HubSpot CRM: Important Pros and Cons
Considering HubSpot CRM? With digital marketing, sales, and service initiatives taking place almost entirely virtually, it is more important than ever to rely on a platform that can organize and manage your activities, opportunities, and customers. HubSpot makes an excellent marketing and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform. This is a platform with a devout customer base, many of which have used the platform for over a decade. The platform is constantly growing and improving, which makes it a reliable choice for your business.
HubSpot’s three core hubs – marketing, sales, and service, are referred to as its “Growth Suite.” These features are all integrated into HubSpot CRM. Hubs can be used independently or in tandem with one another, and each comes with its own set of pros and cons.
PRO:
For those who choose to use the entire HubSpot CRM Growth Suite, all of your most important data coexist in the CRM. This database allows you to pass information from marketing to sales to customer service without having to synch or duplicate information. Everything is kept in one place!
This makes it easier to collect data, build reports, and make informed business decisions that are based on real data. While many professionals spend countless hours each year trying to harmonize disparate systems, you can accomplish the same task in minutes.
CON:
HubSpot’s usability does come at a price. They offer a flexible pricing structure (another pro, one might say!), though this does not guarantee that their packages offer the cheapest option. It can be a bit difficult to compare pricing with competitors, in large part because HubSpot offers so many services and has a wide range of competition.
However, it does require a baseline subscription, plus paying for contacts you’re marketing to, which can add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars more. Sales and service hubs require you to pay by the user. Ultimately, it is important to determine what HubSpot’s services will cost now and what they may cost over time. Then, you can compare this with the benefits of HubSpot CRM services.
PRO:
With a subscription to its services, HubSpot presents you with HubSpot Academy, which offers dozens of courses and certifications that teach you how to use all aspects of the platform. It will also sharpen your marketing, sale, and customer service skills. There are courses and lessons on topics as diverse as inbound marketing, customer journey mapping, frictionless selling, among others. Content is also regularly updated, so you can keep coming back to learn!
CON:
Major competition – CRMs like Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, or SugarCRM – are better at documenting and tracking customer processes and matching their needs. In short, HubSpot’s CRM is not as “configurable” as other solutions.
HubSpot has recently improved, with the release of its Enterprise capability to create custom objects for your CRM. However, there is still limited functionality when it comes to custom-building your own portal.
There is a good reason that HubSpot CRM is less configurable. When updates and improvements are made to the platform, your customizations are not rendered obsolete, but instead are added to. Depending on your business needs, a user-friendly CRM that is easy to use may be more appropriate than a CRM which perfectly captures every little piece of the process. Such systems can be so burdensome that no one actually uses them.
At the end of the day, HubSpot is not the most configurable option, but it has significantly improved in recent years. Released in 2021, Operations Hub allows custom-coded workflow actions, data sync with other platforms and CRMs, and custom data sets. All this has been added without sacrificing usability.
PRO:
From potential client to loyal HubSpot user, HubSpot’s CRM is situated to support you in every stage of your journey. You can test a limited version of the product out with a free account. This will give you a feel for the platform and what it would be like to use it on a regular basis.
As your needs change, HubSpot will be able to grow alongside you. It is scalable, and you have the option of upgrading to more advanced versions of the product whenever you need it. If you start with HubSpot Professional, this may be exactly what your company needs in its initial states to automate your processes and make detailed reports.
Then, as your company expands and becomes increasingly complex, you can upgrade to Hubs to Enterprise. This will not interrupt any of your existing work on the platform, but instead unlock new tools. As your company grows, the last thing you want to do is have to transfer all your data to a new program. Working with HubSpot ensures you will never have to do that!
Overall, HubSpot’s CRM is the right fit for many businesses, no matter their size or stage. Writer Army can further help you explore your options with CRM. We also offer marketing services that, together with your CRM system, are certain to increase sales and expand your business. Contact us today to discuss the best option for your business.
