The marketing automation model that drove 9x qualified lead growth in a secondary market
HubSpot rebuilt its underperforming Japan marketing automation program in two months without hiring staff, separating technical and cultural roles to achieve a ninefold increase in qualified leads.
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HubSpot’s automated emails in Japan generated only 12 qualified leads monthly against a goal of 160, prompting a review of its Japan marketing automation programs. Rather than hiring a local specialist, the company rebuilt the entire email automation system in two months with no additional staff, separating technical automation tasks from cultural localization. The existing Japan program was outdated and insufficiently localized, reflecting a common pattern where secondary markets receive less attention due to limited automation resources. This approach prioritized markets generating the highest volume, leaving others with partially built or ineffective automation.
The new model divided responsibilities: one person handled technical automation, such as workflow setup and segmentation, while a local partner focused on cultural validation and message relevance. This separation eliminated the need for a single local automation expert and leveraged existing infrastructure. The regional partner refined AI-generated email drafts, requiring only five days of work across the project, emphasizing local customer journey understanding over language fluency alone.
The rebuild targeted high-intent automation programs, such as trigger-based emails for users showing buying signals, rather than attempting to overhaul all email flows. High-intent programs required fewer emails, clearer messaging, and faster localization, leading to quicker conversion improvements. Low-intent programs, which target broader audiences, were deprioritized due to their longer paths to conversion and higher localization demands.
The approach included a go/no-go check to assess feasibility, such as verifying the presence of active workflows, declining email delivery volumes, and automation-sourced lead shortfalls. Projects were deemed viable only if they could generate at least 20 incremental qualified leads monthly. This model proved effective in Japan, where automation-sourced qualified leads rose from 12 to over 115 per month within one reporting period.