FS-DOC-03Operations
Process Runbook / SOP
Customer Segmentation & List Management
[YourCompany.com] · Marketing Department · Prepared by FullSpec · [Today's Date]
This runbook is your day-to-day operating guide for the automated Customer Segmentation and List Management process. It tells your team exactly what the system does on its own, where your one human checkpoint sits, how to handle anything that goes wrong, and who to call when you need help. FullSpec builds and maintains the automation end to end. Your team's job is to review flagged exceptions, keep segment rules current, and monitor the weekly Slack summary.
01Process overview
Before automation, a Marketing Coordinator spent roughly six hours every week exporting contacts from HubSpot, pulling Typeform submissions into a Google Sheet, deduplicating by hand, applying segment rules manually, uploading lists to Mailchimp, and logging changes in Slack. The automated version replaces eight of those nine steps with three agents that run in real time whenever a contact is created or updated, or on a scheduled daily sync. The only step your team handles is a brief review of any contacts the system cannot confidently assign to a segment, which typically takes under thirty minutes per week.
Process name
Customer Segmentation & List Management
Trigger
A contact is created or updated in HubSpot, a Typeform webhook fires, or a scheduled daily sync runs
Final output
Deduplicated, accurately segmented contacts synced to Mailchimp and HubSpot, with a Slack summary and a Google Sheets log row
Agents running
Data Merge and Dedup Agent; Segmentation Rules Agent; Reporting and Notification Agent
Tools involved
HubSpot, Typeform, Segment, Mailchimp, Google Sheets, Slack
Weekly volume
Approximately 400 contact updates per month (roughly 100 per week)
Human checkpoint
Marketing Manager reviews contacts flagged as ambiguous by the Segmentation Rules Agent (approximately 5 minutes per flagged contact)
Process owner
[Your name] — Marketing Manager
Process Runbook / SOPPage 1 of 4
FS-DOC-03Operations
02Step-by-step: what happens and who acts
What you actually need to do: Your team has one action in this entire process. When the Reporting and Notification Agent posts the run summary to Slack, check whether any contacts have been flagged for review. If flagged contacts appear, open the linked Google Sheet row, read the agent's classification note, and assign the correct segment tag in HubSpot. Everything else is handled automatically.
Step
What happens
Who acts
Type
1
A contact record is created or updated in HubSpot, or a Typeform submission arrives via webhook. The automation platform detects the change and starts the workflow. On days with no live contact changes, a scheduled daily trigger fires the same flow across all contacts modified in the last 24 hours.
Automation platform
Automated
2
The Data Merge and Dedup Agent pulls the latest contact records from HubSpot and any unprocessed Typeform submissions. It merges both sources into a single unified dataset, matching records by email address. Where two records share the same email, the agent merges them and keeps the most recently updated property values on the canonical record.
Data Merge and Dedup Agent
Automated
3
The merged dataset is passed through Segment, which performs a final deduplication check using email address and phone number. Any remaining duplicate entries are collapsed into one record before the data moves to the segmentation stage. The clean dataset is then handed off to the Segmentation Rules Agent.
Segment (via Data Merge and Dedup Agent)
Automated
4
The Segmentation Rules Agent evaluates every contact in the clean dataset against the configured segment criteria, for example purchase history, engagement score, or subscription status, and assigns the correct segment tags. It also pulls the current suppression list from Mailchimp and excludes any unsubscribed or bounced contacts from all active segments before writing any changes.
Segmentation Rules Agent
Automated
5
If the Segmentation Rules Agent cannot confidently assign a contact to a segment because the contact's data is incomplete or contradictory, it flags that contact and routes the record details to the Slack notification and to the Google Sheets log. The agent does not write a segment tag for that contact until a human makes the decision.
Segmentation Rules Agent
Automated
6
The Marketing Manager opens the flagged contact record in HubSpot using the direct link included in the Slack message, reviews the agent's classification note in Google Sheets, and manually assigns the correct segment tag in HubSpot. This step typically takes around five minutes per flagged contact and is the only action your team needs to take in the normal weekly cycle.
Marketing Manager
Human
7
Approved segment assignments, including any decisions made in step 6, are pushed to Mailchimp via API. Audience membership, tags, and groups are updated in real time. No CSV export or manual upload is required. Suppressed contacts are excluded automatically at this stage.
Segmentation Rules Agent
Automated
8
Segment assignments, suppression flags, and deduplication outcomes are written back to each contact record in HubSpot so that the CRM stays fully in sync with Mailchimp. Contact status, list membership, and opt-out flags are all updated in a single write operation.
Segmentation Rules Agent
Automated
9
The Reporting and Notification Agent compiles a run summary showing segment sizes, the number of records changed, any suppression updates, and a list of contacts flagged for human review. It posts this summary to the designated Slack channel and appends a timestamped log row to the master Google Sheet. No action is needed unless flagged contacts appear.
Reporting and Notification Agent
Automated
Process Runbook / SOPPage 2 of 4
FS-DOC-03Operations
03Handling exceptions
Situation
What the system does
What you do
A contact record is missing a required field (for example, no email address or a blank subscription status)
The Data Merge and Dedup Agent cannot merge the record without a valid email address. The record is skipped and added to the exceptions list in Google Sheets with a note explaining which field is missing. It is not written to Mailchimp or HubSpot in an incomplete state.
Open the Google Sheets exceptions tab, locate the record, and add the missing information directly in HubSpot. The next sync cycle will pick the record up automatically and process it normally.
