Overview
What is HubSpot Marketing Hub?
HubSpot's Marketing Hub is an all-in-one inbound marketing engine that includes tools for email marketing, landing page creation, social media marketing, content management, reporting & analytics, search engine optimization (SEO), and more.
Easy to use for basic marketing needs
Streamlining Marketing Efforts: A Review of HubSpot Marketing Hub
HubSpot Review: Hands-Down the Best All-in-One Marketing Tool
Review of HubSpot Marketing Hub
I did not want to try Hubspot. I pushed myself and I am so happy I did. It made my work so much easier.
Easy-to-use tool but lacks personalization features and good reporting
HubSpot Marketing Hub Review & Product Details
HubSpot, All You Need to Stay Top of Mind.
Catch-all for marketing
Hubspot is spot on for scaling B2B SaaS companies
Go for it! Hubspot never lets your marketing plans come down.
Prove attribution or die trying
Awesome platform no matter what industry
Hubspot does a lot of things well but only some things really well
Awards
Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards
Popular Features
- List management (364)8.282%
- Dashboards (366)7.979%
- Landing pages (362)6.363%
- Email deliverability reporting (363)6.161%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
Free
$0
Starter
$50
Pro
$890
Entry-level set up fee?
- Setup fee required
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Starting price (does not include set up fee)
- $50 per month
Features
Email & Online Marketing
Using software to manage lists, send emails, automate email campaigns, and track results.
- 8.6WYSIWYG email editor(332) Ratings
Users can create html emails through a drag-and-drop interface, without html coding knowledge.
- 6.1Dynamic content(333) Ratings
Users can tailor email, website or landing page content depending on the viewer or recipient (e.g., email salutations that include the recipient’s name).
- 7.7Ability to test dynamic content(309) Ratings
Users can test dynamic content prior to launching a campaign.
- 6.3Landing pages(362) Ratings
Users can create web pages that are customized to a particular email or campaign. Landing pages often include web forms which can capture visitor information and integrate it back into the MA software.
- 8A/B testing(286) Ratings
Users can experiment with different variations of a campaign and measure results. Testable aspects might include subject lines, header images, or landing page copy.
- 6.4Mobile optimization(355) Ratings
Users can easily optimize emails and landing pages for mobile devices.
- 6.1Email deliverability reporting(363) Ratings
The software helps ensure inbox delivery of email campaigns, through features such as deliverability tests, opt-in management, bounce handling, suppression lists, dedicated IP addresses, and delivery monitoring.
- 8.2List management(364) Ratings
This involves creating, filtering, editing, merging and de-duping lists of contacts.
- 6.4Triggered drip sequences(276) Ratings
The software allows users to set up automatic / drip email campaigns triggered by certain events.
Lead Management
The process of tracking and managing prospective customers from lead generation to conversion.
- 6.4Lead nurturing automation(356) Ratings
Users can set up targeted drip email campaigns based on time intervals or prospect behavior, to automate the lead nurturing process and move them further down the sales funnel.
- 7.9Lead scoring and grading(324) Ratings
Users can set up the software to automatically rate leads based on calculations such as buying signals, such as form submissions, or page views, and automatically qualify leads based on demographic factors.
- 7.7Data quality management(330) Ratings
The software helps store, manage, and organize data around each lead, and avoid data problems such as duplicate contacts or non-standard formats.
- 6.4Automated sales alerts and tasks(299) Ratings
The software helps ensure that a sales person is notified of lead activity and can act on the information in a timely fashion.
Campaign Management
Users can schedule campaigns and/or events with reminders, announcements, etc.
- 6.4Calendaring(305) Ratings
The software helps users maintain a calendar of all marketing activities.
- 6.2Event/webinar marketing(251) Ratings
Users can streamline event marketing with features such as personalized invitations, registration, reminders and post-event follow-ups.
Social Media Marketing
Using social media networks to help amplify marketing endeavors.
- 6.4Social sharing and campaigns(342) Ratings
Users can incorporate social share buttons into campaigns to allow recipients to easily share content. Users can track shares as well.
