What is a CRM pipeline
Pipelines help to structure and manage sales, onboarding or support processes by visualizing the journey each deal moves through from start to finish.
Definition
Pipeline is a visual framework used to track the progress of deals through a series of stages. Each stage represents a step in the process- like "New Lead", "Qualified", "Proposal Sent", "Final Decision". Pipelines are typically used for sales tracking, but can also be adapted for other use cases like onboarding, renewals, or partnership management.
In User.com every deal must belong to a specific pipeline and be assigned to a stage.
This structure helps the team:
Monitor deal progress at a glance.
Prioritize actions.
Forecast revenue or outcomes.
Coordinate and share the information across teams.
To reach these goals it's important to remember about:
Aligning pipelines with real-world processes.
Keeping stage names action-oriented and clear.
Avoiding overloading one pipeline with too many deal types (there can be several pipelines instead).
Using automations to move deals within/between pipelines to save the time of the team.
Regularly reviews of deals or overloaded stages to improve the flow.
Data Structure
Pipelines work together with:
Users: Who are connected with the deals.
Companies: The objects users belong to.
Activities: Tasks connected with a specific deal.
Moreover, they are connected to the automations that cover the processes in the CRM.
How to Create a Pipeline
Pipelines are more than just a visual way to track deals - they’re a strategic tool that helps to bring structure, clarity, and control to the business processes. It's important to create pipelines with clear structure that reflects the strategy of the company and its processes.
Creating a Pipeline Manually
Go to Settings > App Settings > CRM > Pipelines section.
This is the view where new pipelines can be created and the existing ones can be modified (change of the stage order, naming, etc).
Add the name to a new pipeline.
Create an name all the stages of the pipeline.
Define the order of the stages.
Click "Save" - the changes should be applied straight away.
Creating a Pipeline via REST API
You can also manage pipelines using the User.com REST API.
Here is the endpoint that allows a new pipeline creation:
Additionally you can use other endpoints to manage the pipeline:
Use Cases
Pipelines are highly flexible and can be used beyond just sales. Here are some common scenarios.
Sales Process (B2B or B2C)
Track deals from initial lead to contract signing:
Pipeline Name: B2B Sales/B2C Sales
Stages: New Lead → Qualified → Proposal Sent → Negotiation → Closed Won/Lost
Scenario: A new deal is created when a user fills out a demo form. Sales representative and the automation flows move it through the stages until it’s either won or closed.
Customer Onboarding
Use pipelines to guide new clients through the onboarding journey:
Pipeline Name: Onboarding
Stages: First Meeting Scheduled → Setup in Progress → Training of the Team → Success
Scenario: After a deal is marked as “Won”on a Sales pipeline, an automation creates a new deal in the onboarding pipeline, assigning it to the customer success team or a specific agent.
Remember, that it's very important to standardise the workflows by defining clear stages to keep high level of convenience for the team. Well-designed pipelines help to scale the business more efficiently by giving structure to complexity- whether the team is managing 10 deals or 10,000 of them.
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