report on activity later. If your team is trying to understand how much time reps spend on calls versus email follow-ups, getting the type right at creation is essential.
Key Task Properties
Every HubSpot task carries a set of properties that control its behavior, visibility, and association:
| Property | Description | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Title | The task name displayed in lists and queues | Should be specific and actionable ("Follow up on pricing objection" not "Follow up") |
| Due Date | When the task should be completed | Drives overdue tracking and prioritization |
| Priority | None, Low, Medium, or High | Enables filtering and sorting in queues |
| Assigned To | The HubSpot user responsible | Controls who sees it and who's accountable |
| Associated Records | Linked contacts, companies, deals, or tickets | Gives reps full context without leaving the task |
| Task Queue | Which queue the task belongs to (if any) | Determines how reps work through tasks in sequence |
| Notes | Free-text field for context | Critical for automated tasks where reps need background |
The biggest mistake teams make with tasks is generic naming. "Follow up with lead" tells a rep nothing. "Call back -- asked about enterprise pricing on 2/14" tells them exactly what to do and why. This matters even more when tasks are created by automation, where you can use personalization tokens to pull in dynamic context from CRM data.
Creating Tasks Manually
Manual task creation is straightforward but worth doing deliberately. There are several places in HubSpot where you can create a task:
From the Tasks Dashboard
Navigate to Sales > Tasks and click Create task. This is the most flexible method -- you can set all properties, associate multiple records, and assign to any user. Best for managers creating tasks on behalf of their team or for batch task creation.
From a Contact, Company, or Deal Record
On any CRM record, scroll to the task panel or click the + icon in the left sidebar and select Task. The record association is automatically set. This is the fastest method for reps who are already working a record and want to schedule a follow-up.
From the CRM Board View
In pipeline board views, you can create tasks directly from deal cards. This keeps reps focused on pipeline movement without switching contexts.
Bulk Task Creation
Select multiple records from any list or index view, then use the Create tasks bulk action. Ideal for assigning follow-ups after importing a list or after a marketing event.
Manual tasks are necessary and fine for one-off situations. But if your reps are spending significant time each day creating their own tasks, that's a signal you need automation -- which is where the real power of HubSpot's task system emerges.
Automating Tasks with HubSpot Workflows
The real leverage with HubSpot Tasks comes from workflow automation. Instead of relying on reps to remember every follow-up, you build systems that generate the right task, for the right rep, at the right time -- automatically.
Common Workflow-Triggered Task Scenarios
| Trigger | Automated Task | Why It Works |
|---|---|---|
| New lead scores above threshold | Call task assigned to owner, due in 5 minutes | Drives speed-to-lead response times |
| Deal moves to "Proposal Sent" | Follow-up task due in 3 days | Prevents proposals from going cold |
| Contact opens email 3+ times | Call task with "High intent -- opened proposal 3x" note | Capitalizes on event-driven engagement signals |
| No activity on deal for 14 days | Re-engagement task for deal owner | Catches stalling deals before they die |
| Customer renewal date in 60 days | Renewal outreach task for CSM | Systematizes retention workflows |
| Product usage milestone reached | Expansion conversation task | Enables PQL-driven follow-up |
Best Practices for Workflow-Created Tasks
Automation is only as good as its design. Poorly configured workflow tasks create noise that reps learn to ignore. Here's how to get it right:
- Always include context in the task body. Use personalization tokens to pull in the lead's company name, the action they took, or the deal value. A task that says "Call John at Acme -- downloaded enterprise pricing guide yesterday" gets acted on. A task that says "New lead follow-up" gets snoozed.
- Set realistic due dates. Not everything is urgent. Hot inbound leads need 5-minute SLAs. A deal that's been inactive for two weeks can have a task due tomorrow. Calibrate urgency to match the actual situation.
- Use priority levels consistently. Establish org-wide conventions: High = revenue-impacting action needed today. Medium = should happen this week. Low = important but not time-sensitive. Without conventions, priority becomes meaningless.
- Assign to the record owner, not a specific user. Using the "record owner" option in workflows means your automation scales with team changes. When a rep leaves and their records get reassigned, the tasks follow automatically.
- Add suppression logic. Before creating a task, add workflow conditions that check whether a similar task already exists or whether the rep has already completed the desired action. Task flooding is the fastest way to kill adoption.
Workflow-triggered tasks are one piece of a larger automation architecture. If you're also using enrichment tools, sequencers, and scoring models, you need all these systems coordinated in a single flow to avoid conflicting or duplicate outreach. The task layer should be informed by your lead scoring and prioritization system so reps are always working the highest-value activities first.
Task Queues: The Key to Focused Productivity
Creating tasks is only half the equation. The other half is how reps actually work through them. This is where Task Queues transform daily sales execution.
