How flexible status lists keep your workflow organized and automation running smoothly. Statuses are one of the most important tools inside Shape. They keep your records organized, guide your daily workflow, and trigger the automation that powers follow-up, prioritization, and reporting. Unlike systems that only allow a single status, Shape supports multiple status lists so you can track different stages, signals, and outcomes at the same time.
How Statuses Work in Your Daily Workflow
Statuses appear throughout Shape, including prioritized views, pipelines, and individual records. They are often used as the primary sorting and prioritization signal, alongside activities like last contact attempt or last status change.
Common uses include
- Tracking where a lead is in the sales or application process
- Identifying next actions needed
- Grouping records for follow-up or automation
When a status is updated, Shape can immediately respond with prioritization changes, reminders, or campaigns based on your setup.
Using Multiple Status Lists at Once
Each record can have more than one status list applied at the same time. This allows you to track multiple dimensions of a relationship without losing clarity.
Examples include:
- A primary status such as Application Sent
- A secondary status like credit monitoring or rate watch
- Additional status lists tied to alerts or engagement signals
This makes it easy to see both where someone is in the journey and what else is happening with them at the same time.
Statuses by Record Type
Different record types support different workflows, and Shape allows each to have its own status structure. Lead workflows often differ from referral partner workflows, and Shape treats them separately.
For example:
- Leads and applications follow a borrower-focused workflow
- Referral partners use a relationship-based, B2B workflow
Each status list only appears on the record types it applies to, keeping dropdowns clean and relevant.
Customizing Status Lists
All status lists are fully customizable from settings. You can rename lists, reorder statuses, and control how they appear to users.
You can:
- Change the order statuses that appear in dropdowns
- Rename statuses to match your internal language
- Assign colors to visually group stages
- Add or remove statuses as your process evolves
This ensures your statuses reflect how your team actually works, not a generic default.
Requiring Fields at Specific Stages
Statuses can require specific fields before a record is allowed to move forward. This helps enforce data consistency and process quality.
Common use cases include:
- Requiring target rate fields before entering a rate watch status
- Capturing the required details before advancing an application stage
- Ensuring key information is never skipped
These requirements prevent incomplete records from progressing too far.
Controlling Allowed Status Transitions
You can limit which statuses a user can move to from a specific current status. This is especially helpful in longer workflows where skipping steps could cause issues.
For example, from Application Sent, users may only be allowed to move to:
- Application Started
- Application Completed
- Not Interested
- Long-Term Nurture
- House Hunting
This keeps workflows realistic and prevents accidental jumps to later stages.
Status-Driven Call Outcomes
Statuses can also be paired with call outcome filtering. This allows only certain call outcomes to appear based on the current status, which can then trigger automatic status changes.
This creates a cleaner experience for reps and ensures calls directly support your workflow logic.
Controlling Who Can Change Statuses
Not every user needs permission to update every status list. Shape allows you to control which departments or users can edit a given status list.
This is useful when:
- Some teams should only view status, not change it
- Specialized workflows are managed by specific departments
- You want tighter control over critical stages
Users without permission can still see the current status, but cannot modify it.
Why This Video Matters
Statuses are more than labels. They are one of the main drivers behind automation, prioritization, and reporting in Shape. When configured intentionally, they create consistency across your team and ensure records always move forward with purpose.
Well-built status lists:
- Keep workflows organized and predictable
- Power automation like drips and prioritization rules
- Prevent skipped steps and missing data
- Scale cleanly as your team and processes grow
Future videos will cover how statuses connect to campaigns, triggers, bulk actions, and reporting, but this overview gives you the foundation to start using them effectively.