I love HubSpot
Updated February 03, 2016

I love HubSpot

Carah Counts | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Professional

Overall Satisfaction with HubSpot

Our company uses HubSpot to manage ALL of our digital marketing efforts. While the day-to-day tasks fall under the Marketing department, our Sales team also uses the platform to gather lead intelligence and track activity (with the SalesForce integration).
Since implementing HubSpot, our digital efforts are much more cohesive... and our team is a lot more knowledgeable and confident in social media, blogging, email campaigns, etc. The Marketing department has also generated more and higher quality leads than we were in the past.
  • Bringing all Marketing efforts together. The platform integrates blogging, email, social media, landing pages, etc. into one place that is easy to use and built for success.
  • Educating customers. The Customer Success and Support teams are always available to help with any campaign. In addition, there is a plethora of resources available in the Marketing library to learn about any topic.
  • Continuous improvement. HubSpot always has their ear to the ground regarding possible upgrades and updates to the system. What's more, when they make a change to the software, they interview several customers prior to implementation to ensure it will be a real enhancement to their system.
  • Customized social media auto-publishing. We love the ability to auto-publish out blog posts to social media, but we have several blogs, and one of them we prefer not to post to our Facebook. I'd love to be able to designate which profiles post which blogs.
  • With all the updates to the software it can get a tad slow sometimes.
  • Employee education
  • Higher lead generation
  • Increased employee productivity
  • Better customer service
When we were initially reviewing marketing automation softwares, we narrowed our search to HubSpot and Marketo. Both tools provide great automation and workflow support, and on the surface level seem to be equals except in price. However, the main reason we decided on HubSpot is that it provides awesome top-of-the-funnel support with strong middle-of-the-funnel tools, whereas Marketo is really focused on lead nurturing. If you are coming to the table with a large list of leads, you may outgrow the software eventually. However, if you are wanting to start from the bottom and generate leads, HubSpot is a no-brainer.
It could make less sense for a company with a huge digital presence, with a ton of leads. That might make more sense for a robust automation tool. On the other hand, if you don't have a ton of leads, make sure to ask during selection that ALL platforms you are evaluating offer TOFU as well as MOFU/BOFU tools. Some are only focused on MOFU, which doesn't help if you have no leads to "automate."

HubSpot Marketing Hub Feature Ratings

WYSIWYG email editor
9
Dynamic content
10
Ability to test dynamic content
Not Rated
Landing pages
10
A/B testing
Not Rated
Mobile optimization
10
Email deliverability reporting
10
List management
10
Triggered drip sequences
10
Lead nurturing automation
10
Lead scoring and grading
8
Data quality management
9
Automated sales alerts and tasks
9
Calendaring
10
Event/webinar marketing
9
Social sharing and campaigns
10
Social profile integration
10
Dashboards
10
Standard reports
10
Custom reports
7
API
10
Role-based workflow & approvals
9
Customizability
10
Integration with Salesforce.com
10
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Not Rated
Integration with SugarCRM
Not Rated

Using HubSpot

5 - Outside of the Marketing department, our Chief Business Development Officer uses HubSpot for reporting and lead intelligence.
1 - Our Senior Infrastructure Engineer had to do some back-end stuff in the beginning to make sure our subdomains were pointing to the correct place, and that our Corporate IP address was filtered from tracking. Before we moved to the HubSpot COS, he was also responsible for updating the HubSpot WordPress plugin whenever necessary. Other than that, he is pretty hands off.
  • Blogging to generate leads
  • Content promotion via social media
  • Lead nurturing via automation/workflows
  • We use the Premier Services to help with content creation
  • Lead scoring
  • Reporting add-on to create dashboards
  • Sites add-on to host website
  • Ads add-on to manage AdWords and LinkedIn Advertising
We have already renewed for one term and I don't see us switching software or leaving HubSpot in the foreseeable future.

Evaluating HubSpot and Competitors

  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Vendor Reputation
  • Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
  • Third-party Reviews
The deciding factor for us was the fact that HubSpot had more TOFU support with strong MOFU follow-through. We didn't come to the table with a huge lead database, so being able to generate leads was very important to us.
At the time I didn't know as much as I thought I did about Inbound Marketing, or about the amazing tools that HubSpot offers outside of the software. Things like:
  • Inbound.org
  • INBOUND Conference
  • HubSpot User Groups
  • Marketing library
  • HubSpot Academy
  • HubSpot Customer Webinars
  • And so much more!
If I knew then what I know now I honestly would've skipped the demos and rigamarole and gone straight to HubSpot.