- 6.4Social profile integration(331) Ratings
The software incorporates social profile data and social share histories to enhance segmentation and scoring of contacts.
Reporting & Analytics
Users can report on and analyze usage, performance, ROI, and/or other metrics of success.
- 7.9Dashboards(366) Ratings
Users can create, customize and share dashboards, which provide an overview of the most important metrics.
- 8.1Standard reports(362) Ratings
The software offers pre-built reports with metrics standard to the category.
- 7Custom reports(324) Ratings
Users can create custom reports.
Platform & Infrastructure
Features related to platform-wide settings and structure, such as permissions, languages, integrations, customizations, etc.
- 7.6API(251) Ratings
An API (application programming interface) provides a standard programming interface for connecting third-party systems to the software for data creation, access, updating and/or deletion.
- 7.2Role-based workflow & approvals(280) Ratings
Permissions to perform actions or access or modify data are assigned to roles, which are then assigned to users, reducing complexity of administration.
- 5.9Customizability(303) Ratings
Users can customize their instance with features like custom fields and custom objects.
- 7.8Integration with Salesforce.com(228) Ratings
The software can integrate with Salesforce.com bi-directionally, allowing for data syncs, activity alerts, campaign triggers, enhanced reporting, and lead assigning.
- 7.9Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM(96) Ratings
The software can integrate with Microsoft Dynamics CRM bi-directionally, allowing for data syncs, activity alerts, campaign triggers, enhanced reporting, and lead assigning.
- 7.7Integration with SugarCRM(90) Ratings
The software can integrate with SugarCRM bi-directionally, allowing for data syncs, activity alerts, campaign triggers, enhanced reporting, and lead assigning.
Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is HubSpot Marketing Hub?
HubSpot Marketing Hub Features
Email & Online Marketing Features
- Supported: WYSIWYG email editor
- Supported: Dynamic content
- Supported: Ability to test dynamic content
- Supported: Landing pages
- Supported: A/B testing
- Supported: Mobile optimization
- Supported: Email deliverability reporting
- Supported: List management
- Supported: Triggered drip sequences
Lead Management Features
- Supported: Lead nurturing automation
- Supported: Lead scoring and grading
- Supported: Data quality management
- Supported: Automated sales alerts and tasks
Campaign Management Features
- Supported: Calendaring
- Supported: Event/webinar marketing
Social Media Marketing Features
- Supported: Social sharing and campaigns
- Supported: Social profile integration
Reporting & Analytics Features
- Supported: Dashboards
- Supported: Standard reports
- Supported: Custom reports
Platform & Infrastructure Features
- Supported: API
- Supported: Role-based workflow & approvals
- Supported: Customizability
- Supported: Integration with Salesforce.com
- Supported: Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM
- Supported: Integration with SugarCRM
HubSpot Marketing Hub Screenshots
HubSpot Marketing Hub Video
Visit http://www.youtube.com/user/HubSpot to watch HubSpot Marketing Hub video.
