In our detailed HubSpot reviews, we’ll cover this popular CRM’s best features, pricing, and alternative options. We’ll also list some HubSpot pros and cons.
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Small, growing, and large businesses often have different marketing strategies. For example, a large company may focus on mass marketing to reach as many people as possible, while a small business might use more targeted marketing techniques to reach its target market.
One thing is for sure, despite your firm’s size. All businesses are always seeking to maintain their existing customers while acquiring new clientele. And marketing is critical to both objectives. It’s how you communicate the value of your products or services to customers, clients, and prospects.
There are countless marketing strategies out there, but not all of them are created equal. What works for one business might not work for another.
Thus, it’s crucial to have customizable CRM software like HubSpot to grow your business.
CRM software helps businesses of all sizes manage their customer relationships. It gives you the ability to track and segment your customers and your customer interactions, including contact information, sales opportunities, and support requests.
By tracking this information in a CRM system, you can better understand your customers’ needs and pain points and provide them with the best possible experience.
What Is HubSpot CRM?
HubSpot CRM is a free, proprietary, fully-featured CRM software designed to help businesses grow their customer bases and increase sales. It’s built on the HubSpot platform, which offers a suite of tools for sales, marketing, and customer service.
This American software company was founded in 2006, and its headquarters are in Cambridge, Massachusetts. HubSpot’s mission is to help small businesses grow by making it easy for them to get found online and convert leads into customers.
How Does HubSpot CRM Work?
HubSpot CRM works by tracking all of your customer interactions in one place. This data is then used to segment your customers and personalize their experience with your business.
Centralizing your customer data in a CRM system gives you valuable insights into your customer base. You can see which customers are the most engaged, their needs, and how likely they are to become paying customers.
You can also use HubSpot CRM to automate repetitive tasks, such as email marketing, lead nurturing, and sales follow-ups. Automation frees up your time, and you can focus on more important tasks, like growing your business.
HubSpot CRM is easy to use, even for businesses with no prior experience with CRM software. It’s free to use and offers a wide range of features, making it ideal for small businesses that are just getting started with CRM.
Automation and customization are two of the most important features of a CRM system. And HubSpot CRM has both in spades. With HubSpot CRM, you can automate repetitive tasks and customize your workflow to fit your unique business needs.
The Main Features of HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM has a wide range of features designed to help businesses grow their customer base and increase sales. You can nurture your leads into successful, repeat customer relationships that give you valuable referrals to expand your market base.
Some of the main features of HubSpot CRM include:
A Quick Demo Feature
This feature best suits those who’ve never used CRM software before and need a quick overview of how HubSpot CRM works. With the Quick Demo, you can see how HubSpot CRM tracks your customer interactions and helps you nurture your leads into paying customers.
You’ll also get a tour of the CRM dashboard and learn to use some of the most essential features, such as adding contacts, tracking deals, and creating tasks.
A Customizable HubSpot Dashboard
The HubSpot Dashboard is your central command center for your customer relationships. You can view your contact lists, deals, tasks, and calendars from the dashboard. You can also access your sales pipeline and see where your leads are in the buying cycle.
The dashboard is fully customizable, so you can add or remove features to fit your needs. It’s easy to use, and it presents HubSpot CRM’s core segments, including:
- Marketing Hub
- Sales Hub
- Service Hub
- Operations Hub
Easily Add New and Existing Contacts
Adding contacts to HubSpot CRM is simple and quick. You can add them manually or import them from a list. Once your contacts are in the system, you can segment them into groups and tag them for easy organization.
You can also add notes and documents to your contact records, so you always have the most up-to-date information on hand.
The HubSpot CRM allows you to segment your contacts into different groups or subsegments based on your specified criteria. It’s useful for targeted marketing or sales outreach efforts. For example, you could create a sub-segment for all of your contacts who work in the healthcare industry.
HubSpot’s Unassigned Contacts Feature
HubSpot CRM automatically detects unassigned contacts. It then assigns your contacts to the sales rep who’s most likely to convert them into a paying customer. But you can also manually assign contacts to specific sales reps.
Superb Contact Management
Managing your contacts is easy with HubSpot CRM. You can search and filter your contact lists or use the Contact Management feature to keep track of your most important contacts.
