Automatic WordPress detection for HubSpot CRM
Manual website checks are gone. HubSpot now detects whether a site runs on WordPress the moment a record is created or its URL changes, marks the verification status, and feeds the result straight into segmentation, routing, and automation.
About the Project
The client needed CRM data enrichment to happen on autopilot. As soon as a new contact or company appears in HubSpot — or whenever the Website URL field changes — the system must trigger a site technology check and write the result back into the record's properties. That attribute then powers lead segmentation, task creation, communication scenarios, and portfolio-level reporting.
About Customer
Arvid is a London-based customer-acquisition consultant who helps businesses rebuild marketing and sales for an AI-shifted market. He came to us through a partner referral. In his work, HubSpot is the operational system — segments, routing, warm-up sequences, follow-ups, reports. The prospect's site technology (WordPress or not) directly shapes the offer, the project risks, the right playbook, and the way a lead is handled. The check used to be a manual step, but with a steady flow of new leads the data went stale fast and the automation stopped paying back its potential.
Triggers on creation and on URL change
The automation had to trigger both for new records and whenever the Website URL changed, while preventing duplicate executions and avoiding self-triggered update loops.
WordPress detection inside HubSpot
HubSpot custom code isn't a full server with unlimited capabilities. The detector had to be reliable enough using lightweight, practical signals and controlled HTTP probes within the sandbox's runtime and time limits.
Input data quality in CRM
Website URLs arrive messy: missing protocols, UTM tails, redirects, trailing slashes, sometimes a literal "example" or an empty value. The automation couldn't break or write random results under those conditions.
Anti-looping and idempotency
The workflow updates record properties, and those updates can re-trigger the workflow. We had to bake in execution markers, trigger conditions, and a cooldown strategy from day one for the integration to behave predictably.
Operational transparency
The result had to be genuinely useful for the team — not just yes or no, but a verification status (success, failed, unable to verify) so it would be obvious when a human needed to step in.
Proposed Solution
We built the solution inside HubSpot itself as a managed workflow automation with a custom JavaScript code action.
Workflow triggers for two scenarios
We configured the workflow to respond on contact or company creation and on Website URL change, with re-enrollment conditions that gate execution to valid URLs and out-of-date verification results.
WordPress detector
URL normalization, redirect following, and request timeouts wrap a set of WordPress checks based on practical signals — typical endpoints, asset paths, generator meta tag, REST API exposure, characteristic headers. The detector falls back to an explicit "unknown" mode when the evidence isn't strong enough or the site isn't reachable.
CRM-ready result model
We standardized the values written into HubSpot: yes, no, unknown, plus separate status codes — success, failed, invalid_url, timeout — so the output is immediately usable in lists, segments, automations, and reports.
Anti-looping and repeat control
A URL hash/version marker and a checked_at timestamp gate the workflow: it doesn't re-run when the URL hasn't actually changed and the existing data is still fresh.
Support and diagnostics
Clear technical fields capture the last status and failure reason, and a short operational guide explains how to investigate problem records and safely re-run a single point check — without kicking off a full bulk recheck.
We started by defining the exact places where this attribute would shape routing, tasks, segments, communication templates, and reporting. From that, it became clear the business needed more than just yes and no — it needed "unknown" and a clear verification status, or the team would just keep doing manual checks anyway.
Results
4 fewer
hours lost each week on manual qualification
15% faster
first correct outreach
35% fewer
low-fit leads entering sales workloads
Lower wasted ad spend
driven by mistargeted segments
30% fewer
unpleasant surprises surfacing during presales
Higher accuracy
in pipeline analytics by segment
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