HubSpot Marketing Hub Integrations
- NetSuite ERP
- Pipeliner CRM
- Salesforce Sales Cloud
- unbounce
- Survicate
- GaggleAMP
- SnapEngage
- Boingnet
- Wrike
- Wistia
- Pipemonk
- Zendesk Suite
- FreshBooks
- PandaDoc
- Perfect Audience
- Eventbrite
- Teamwork.com
- GoTo Webinar
- WorkflowMax
- SurveyMonkey
- Shopify
- Smartling
- BrightInfo
- Invoca
- DataHero
- Dropbox Sign
- Leadpages
- Dropbox
- Google Drive
- WordPress
- BigCommerce
- Uberflip
- Zoho CRM
- Zerys
- Infer
- GlobalMeet Webinar, superseded by GlobalMeet Webcast
- Membrain
- SalesforceIQ
- Modus
- inboundli
- Zapier
- Appcues
- Salesforce Marketing Cloud Interaction Studio, on marketing cloud
- Sugar Sell (SugarCRM)
- Microsoft Dynamics 365
- Zendesk Sell
- Gravity Forms
- SlideShare
- Seventh Sense
- UberConference
- by Dialpad
- Magento Commerce Cloud (formerly Magento)
- BlogMutt
- Pocket & Instapaper
- Pipedrive CRM
- Wufoo Forms
- BoostSuite
- GoChime
- Scripted
HubSpot Marketing Hub Competitors
HubSpot Marketing Hub Technical Details
Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
---|---|
Operating Systems | Unspecified |
Mobile Application | Apple iOS, Android |
Supported Countries | United States, Argentina, Austria, Australia/Cocos/Christmas Island, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland/Aland Islands, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, India, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom |
Supported Languages | English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish |
Frequently Asked Questions
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(2140)Attribute Ratings
- 9Likelihood to Renew371 ratings
- 9.1Availability25 ratings
- 8.9Performance17 ratings
- 9Usability106 ratings
- 8.4Support Rating88 ratings
- 9.1Online Training26 ratings
- 9.1In-Person Training8 ratings
- 7.3Implementation Rating48 ratings
- 7.3Configurability2 ratings
- 7.3Product Scalability7 ratings
- 8.9Ease of integration5 ratings
- 9.1Vendor pre-sale3 ratings
- 9.1Vendor post-sale3 ratings
- 8.9Email Marketing8 ratings
- 8Lead Management5 ratings
- 6.4Reporting & Analytics5 ratings
- 8.9CRM Integration5 ratings
Reviews
(626-650 of 654)- The dashboard statistics were very important to my team. I was able to tell my management about the how we were tracking on leads we've received on a daily basis against our goals, last month or last three months, or even last year. The reporting in general was quite useful - being able to look at different time periods for board reports.
- The salesforce integration was essential for our sales team. Lead handling was simplified - prior to HubSpot, we were capturing leads in email, then recreating the lead in Salesforce. It was arduous and time consuming.
- Immediate creation of landing pages. This is something I miss greatly in my new position at a different company. We could whip out a customized landing page in a matter of minutes. And the tracking URLs were useful in comparing the performance of sources.
- No need for heavy IT involvement. The only thing we needed to get set up with HubSpot were a few minor details. The rest was up to us.
- Some of the updates to the dashboard in particular caused some issues with no data for several hours.
- The update to the email templates caused some issues with our existing templates. We also disliked that we couldn't use anchor text/tags to jump down to content in our newsletter unless it was in the web version.
- The requirement to move to HubSpot 3 was to create a new subdomain to host new landing pages. We actually decided against the upgrade since we had so much on the existing subdomain.
HubSpot - Efficient addition to our Office
- We have been able to use the reporting functions of HubSpot to see what happens when we send out an E-Blast and been able to make improvements based on the success of the blast.
- We have been able to very easily integrate the landing pages on our website for easier reporting and faster lead generation to our team.
- Have been able to set up E-Blasts ahead of time and make changes easily and efficiently to save time.
- I really wish that the revisit notifications off of our website were as easy to auto send as the original visit notification. At this point I have to go thru them individually and then log on to HubSpot to see which territory it goes to and then forward manually.
Hubspot is marketing 101 for dummies!
- The ability to easily edit your website.
- The reports and easy access of analytics.
- The prospects tool is FANTASTIC!
- The support, academy, webinars, forums, etc. are a great learning tool and help with my overall knowledge of current marketing.
- They hold their price for what you FIRST paid - they do not do increases. That is unheard of!
- I really have no complaints, Hubspot is always changing and adding new features. They stay ahead of the curve as far as the improvements to their software.
Everything Under One Roof
- Great for running long-term, holistic marketing programs vs. short-term campaigns
- Manage every digital marketing tactic from one platform
- Closed-loop reporting with Salesforce CRM integration
- Excellent support
- Lack of custom conversion funnels & revenue performance metrics
- Pricing is getting complex and high
- Social media tools are limited
Great tool for Marketers of all Experience Levels. Allign your Sales & Marketing efforts today!