The Contact Management feature lets you add notes, set tasks, and view the contact’s activity history. It’s a valuable tool for sales reps who need to convert their leads.
This feature’s dashboard presents all the contact information of clients and suppliers, and you can call, email, or SMS them directly from the dashboard. You can also create deals with the contact management features and assign notes and tasks to other team members.
HubSpot’s Inbound Lead Management
One of the most important features of HubSpot CRM is inbound lead management. This feature allows you to capture leads from your website and track their interactions with your business.
You can use inbound lead management to segment your leads and personalize their experience with your brand.
For example, you can send targeted content to leads interested in your product but haven’t bought anything yet. The content should move the leads further down the sales funnel.
HubSpot’s Lead Scoring and Grading
Lead scoring and grading help you prioritize your leads. Thus, you can focus your sales efforts on the most promising prospects. With lead scoring, you can assign points to each lead based on their likelihood to convert.
You can rate your leads based on their interest level, budget, and authority with lead grading. This feature is particularly helpful for sales reps who are new to the CRM system and need help prioritizing their leads.
HubSpot’s Deal Stage Funnel Feature
HubSpot CRM’s Deal Management feature can help you close more deals and increase sales. You can track your deals through the entire sales process with this feature.
The Deal Stage Funnel gives you a visual representation of your deals and where they are in the sales cycle. You can use the deal stage funnel to see which deals are near closing and which ones need more work.
The HubSpot deals dashboard segments your leads into columns of:
- Qualified to buy
- Appointments scheduled
- Contract sent
- Closed-won
- Closed-lost
HubSpot CRM’s Sales Dashboard Analytics
HubSpot CRM Subsegments
HubSpot CRM splits into four differently specialized hubs:
1. Marketing Hub
This hub helps you attract visitors to your website, turn them into leads, and nurture those leads until they’re ready to buy.
2. Sales Hub
This hub gives you the tools you need to close more deals faster. Stay organized, keep your sales pipeline full, and give your team the information they need to succeed.
3. Service Hub
This hub helps you deliver outstanding customer service and support. Resolve issues quickly, keep customers happy, and turn them into advocates for your business.
4. Operations Hub
This hub helps you run your business better. Automate workflows, improve your team’s productivity, and get the insights you need to make decisions that grow your business.
HubSpot: Contacts and Companies
HubSpot’s approach to managing contacts and companies is a little different from most CRM systems. In HubSpot, a company is an organization that you do business with, whether they’re a customer, prospect, or partner. A contact is an individual within one of those companies.
It might sound a little confusing at first, but it makes a lot of sense. HubSpot CRM is designed around the idea that businesses are built on relationships, not transactions. So, it’s much more important to know who you’re doing business with while tracking every deal.
There are three types of companies in HubSpot CRM:
- Customers
- Prospects
- Partners
Customers are companies with which you’re already doing business. You’ll track deals that are in progress and record information about past transactions in HubSpot CRM.
Prospects are companies with which you’re interested in doing business. You can track the progress of your interactions with them and keep an eye on their potential value to your business.
Partners are companies you work with closely, such as suppliers, resellers, or agencies. HubSpot CRM includes a special partner relationship management (PRM) module to help you manage these relationships.
In addition to the three types of companies, there are two types of contacts:
- Leads
- Customers
Leads are individual contacts identified as having the potential to do business with your company. They might be people who have filled out a form on your website or subscribed to your email list.
Customers are contacts who have already done business with you. You can track their purchase history and keep tabs on their satisfaction with your product or service.
HubSpot CRM design aims to give you a 360-degree view of your business relationships. It’s easy to switch between companies and contacts to get the information you need whenever you need it.
You can also use the same powerful tools to grow your business wherever you’re at in the relationship because HubSpot CRM is built on the HubSpot platform.
Learn More or Get Your Free HubSpot Account
The Free HubSpot Marketing Tools
If you’re looking for some powerful marketing tools to help grow your business, look no further than HubSpot. HubSpot offers a wide range of free marketing tools to attract more visitors to your website, generate more leads, and close more customers.