What Are Task Queues?
A Task Queue is an ordered list of tasks that a rep can work through sequentially, one at a time, without returning to a list view between each action. Think of it like a playlist for sales activities: the rep hits "Start queue," completes the first task, and is immediately served the next one.
This eliminates the cognitive overhead of deciding what to do next, reduces context-switching, and keeps reps in a state of focused execution rather than constant prioritization.
Setting Up Effective Task Queues
Navigate to Task Queues
Go to Sales > Tasks, then click the Queues tab. Click Create queue to build a new one. Each rep can create personal queues, and admins can create shared queues visible to the entire team.
Design Queues Around Activity Types
The most effective queue structure mirrors how reps naturally batch their work. Common queue designs include: "Morning Calls" (all call tasks due today), "Email Follow-Ups" (all email tasks), "Hot Leads" (high-priority tasks from inbound), and "Pipeline Hygiene" (deal update and CRM maintenance tasks).
Add Tasks to Queues
Tasks can be added to queues manually from the task list, automatically via workflows (by specifying the queue in the "Create task" action), or through bulk selection. You can also drag and reorder tasks within a queue to control the sequence.
Start the Queue
Click Start [X] tasks to enter queue mode. HubSpot opens the associated record for the first task, displays the task details in a sidebar, and provides action buttons to complete, skip, or reschedule. When a task is completed, the next one loads automatically.
Queue Design Patterns That Work
| Queue Name | What Goes In It | When to Work It |
|---|---|---|
| Speed-to-Lead | Hot inbound tasks, high-score leads, demo requests | Continuously throughout the day, first priority |
| Outbound Call Block | All call-type tasks, sorted by priority | Dedicated 2-hour calling blocks |
| Email Follow-Ups | Email-type tasks, post-meeting follow-ups, resource sends | Morning and end-of-day batches |
| Deal Progression | Tasks tied to open deals, proposal follow-ups, next steps | Daily pipeline review |
| CRM Cleanup | Data updates, record merges, property corrections | Friday afternoon maintenance windows |
The biggest value of task queues isn't organizational -- it's behavioral. Reps who work in queue mode complete 30-40% more tasks per hour than reps who cherry-pick from a list. The sequential flow removes the decision fatigue that comes from staring at a long task list and trying to figure out what matters most. If your team isn't using queues yet, this is likely the single highest-impact change you can make to daily execution.
Task Completion Tracking and Performance Metrics
Creating tasks and building queues is meaningless if you're not measuring execution. HubSpot provides several ways to track task performance, and layering in the right metrics gives managers real visibility into rep activity and process health.
Built-In Task Reports
HubSpot's reporting tools let you build dashboards around task completion. The most valuable reports include:
- Tasks completed by rep (daily/weekly): The baseline activity metric. Not all tasks are equal, but consistent completion is a hygiene indicator.
- Overdue tasks by rep: Reveals who's falling behind and where processes are creating more tasks than reps can handle.
- Task completion rate by type: Shows whether reps are completing calls at the same rate as emails, which can highlight coaching opportunities or process issues.
- Average time to complete (from creation to completion): Measures responsiveness. For workflow-triggered tasks, this is essentially your speed-to-action metric.
- Tasks created vs. completed over time: The trend line matters. If created tasks consistently outpace completed tasks, you have a growing backlog problem that will eventually collapse.
Connecting Tasks to Revenue Outcomes
Activity metrics alone don't tell you much. The real insight comes from correlating task execution with pipeline and revenue outcomes:
- Do deals where all tasks are completed on time close at higher rates? Almost always yes. Quantifying this gives you the argument for task discipline.
- What's the conversion rate for leads where the first call task is completed within 5 minutes? This directly ties to your speed-to-lead targets.
- How does task completion correlate with deal velocity? Deals with consistent task execution typically move through stages faster.
None of these reports work if your CRM data is unreliable. Task associations need to be accurate, deal stages need to reflect reality, and reps need to actually complete (not just delete) tasks. Investing in CRM hygiene is a prerequisite for meaningful task analytics. If your data is messy, start there before building dashboards.
Using AI to Level Up Task Management
The next evolution of task management is AI-driven prioritization and creation. Rather than relying solely on static workflow rules, modern RevOps teams are using AI tools to dynamically score which tasks should be created, when, and for whom. Platforms like Octave can help orchestrate these intelligent workflows by connecting your CRM data, enrichment sources, and engagement signals into a unified system that generates tasks based on real-time intent and priority -- not just static triggers.
If you're evaluating tools to support this, consider how they integrate with your existing lead scoring and qualification stack to ensure tasks reflect actual buyer readiness, not just form fills.