- Training: Hubspot does an excellent job of providing live and recorded webinars to help you implement their product and even develop strategies you might not have previously considered.
- A/B Testing: Quickly implement a/b testing across landing pages, email or CTAs.
- Content Creation: Hubspot allows users without programming knowledge to easily and quickly create custom landing pages. Also their publishing tools make updating your blog or social media effortless.
- Support: Although they are overall very helpful and eager to assist, there were a few times where we received conflicting answers from different team members.
- More Sales Data: They should have a dashboard or tab completely dedicated to sales, not just what's listed under the main "Marketing Performance" dashboard. I understand we can create custom reports but I'd like to see greater insights right from the site itself.
Get increased visibility with HubSpot
- HubSpot provides tutorials on each of their areas, i.e. blogging, landing page creation, etc. They are interactive with valuable workshops.
- HubSpot's technical support is top notch, solves all problems and has no problem walking you through their solution process
- HubSpot's tools have increased our companie's SEO and brand awareness while providing us with an increased number of leads
- HubSpot consistently updates their tools and communicates the changes in a very clear way
- HubSpot has helped to make my understanding and use of their product, very painless. The entire methodology is very user friendly.
- HubSpot "professors" go out of their way to provide information not necessarily featured on their site, i.e., color zilla
- More detailed tutorial on how to get started with social media, i.e. how to set up a Twitter account, follow other subscribers, etc.
- Training sessions available at their site for in depth, dedicated learning
- Better LinkedIn functionality
Don't miss out on HubSpot!
- HubSpot is extremely user friendly and easy to train new users which is very important so mistakes are minimal.
- HubSpot's customer service and support are always helpful and readily available. You can call them with any questions/problems and they work to solve your issue immediately.
- One of my favorite tools is the Social Inbox feature. With HubSpot, you can keep track of all Social Media and measure the effectiveness and reach of each post. They also make it easy so you can schedule posts on all social platforms for multiple users.
- HubSpot integrates with CRMs like Salesforce.com so you can track leads and grow your database. A huge issue for many businesses is not knowing where your leads come from, HubSpot gives you the origin of each lead so you can target campaigns effectively.
- HubSpot is affordable in comparison to hiring a marketing agency to do your website work especially when they don't have the expertise your in-house employees possess. Definitely worth the investment.
- I think websites who use HubSpot would look fresher and more professional if they had better graphic features, more fonts and additional layouts. Any business who is doing things themselves wants everything they do to look the best it possibly can.
- Call to Action buttons are too simplistic and they should have more options so the CTAs don't look the same throughout the site.
- The start up costs are expensive for small businesses.
Hubspot works for small busienss
- My blog page is an organized and destination spot for people who look for my business material. It's helped generate leads.
- The investment level for a small business like myself is affordable. I feel we get a good ROI based on the investment we make each month.
- They have a strong support team that is courteous and professional to help me when I have problems.
- At times their contact/prospect tool doesn't work. At others it's confusing when they make an upgrade and I miss it. Each time I've had issues they've been good about helping me.
- Some of the emailing tools could be a little easier to use.
Hubspot Can Help You Attract, Convert, and Close.
- As a company that relies on analytics and data for our own marketing and sales as well as that of our clients, Hubspot is an invaluable tool.
- It's close loop analytics allows us to make educated decisions with regard to attracting visitors, converting leads, and closing customers.
- Hubspot is imperative for any company that has any desire to experience success in their marketing endeavors.
- With regard to improvement, the user interface could be more intuitive.
- It would be beneficial if more thought was given to different levels of users (e.g. those with no programming/design experience, vs. those with some experience, vs. those with advanced experience).
- From time to time the design elements can be a little buggy.
HubSpot - Marketing Made Easy
- The product is extremely easy to use in general. Most functions are intuitive but if you do get stuck there are plenty of supporting documents to help you out.