A duplicate contact is detected but the records have conflicting property values that the agent cannot resolve automatically
The Segmentation Rules Agent flags both records and adds them to the Slack notification and the Google Sheets log with a note showing the conflicting fields. Neither record is written to Mailchimp until the conflict is resolved.
Review the two records in HubSpot, decide which property values are correct, update the master record, and delete or merge the duplicate manually in HubSpot. The next sync will process the resolved record.
A contact cannot be confidently assigned to any configured segment (ambiguous classification)
The Segmentation Rules Agent skips the segment assignment for that contact and flags it in the Slack run summary and the Google Sheets log, including the values it evaluated and the criteria it could not match.
Review the flagged contact using the HubSpot link in the Slack message. Assign the correct segment tag manually in HubSpot within 24 hours so the contact is included in the next campaign send. If this happens frequently for a particular type of contact, ask FullSpec to update the segment rule.
The Marketing Manager does not review flagged contacts within 24 hours
The automation does not send reminders automatically beyond the initial Slack notification. Flagged contacts remain without a segment assignment and are excluded from any Mailchimp audiences until the review is completed.
Check the Google Sheets exceptions tab before any campaign send to ensure no contacts are sitting unreviewed. If the Marketing Manager is unavailable, the Marketing Coordinator can make interim assignments and note them in the log for later confirmation.
Mailchimp returns an error during the segment sync (for example, an audience size limit is reached or the API rejects a tag format)
The Segmentation Rules Agent catches the API error, logs the full error response to the Google Sheets log, and halts the sync for that audience. It does not retry indefinitely. A Slack alert is posted to the designated channel flagging the failure.
Check the Google Sheets error log for the specific Mailchimp error message. Common fixes include archiving stale contacts in Mailchimp to free up audience capacity, or correcting a tag name that contains disallowed characters. Contact support@gofullspec.com if the error is unclear.
HubSpot or Typeform is unavailable (API timeout or outage)
The automation platform detects the failed connection after three retry attempts spaced two minutes apart. If all retries fail, the workflow is paused and a Slack alert is sent to the designated channel. No partial data is written. The workflow resumes automatically once connectivity is restored and the trigger fires again.
No immediate action is needed during an outage. Once the outage is resolved, confirm in Slack that the automation has restarted and that the Google Sheets log shows a successful run. If the workflow does not resume within one hour of the tool coming back online, contact support@gofullspec.com.
Process Runbook / SOPPage 3 of 4
FS-DOC-03Operations
04Who to contact and when
Fill in the rows marked with placeholders once your team is confirmed. Keep this table somewhere your whole marketing team can find it quickly. The FullSpec rows are fixed and do not need to be changed.
Role
Name
How to reach them
Process owner (Marketing Manager)
[Your name]
[Your email or Slack handle]
Day-to-day operator (Marketing Coordinator)
[Coordinator name]
[Coordinator email or Slack handle]
Segment rules authority (person who approves changes to segment criteria)
[Your name or delegate]
[Email or Slack handle]
HubSpot administrator (manages API credentials and property changes)
[Admin name]
[Admin email]
Mailchimp administrator (manages audience settings and API access)
[Admin name]
[Admin email]
FullSpec builder (for configuration changes, agent updates, and new segment rules)
FullSpec team
support@gofullspec.com
FullSpec support (for errors, outages, and anything broken in the automation)
FullSpec support
support@gofullspec.com
05Ongoing maintenance
Any time a new data source is added or HubSpot property names change
Notify FullSpec at support@gofullspec.com before making the change in HubSpot. The Data Merge and Dedup Agent relies on specific property field names. Renaming or removing a field without updating the agent configuration will cause records to be skipped or mapped incorrectly.
Process owner, then FullSpec team
Any time a segment rule needs to be added, changed, or retired
Document the new or revised criteria in writing (for example, the field name, the condition, and the target segment) and send it to FullSpec. Do not attempt to change segment logic directly in HubSpot or Mailchimp without updating the agent, as the two will fall out of sync.
Marketing Manager, then FullSpec team
Weekly, after each Slack run summary
Review the Slack notification for flagged contacts and error alerts. Check that segment counts look reasonable compared to last week. Open Google Sheets to confirm a log row was written. The whole check should take under five minutes.
Marketing Manager or Marketing Coordinator
Monthly spot-check (first working day of each month)
Open the Google Sheets master log and review the previous month's run summaries. Check for repeated exceptions, recurring flagged contacts, or any error messages that appeared more than once. If a pattern is visible, raise it with FullSpec to adjust the agent configuration.
Marketing Manager
Any time a team member joins, leaves, or changes role
Update the contact table in section 04 of this runbook. If the person leaving held a HubSpot, Mailchimp, or Segment admin role, arrange for credentials or access levels to be transferred before they leave. Notify FullSpec if Slack notification recipients need to change.
Process owner
Every quarter (or when contact volume grows significantly)
Review the weekly run volumes against the current Segment and Mailchimp plan limits. If contact updates are approaching API rate limits or audience size caps, plan an upgrade before it causes sync failures. Share updated volume figures with FullSpec so the batching logic can be adjusted if needed.
Process owner, FullSpec team
The most common maintenance issue for this process is undocumented segment rule changes. When the Marketing Manager updates segment criteria informally (for example, by adjusting a filter in Mailchimp directly or changing a HubSpot property without telling FullSpec), the Segmentation Rules Agent continues applying the old logic. This causes contacts to be assigned to the wrong segment silently, with no error or flag to alert you. Always document rule changes in writing and send them to support@gofullspec.com before applying them anywhere in the toolstack.
Process Runbook / SOPPage 4 of 4