Scaling Task Management for Growing Teams
What works for a 5-person sales team breaks at 25. Here's how to scale your task architecture as the org grows:
Standardize Task Naming Conventions
Establish a template: [Action] - [Context] - [Source]. For example: "Call - Demo request from pricing page - Inbound" or "Email - Send case study - Outbound sequence." This makes filtering, reporting, and queue building dramatically easier.
Build Queue Templates by Role
Don't make every rep build their own queues from scratch. Create standard queue structures by role (SDR, AE, CSM) and onboard new hires with them pre-built. This accelerates ramp and ensures consistency.
Implement Task SLAs
Define maximum acceptable times between task creation and completion for each task category. Hot inbound leads: 5 minutes. Deal follow-ups: 24 hours. CRM updates: 48 hours. Then build reports that flag SLA violations so managers can intervene early.
Audit and Prune Workflow-Created Tasks
Every quarter, review which workflows are creating tasks and assess completion rates for each. If a workflow-created task type has less than 50% completion, either the task isn't valuable (kill it), the volume is too high (add suppression), or the instructions aren't clear (rewrite the task body). Automation that creates tasks nobody acts on is worse than no automation at all.
Centralize with an Orchestration Layer
As your stack grows beyond HubSpot -- adding enrichment tools, sequencers, intent data, and AI scoring -- the logic for when and how tasks get created becomes too complex for native HubSpot workflows alone. This is where an orchestration platform like Octave becomes critical, letting you manage cross-system logic in one place rather than maintaining brittle chains of Zaps and workflow branches.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Even well-intentioned task systems fail when teams make these errors:
- Task flooding: Creating too many automated tasks overwhelms reps and teaches them to ignore the system entirely. Every workflow that creates a task should have a clear justification and suppression logic.
- Vague task titles: "Follow up" and "Check in" are not actionable. If a rep has to open the associated record and investigate before knowing what to do, the task has failed its purpose.
- No queue discipline: Having queues but not using queue mode defeats the purpose. Build the habit through team-wide adoption, not individual choice.
- Ignoring overdue tasks: A growing overdue count is a leading indicator of process failure. Treat it like a flashing warning light, not background noise.
- Not connecting tasks to outcomes: If you can't tie task execution to pipeline velocity or conversion rates, you're managing activity instead of results. Build the reports that connect the dots.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many tasks should a rep have per day?
There's no universal number, but most high-performing SDRs complete 40-60 tasks per day, while AEs typically manage 15-25. The right number depends on task complexity, average handle time, and how much non-task work (meetings, admin) fills the day. If reps consistently can't complete their daily tasks, you either have too many automated tasks or your expectations need recalibrating.
Can I assign tasks to multiple users?
HubSpot tasks can only be assigned to one owner. If multiple people need to act on the same event, create separate tasks for each person via a workflow with parallel branches. Each task should have a distinct action item specific to that person's role.
What's the difference between tasks and sequences?
Sequences are pre-built, multi-step outreach cadences (usually email-focused) that run semi-automatically. Tasks are individual action items. They're complementary: a sequence might include task steps for manual touchpoints, and a workflow might create a task to enroll someone in a sequence. Understanding how to design event-driven sequences helps you decide when to use each.
Can task queues be shared across a team?
Yes. Admins and super admins can create shared queues accessible to all users. Shared queues are especially useful for round-robin scenarios (like a shared inbound queue) or for team leads who want to assign prioritized task lists to their reps.
How do I prevent duplicate tasks from workflows?
Use workflow enrollment criteria or if/then branches to check whether a task already exists for that record before creating a new one. You can also use suppression lists or "last task created" date properties as conditions. This is especially important for event-triggered workflows that might fire multiple times for the same contact.
Do completed tasks count toward activity reports?
Yes. Completed tasks are logged as activities on the associated record's timeline and can be included in activity-based reports and dashboards. They also count toward any activity-based lead scoring rules you've configured in your scoring model.
Building a Task-Driven Sales Culture
HubSpot Tasks and Task Queues aren't glamorous. They don't have the appeal of a new AI tool or a clever growth hack. But they are the operational foundation that determines whether your sales team executes consistently or operates on hope and memory.
The best-performing revenue teams treat task management as infrastructure, not an afterthought. They design thoughtful automation that creates the right tasks at the right time. They build queues that keep reps focused and productive. They measure completion and connect it to outcomes. And they continuously prune and refine the system as the team and process evolve.
If you're looking to build this kind of disciplined, scalable execution system -- and connect it to the rest of your GTM stack -- Octave can help you orchestrate it all from lead scoring and enrichment through task creation and follow-up sequences, so nothing falls through the cracks.