- HubSpot truly is an all-in-one tool. The integration with social media is just one aspect of HubSpot that makes your job easier since managing multiple social media accounts is made easy. Scheduling posts on social media is a huge part of social media management and HubSpot's tool makes it easy.
- The ability to track and see what prospects are doing on your site is beyond powerful. Not only can you get real-time data but the historical data available to you is impressive as well. You can use this data to tailor your approach to get more success with your efforts.
- The analytics with HubSpot are impressive but I'd like to see more customizable reports similar to what Google Analytics offers. Once in a while I can't drill down far enough to really get the information that I need.
- You need to have some decent HTML knowledge in order to get the most from HubSpot's email and blog tools. Some customization options are missing that seem like simple additions.
- HubSpot does a great job giving you an overview of how to use their tools but oftentimes it is up to you to figure how to use some of the advanced features/tactics. A little more in-depth knowledge base would be nice to have.
- I love the customer service. It is available at any time and the people (including my personal adviser and the technical side) are patient and knowledgeable.
- I find the reporting information to be extremely useful. It allows me to keep track of my new contacts and my competition, as well as other important metrics.
- The ability to make changes immediately on my website is very important to me. HubSpot's software makes it easy. And in those cases where I get stuck, I know I can always count on support to move me forward.
- The initial training and webinars are fantastic. Very "news you can use" and applicable to growing my business.
- Since starting with HubSpot 13 months ago, my website traffic has increased 500%. I think that speaks for itself.
- The social media monitoring system does not allow us to see new followers.
- On occasion, images loaded in the social media module do not publish.
- Sometimes the keyword function drags; at one point, it took more than 24 hours to update a new keyword.
Hubspot has Us "Drinking the Kool-Aid"
- Email segmentation- the email segmentation feature is the standout thing that sets Hubspot apart from other marketing software tools to me. Getting consumers to open emails these days is the #1 marketing tool, and by delivering content in context, information they can trust and use, you become a valued partner and they become a brand ambassador.
- Content marketing advice- the automatic prompts in the blog template enables users to seamlessly create valuable content. It's really hard to mess up if you're using Hubspot's dashboard and creating consistent content.
- Reporting: Hubspot's reporting tools are very in depth and would satisfy any client looking to know where traffic comes from and what pages are their most popular.
- Reporting: I'd like to be able to see unique monthly visitors, something that Google can easily report.
- List sorting: I'd like to be able to sort the list by column right on the customer dashboard. Date added, forms downloaded, etc
HubSpot - The
- HubSpot ties together all elements of inbound marketing to achieve demonstrable results. You don't need any other inbound marketing software - HubSpot has everything you need from blogging to social media to marketing analytics.
- HubSpot supports the DIY marketing ethos. They provide training and marketing assets that allow small businesses to do big-business marketing. HubSpot not only sells software, they help their customers make money with it.
- HubSpot has reporting that lets you measure every element of your inbound marketing. This helps foster an environment of continuous improvement where you do more of what works and less of what doesn't.
- This may be nit-picky, but I'd like to see HubSpot support Google+ posting in the social media profile.
Personal Opinion of Hubspot
- Hubspot is a well integrated automated marketing platform that is continuously going through stages of improvement. Besides the initial learning curve present with all such products, Hubspot is easy to use and very powerful in managing websites and online marketing strategies.
- The one area that is good but still needs some improvement would be implementation of progressive forms
- They do a great job with technical support, phone rings and a real person sitting in Boston picks up. I've never had a bad experience with their support team, it's obvious the value customer service.
- Hubspot gives us a simple solution to managing our website - blog articles, pages, pictures, galleries, etc. Previously we were reliant on a marketing agency that charged by the hour for the simplest of website revisions.
- They do a great job with teaching you inbound and content marketing best practices. Their user academy is great for taking online training courses to learn more about their tools, they're engaging and interactive.
- Room for improvement with the old blog platform, which our company still remains on. Although this has been updated now with their recently released Content Optimization System (COS), it's a fairly large effort to migrate our pages and website style to this new platform. This blogging tool that I'm currently using could be easier to use relative to arranging pictures and working with bullet and numbered lists. Part of that is because of our site's unique style sheet and I believe many of these "bugs" are fixed in the new COS.