Some of the most popular free HubSpot marketing tools include:
Forms
This tool allows you to create custom forms to collect leads from your website visitors.
Email Marketing
This tool allows you to send automated emails to your leads and customers. You can also use it to create email templates.
Ad Management
This tool allows you to create and manage your online advertising campaigns. It helps you to track your campaign’s performance and improve your ROI.
Landing Pages
Landing pages are a great way to promote your products and services and collect leads. HubSpot’s landing page builder makes it easy to create high-converting landing pages.
Shared Inbox
A shared inbox is a tool that allows you to manage your email conversations with your team. It makes it easy to keep track of customer inquiries and follow up with them.
The Free HubSpot Sales Tools
HubSpot also offers a wide range of free sales tools that can be used to increase your sales and close more deals.
Some of the most popular free HubSpot sales tools include:
Live Chat
This tool allows you to chat with your website visitors in real-time and answer their questions. Consumers are more likely to buy from businesses that offer live chat support.
Basic Bots
Bots are a cost-effective way to automate your sales process. HubSpot’s Basic Bot allows you to create custom bots to qualify leads, book meetings, and more.
Team Email
Team Email is a tool that allows you to manage your sales team’s email conversations. It makes it easy to track customer inquiries and follow up with them.
Quotes
HubSpot Quotes is a tool that allows you to create and manage your sales quotes. It helps you track your quote’s performance and improve your close rate.
Calling
HubSpot Calling is a tool that allows you to make and receive calls from your website visitors. It helps you to qualify leads and close more deals.
The Free HubSpot Service Tools
HubSpot also offers a wide range of free service tools that can be used to improve your customer service.
Some of the most popular free HubSpot service tools include:
Ticketing
HubSpot Ticketing is a tool that allows you to create and manage your customer service tickets. It helps you track your team’s performance and improve your customer satisfaction scores.
Email Scheduling
This tool allows you to schedule your customer service emails. It helps you keep your inbox organized and ensures your customers receive timely responses.
Live Chat
This tool allows you to chat with your website visitors in real-time and answer their questions. Consumers are more likely to return to businesses that offer live chat support.
Service tools also include shared inboxes and calling features.
The Free HubSpot Operations Tools
Data Sync
This tool allows you automatically sync your data between HubSpot and other business tools. It helps you to keep your data organized and up-to-date.
Historical Sync
This tool allows you to view your data history in HubSpot. It helps you to troubleshoot issues and understand your data trends.
Default Field Mappings
This tool helps you map your data fields between HubSpot and other business tools. Thus, you can ensure your data is consistent across all of your tools.
App Marketplace Integrations
This tool allows you to connect HubSpot with over 1,000+ business tools, and it helps with automating workflows and improving efficiency. Automations are custom to eliminate your operational repetitive tasks.
Contact Management
This tool allows you to manage your contacts and their data. It helps you keep track of your customers and prospects and segment them into lists.
Just How Empowering is the HubSpot Free Database?
There’s no doubt that HubSpot’s free CRM is an incredible tool for small businesses. It offers countless features and integrations to help you grow your business. But what about the HubSpot free database? Is it as empowering as it sounds?
Let’s take a look at what the HubSpot free database offers:
- A constantly updated and clean database of over 300 million companies
- The ability to create custom lists of companies based on criteria that you specify
- Data on past interactions with each company (such as emails sent, meetings held, and deals won)
- The medium that brings in the most leads and customers for your business
- The ability to track which channels are most effective at generating leads and customers
- A way to measure the ROI of your marketing campaigns
- Personal information of contacts in companies (such as name, title, and email)
- Detailed information about each company, including contact information, size, location, industry, and more
- Integrations with popular sales and marketing tools like Salesforce, Zapier, and Marketo
As you can see, the HubSpot free database is a powerful tool that can help you grow your business. It’s packed with features that will help you find and connect with your ideal customers.
You can use it to manage contacts, create sales pipelines, and nurture leads.
How Effective Is the HubSpot Task Management Software?
HubSpot offers a comprehensive task management software solution that helps businesses of all sizes to manage tasks in an efficient and organized manner. The software provides a simple and user-friendly interface that makes it easy for users to track and manage their tasks.
