What you can do with Octopods workflow actions
HubSpot workflows can send messages through Octopods when any trigger fires — form submissions, property changes, deal stage updates, time-based conditions, and everything else HubSpot workflows support.
Two workflow actions are available, one per channel type:
Send WhatsApp Template Message — sends an approved WhatsApp template via a connected WhatsApp Business number.
Send SMS via Octopods — sends an SMS through a connected Twilio number.
Common use cases include:
Order confirmations sent when a deal moves to “Closed Won”.
Appointment reminders sent 24 hours before a meeting.
Shipping notifications when an order status changes.
Re-engagement messages for contacts who haven’t replied in a while.
Follow-up messages after a form is submitted.
Before you start
Make sure:
Your HubSpot portal is connected to Octopods and has at least one messaging channel active.
You have admin permissions in HubSpot so you can add and publish workflow actions.
For WhatsApp, you have at least one approved template ready to use.
Adding the Octopods action to a workflow
In HubSpot, go to Automation → Workflows and open the workflow you want to edit (or create a new one).
In the workflow canvas, click the + button where you want the message to be sent.
In the action picker, search for Octopods — both available actions appear under the Octopods app.
Choose Send WhatsApp Template Message or Send SMS via Octopods.
Configure a WhatsApp action
The configuration panel fills in as you make selections. Required fields are marked by HubSpot with a red asterisk.
Pick a WhatsApp Business Number from the dropdown. Every connected WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) number in your workspace appears here.
Pick a Message Template from the dropdown. Only active, approved templates for the selected number are listed — the template’s preview, buttons, and variable requirements are shown as the description.
Fill in the template variables that the selected template requires. Fields appear only for the variables the template actually uses.
The possible variable fields are:
Body Variable 1 through Body Variable 8 for body placeholders.
Header Variable for a text header placeholder.
Button URL or OTP for a button with a dynamic URL or an authentication one-time code.
Header Media URL for templates with image, video, or document headers.
You can type a static value or use HubSpot’s property picker to pull values from the contact, deal, or other workflow object.
Configure an SMS action
Pick a Twilio Number from the dropdown. Each connected Twilio channel appears with its phone number and friendly name.
Fill in the Message body — the exact SMS text to send.
Use HubSpot’s property picker inside the message body to drop dynamic values from the contact record.
Activate the workflow
Save the action by clicking Save in the HubSpot configuration panel.
Review the rest of the workflow.
Click Review and publish at the top of the workflow canvas, then Turn on to activate it.
From then on, whenever the workflow triggers for a contact, the Octopods action sends the message.
What gets sent to the contact
Octopods sends the message from the channel you selected to the contact’s phone number. For WhatsApp template messages, Octopods populates the template with the variable values you mapped; for SMS, it sends the message body you wrote.
The contact’s delivery identifier comes from the HubSpot contact being processed by the workflow:
For WhatsApp and SMS, HubSpot’s Phone number (
phone) or Mobile phone number (mobilephone) is used.Numbers are normalized to E.164 format before the message is sent.
Limitations and things to know
You can only send approved, active WhatsApp templates — free-form WhatsApp body text is not supported in a workflow action.
If the target contact has no valid phone number, the workflow action fails for that contact (the workflow itself keeps running for other contacts).
Messages sent through workflow actions count toward your Octopods messaging usage the same way as messages sent through the inbox or the API.
What’s next
See the WhatsApp Business Platform section for details on creating and approving templates
See the Channels section for information on connecting WhatsApp and Twilio SMS channels