Modernizing Student Engagement at Scale
Consolidating Systems, Streamlining Student Journeys, and Unlocking Data-Driven Growth

- Industry
- Education Technology
- Duration
- 3 months
- Type
- B2C
- Solutions
- Custom HubSpot Implementation, Custom App Integration
HubSpot products used
-
-
Marketing Hub®
Enterprise
-
-
Sales Hub®
Enterprise
-
-
Service Hub®
Professional
Portage Learning provides self-paced, online science and general education courses, primarily serving students preparing for careers in health and allied professions. With thousands of active learners and multiple internal teams supporting the student journey, Portage needed a centralized system that could support marketing, enrollment, academic coaching, and administrative support without compromise.
Prior to partnering with accelant, Portage’s teams operated in disconnected tools—duplicating work and relying on manual interventions across multiple phases of the student lifecycle. Through a multi-phased HubSpot implementation, accelant helped Portage unify its tech stack, streamline student engagement, and empower teams with the automation and visibility needed to support growth.
THE CHALLENGE
Siloed Operations Across Divisions
Portage Learning’s internal teams—ranging from Program & Institutional Engagement (PIE) to Student Affairs, Services, and Success—operated with fragmented workflows and disconnected systems. While PIE marketing lived in HubSpot, student outreach and engagement relied on Element 451 and Monday.com, creating silos that obstructed data visibility and consistency.
Manual Enrollment and Communication Workflows
Student enrollment required significant manual effort and took place in Portage’s custom-built Admin Panel (AP). Student data did not flow easily between systems, making it difficult for support teams to respond efficiently. Workflows for nurturing prospects, onboarding students, and following up with at-risk learners were spread across emails, spreadsheets, and one-off messages—resulting in inconsistent experiences.
Limited CRM Functionality for Support and Coaching
Student Services and Success teams lacked access to CRM tools that could track academic performance or outreach history in a structured, reportable way. Teams manually assigned cases and maintained records using personal notes or external tools, inhibiting Portage’s ability to scale personalized support across its growing student base.
THE SOLUTION
Unified HubSpot Architecture
accelant designed a single, scalable HubSpot portal to serve all of Portage’s core business units, including PIE, Student Affairs, Services, and Success. Recognizing the need for nuanced permissioning, the architecture included:
- Segmented Teams and Views: Contact visibility based on team function (e.g., PIE vs. Student Affairs) while preserving shared access to Companies (schools).
- Custom Lifecycle Stages: Refined to reflect Portage’s school and student journeys with stages like “Prospect,” “Engaged,” “Opportunity,” and “Evangelist.”
- Contact Ownership Rules: Automatically assigned based on source (e.g., ERs for schools, Student Coaches for learners) to ensure accountability and streamline workflow triggers.
Custom Admin Panel Integration
Portage’s Admin Panel (AP) was integrated as a one-way data push into HubSpot, establishing the panel as the source of truth for contact and enrollment data. Key capabilities included:
- Instant Contact & Enrollment Creation: When a student created an account or enrolled in a course, the associated HubSpot record was automatically created and enriched with enrollment metadata.
- Abandoned Cart Tracking: Workflows triggered if a student started but didn’t complete enrollment, with tailored outreach via email, SMS (through JustCall), and ER call tasks.
- Returning Student Recognition: Logic built to detect returning users and update records accordingly—ensuring lifecycle tracking remained accurate over time.
Automated Workflows Across the Student Journey
accelant rebuilt Portage’s engagement flows inside HubSpot, eliminating the need for Element 451. This included:
- Student Nurture Campaigns: 8–10 automated sequences triggered by form submissions or Admin Panel account creation, combining email, SMS, and phone outreach.
- Course Promotion Campaigns: Automated upsell flows (e.g., Bio 2 for Bio 1 students) using Enrollment object data from AP.
- Progress-Based Outreach: Workflows that flagged students based on grade or completion metrics for proactive intervention by Student Success Coaches.
Enrollments as a Custom Object
To support a granular view of student activity, accelant created a Custom Object for Enrollments in HubSpot. This allowed:
- Real-time association of courses to student records.
- Filtering and segmentation based on course type, grade, or status.
- Workflow triggers and reporting to surface academic risks or upsell opportunities.
Empowering Service and Success Teams
With the groundwork laid, accelant enabled Portage’s support teams to:
- Transition to Service Hub Pro: Bringing ticketing and onboarding workflows into HubSpot, reducing tool sprawl.
- Automate Onboarding Campaigns: Differentiated for first-time vs. returning students, and filtered to avoid multiple welcome messages.
- Launch Progress Reports: Weekly student summaries sent via email, auto-filled using AP data on grades, logins, and assignment submissions.
- Coach Tracking: A proposed custom object for coaching sessions, allowing reporting on outcomes and engagement effectiveness.
THE RESULTS
- 10+ legacy workflows rebuilt and automated in HubSpot
- Real-time data sync from Admin Panel to HubSpot
- Custom student lifecycle stages aligned across marketing and support
- Enrollment object built to support coaching, upsells, and campaign targeting
- Automated abandoned cart outreach and student onboarding
- Sensitive data permissions implemented across roles and teams
Interested in learning how your organization can benefit from accelant’s customized HubSpot solutions? Contact us to discover how we can streamline your operations and help you achieve your business goals.