HubSpot also offers various features and tools that help businesses better manage their tasks. These features include task templates, subtasks, priorities, due dates, and more.
Creating deals and closing them is a process that requires a lot of coordination between sales and marketing. Fortunately, you can easily make deals and assign contacts and tasks to the relevant salespeople using HubSpot task management software.
The software also allows businesses to share files and documents related to a task. This feature is especially useful for businesses that need to collaborate on tasks frequently.
You can also create notes and comments on tasks, which helps keep track of progress and ensure that tasks are properly completed.
HubSpot Integrations with Social Media and Its Benefits
Social Media is one of the most popular and effective ways to connect with customers and promote your brand. Businesses need a solid plan and use the right tools to maximize their social media efforts.
HubSpot is a powerful CRM platform that can help to streamline your business’s social media processes. It has several features and tools to help businesses with their social media campaigns.
The HubSpot task management software integrates with social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This integration allows businesses to better manage their tasks by tracking conversations and activities related to their tasks on social media.
The integration also allows businesses to quickly respond to comments and queries from customers and clients. This valuable feature can help businesses improve their customer service and build better relationships with their clients.
You can also trail companies’ social media activity and their internal contacts to evaluate their engagement with your brand. HubSpot’s social media integration empowers businesses to track leads and conversions from social media platforms.
This valuable data can help businesses better understand their social media efforts, and they can make necessary adjustments to improve campaigns.
How Much Does HubSpot Cost?
The freemium HubSpot is empowering for small businesses, but it’s not the only reason to consider this CRM. HubSpot Sales, Service, Marketing, and CMS software are all included in one integrated platform. Thus, you can manage your entire customer journey from a single dashboard.
There’s also a free CRM included, making it even more affordable for small businesses.
The starter plan for HubSpot Sales is $45/month. It has more features and integrations than the free version, making it suitable for growing businesses.
The professional HubSpot plan is $800/month. It has everything the starter plan has, plus more features and customizations. You may need it as your business grows bigger than a mere startup.
The enterprise HubSspot plan is $3,200/month. It includes everything in the professional package plus even more features and customizations. Large corporations with hundreds or thousands of employees will need this comprehensive solution.
HubSpot CRM Pros and Cons
HubSpot Pros:
- Easy-to-use interface
- Various features and tools to help businesses better manage their tasks
- Integration with social media platforms
- Free CRM included
- Affordable starter plan
HubSpot Cons:
- Some features and customizations are only available on the more expensive plans
- Paid versions might be too comprehensive for small businesses
- Some features require a bit of training to use effectively
HubSpot Alternatives
While none of the HubSpot alternatives below will match up feature-to-feature, here are some additional CRM reviews you can find in our blog:
- Read Our Pipedrive CRM Reviews or Visit the Pipedrive Website.
- Read our Monday.com CRM Reviews or Visit the Monday.com Website.
- Read our Chime CRM Reviews or Visit the Chime CRM Website.
- Read our Streak CRM Reviews or Visit the Streak CRM for Gmail Website.
HubSpot Reviews – Final Thoughts
Choosing the right CRM platform for your business can be a daunting task. There are countless options available in the market, and it can be challenging to determine which one is the best fit for your needs.
HubSpot is a popular CRM platform that offers many features and tools to help businesses with their social media campaigns.
The platform offers a free CRM, making it more affordable for small businesses. It also includes integration with social media platforms for better task management, as you can track conversations and activities related to your tasks on social media.
While HubSpot Sales, Service, Marketing, and CMS software are all included in one integrated platform, some features and customizations are only available on the more expensive plans.
Overall, HubSpot is a powerful CRM platform that can help businesses to streamline their marketing, sales, and customer retention processes.
About The Author: This article was researched and published by Tim Schroeder. As a husband and wife real estate team residing in Florida, Tim Schroeder brings deep expertise with over 8 years of experience as a licensed real estate agent.
Deb and Tim Schroeder have earned numerous real estate industry awards and recognitions. They have been recognized by Orlando Magazine as a “Top 100 Real Estate Professional” as well as earned Top Producer Designations with the Orlando Realtor Association for 6 years straight.