HubSpot Implementation

Make use of the Inbound Marketing Consultant. This person is going to help you learn the tools and get your first campaigns/blog posts set up, and they are very valuable — especially in the beginning. Also, consider the on-site training in Cambridge, MA. Not only do you get to see the HubSpot Corporate office, but you also get a classroom-style training with the Academy team. It is well worth the investment.
  • Implemented in-house
  • Professional services company
Our internal team implemented the software initially, but we used a third-party team to implement the HubSpot/Salesforce integration.
Change management was minimal - Because this was our first Marketing software, and we implemented it alongside Salesforce, we did not have any issues regarding "change management." We had a very smooth transition.
  • Migration theme - we weren't happy with the blog theme that was set up (the team did it to match our website). We ended up having a custom blog built and purchasing a template for landing pages.

HubSpot Training

  • Online training
  • In-person training
I did the 2-day classroom at HubSpot's corporate office in Cambridge. First off, it was amazing to see their corporate office in general. They have such a cool office environment. But it was also great to have the ability to learn in a workshop format with other HubSpot users and meet my Account Manager/ Inbound Marketing Consultant in person.
I started the HubSpot Academy and I did the online classes to get inbound certified long before purchasing the platform. The format is pretty simple: watch videos, do some workshopping, and then take a test to become certified. The classes are very informative and generally do not take too long to complete. Also, part of your implementation fee includes an Inbound Marketing Consultant who helps set up your first campaigns.
Some members of my team decided to just dive in and learn on their own. This was easy to do because the system is organized very well. Some people had to watch training videos or ask questions about different aspects of the platform, but overall they were able to teach themselves the basics without trouble.

HubSpot Support

The Support team at HubSpot is awesome! They have tons of online support topics to peruse prior to calling, and they offer several ways to get support info (call them, request they call you, send an email). In addition, the Customer Success team is knowledgeable enough in the software to help with questions that aren't software-bug-related.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
No - We have found we don't need Premium Support because the regular ol' support package is fine for our needs!
Yes - Yes! The Support team emailed me back within 5 minutes of my initial request with a detailed list of next steps (even though it was a SalesForce error and not a HubSpot error).
We had a problem with lead intelligence showing up in Salesforce. We tried creating HubSpot users for each Sales team member and having them sign into the HubSpot section of Salesforce but they were getting frustrated with constantly having to sign in. So I reached out to HubSpot support to try and fix the problem. Within 5 minutes I heard from someone who informed me that it was a Salesforce issue not a HubSpot issue, but they still gave me a list of steps to fix the problem!

Using HubSpot

HubSpot is very easy to use now, and is also constantly improving. Where I may have had qualms in the past, the new website, blog, email and editors have removed those. In addition, there are tons of resources in the HubSpot library for how to do anything on the system, as well as having super account managers that are always willing to help!
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
None
Yes - I think the the mobile app is fine. I use it to get live contact updates and post to social media. And it works great for these reasons. I get notifications on new leads as they come in, and I can live tweet photos from wherever I am... I don't really use the reporting feature on a regular basis, but it is nice to know that I have the option if needed.

HubSpot Reliability

With all the new features in HubSpot, the system can get a tad slow sometimes... That said, most of the time it is lightning fast and I have no problems. Because most of the integrations are API, they silently work in the background. I have not had trouble with lag due to HubSpot integration.

Integrating HubSpot

HubSpot has a library of standard integrations that have been set-up. Most often, they can be set up with the click of a button. For many others, a Zapier task can be set up to do what you need.
  • SalesForce
  • GoToWebinar
We hired a third-party expert to manage the integration and set-up with SalesForce. I think it was worth the investment to make sure we got everything set up correctly.
  • File import/export
  • API (e.g. SOAP or REST)

Relationship with HubSpot

The sales rep we worked with was awesome... His first step was to provide us with an inbound assessment and provide recommendations on ways we could improve our existing website, with or without HubSpot. From there, he showed our team a demo of the product and moved along in the sale.
The great thing about this process is that it gave our Executive team peace of mind that the software could help solve our problems, and that we were dealing with a company who cared about our success more than our money.
HubSpot has an awesome implementation team. We had our Account Manager, as well as an Implementation Specialist and an Inbound Marketing Consultant. This team made sure we not only implemented the software correctly, but also that we had the confidence to successfully run our first campaign within the first few months. We didn't initially purchase the classroom training in Boston but later decided to move forward with it.
We did not negotiate pricing during set-up. HubSpot''s standard pricing is pretty fair and straightforward. In fact, they have so many free tools we didn't feel the need. We recently dropped the Content Advantage program and replaced it with the Sites, Ads, and Reporting add-ons, and our Account Manager was able to get us a small discount for the first few months.
HubSpot is very easy to interact with. If I had one tip it would be to not be afraid to reach out to your Account Management and Support teams... They are awesome and always willing to help!

Upgrading HubSpot