Great Service - Fantastic Customer Support!
- HubSpot's Inbound Marketing Consultations are second to none. They guide me through exercises and explain how to improve my website's content to improve our organic search results
- I used to pay alot of money to Google AdWords and got a ton of garbage hits. I pay less using HubSpot, reduced my Google Adwords to zero and have more quality hits.
- The daily and monthly reports that my team gets from HubSpot's reporting gives us great information on the quality of our website's blogs and key words we are targeting.
- The mobile HubSpot application is good but I wish it had more of the reporting and dashboard features that the full website has
- The product is expensive and the cost will be a factor when we decide to renew or not.
HubSpot Offers Incredible Educational Opportunities
- I love the way HubSpot aggregates data across multiple streams and sources for easy analysis. I am not naturally an "analytics person," yet HubSpot makes it easy for me to identify which types of content are performing well and which are not. It also helps drive my content strategy.
- I like that HubSpot has in integrated blogging platform that you can use on top of an existing CMS. It has fields for optimization tips and makes it easy to insert images and CTAs which are stored elsewhere in the platform.
- HubSpot offers a huge array of learning opportunities. The HubSpot academy is wonderful - I especially appreciate the live webinars where users can ask moderators questions and get advice. They can even "dive in" to your account to check out things you may be missing or help identify why you're having an issue with a particular aspect of HubSpot.
- Customer service is excellent. Friendly and thorough.
- The HubSpot blog CMS can be glitchy at times. If I copy/paste from a Word or Pages document it sometimes inserts spaces that are impossible to eliminate - creating inconsistencies in the way it displays on the page. Also, I would like to be able to create separate Meta page titles (for search engines) and H1 page titles (on-page title).
- Sometimes HubSpot seems to lose our RSS aggregrator, which affects our Marketing Score. Not sure if this is on our end, or theirs, but it does provide for slightly inaccurate competitive analysis.
- I wish it was easier to add contacts to lists without having to take the extra step of adding the contacts first. I would like to be able to add contacts to lists as I create them. Minor concern, I know.
HubSpot - Great product, exceptional company
- It enables our marketing department to effectively measure each of our channels and campaigns so we can tell what's driving leads/customers and what isn't.
- The user interface is very clean and easy-to-use. They are super-aggressive about adding new features and making existing ones better.
- The sales, support, development, and consulting teams are all fantastic. Of all the vendors I use, HubSpot is by far the best in terms of support and customer involvement and appreciation. They are passionate about building a great company.
- The software is reliable. Since HubSpot 3 was released, we've experienced 0 service interruptions.
- Integration between HubSpot and a CRM system (e.g., Salesforce, Dynamics, etc.) is critical for medium/large businesses. Getting the systems connected, for us, was very troublesome. We had to go through a 3rd party for the integration and it hasn't been smooth. I'm told the HubSpot-built Salesforce integration is terrific, but my company doesn't use Salesforce.
- There's a lot of great data in HubSpot--I'd love to see more reports.
HubSpot is a Great Marketing Integration Tool
- It allows me to do setup all of my email, social media, and lead generation landing pages in one spot.
- The timeline is a fantastic way for our sales team to review the history of each of the leads we provide them.
- Automated workflows are set it and forget it and help to move our leads down the funnel.
- The social inbox is a great way to not only publish content, but to review our competitors and keywords in our industry.
- The contact reporting only allows me to view NEW contacts by source (natural search, paid search, social, etc.). I have to use Google Analytics to get a true picture of total leads by source.
- There isn't an easy way (as of now) to integrate with WebEx. As a company that does at least two webinars a month, this leaves a blind spot in our lead score.
- The lead scoring can be challenging. I wish there was more guidance on how to set it up in a way that has been proven to work for other clients.
To HubSpot, or Not To Hubspot. That is the question.
- Provides step by step recommendations.
- Offers easy to read reporting
- Lead capture forms that do not attract spam
- Instant social sharing
- Great webinars and support
- Clunky content management system. Had to move our site to Wordpress and use the Hubspot plugin.
- Workflows are not designed for a novice, must be more advanced therefore a lot of time required to use a product designed to save marketer time.
- Lacks Revenue Performance Management (RPM) features like churn from sales funnel stage to stage. Can be done with CRM integration.
If a business has 5 or more employee's -- Hubspot is a great marketing automation software solutions. Have each member take responsibility for blogging and assign one person to each section of the dashboard. Combined with CRM it is one of the best closed-loop solutions you will find.
If Revenue-Performance Management is a part of your strategy, Hubspot is not the answer.
If you need help with Hubspot, please let me know!
HUBSPOT
- It is very easy to use, analytics are great, and it has some great 3rd party vendors and a marketplace.
- Limited design capabilities and templates. The framework is very simple and it's very easy to make a page or a form, but it's difficult to do anything more custom that goes beyond the HubSpot templated approach. For this reason, we host some sub-sites build in Bootstrap externally but it's difficult to integrate these sites with the main HubSpot site. SInce these sites are hosted externally, this also creates a problem for web analytics.
- Really only wants to track one blog.
HubSpot - Highly Recommended for Inbound Marketing
- The product is not just the software. We had a great experience with their services team which was like a "coaching relationship" so they sent standard homework assignments and lined up 30-minute meetings every-other-week. This coaching relationship solved the problem of "we have lots of ideas but we don't execute them".
- Hubspot automated the KPIs we needed to present at our board meetings and showed trends in traffic, traffic source, keyword search, landing page conversion rates etc.
- Before Hubspot, creating a landing page required a lot of time and planning. With Hubspot, it was easy for us to create dozens of landing pages and we could create one for a specific campaign in less than an hour! This meant more targeted marketing and better visibility into campaign performance.
- I don't think the nurture program (e-mail campaigns) were very good as compared to Pardot, Eloqua, or Marketo, for example.
- The social media features were limited and I never figured out how to leverage these - for example, it would be nice if HubSpot had the equivalent of HootSuite integrated so it could send out tweets on a schedule etc. But if there was such functionality, I never saw it!
I like, almost love.
- The tracking system is really useful to determine how many times a lead has been touched, this allows us to track ROI and pinpoint exactly where and when we captured a lead, and what actions it took to nurture them to a Sales Qualified Lead and finally to a Closed/Won Customer.
- The reporting features are useful in determining ROI on campaigns, specifically for Social Media, which has always been a problem for us to measure in the past.
- The Smart CTA (Calls to Action) functions allows us to create unique, relevant and personalized content tailored to our audience, thereby improving our lead nurturing campaigns.
- Sometimes it's difficult to figure out how something works without doing research outside of the application. Language can often be confusing within the application. It's definitely improved since our initial use and continues to do so.
- The number of steps it takes to make styling and template changes is aggravating. To change a button color, for example, one would have to go back into the style manager which lives in an entirely separate area, either edit or clone the current style (in case you only wanted it changed on ONE page), and then return to the landing page editor and re-apply the style.
Solid product but could use more custom features
- The product is great for getting leads and tracking them: Once the Wordpress plugin is set-up, we get a ton of user data. We've been using the software for about 3 months now. We've uploaded multiple offers including some newsletter signup forms. So we get a bunch of leads through that. It keeps us in the mentality of creating content constantly.
- Custom configuration: The issue here is creating custom looking landing pages by ourselves. We use templates and can do some simple modifications but you have to know a lot more CSS/html to do anything significant. They have an API, but that's a bit more hardcore than the average person is going to deal with. I just tried including our standard page footer on a landing page but it was hard to do (so I stopped).
Thoughts on Inbound13 and Hubspot
- At the moment it has helped me understand the level of prospect engagement. It has allowed me to segment potential students and cater my messages to where they are in the sales cycle.
- At the moment, I have not used enough to make this determination.