HubSpot is an all-in-one platform built on the concept of hubs. A HubSpot seat, the equivalent of a Salesforce license, grants you access to your organization's hubs.
If you are using HubSpot in any capacity, you have access to the CRM. Marketing Hub is the most popular hub, with features like email marketing, campaign management, and social media tools. Content Hub is designed for content marketing, with an AI writer, a content repurposing tool, and a brand voice manual for on-brand content. Other Hubs include Commerce Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, Operations Hub, and CMS Hub.
There are three levels of access: Starter, Professional, and Enterprise.
Marketing Starter has basic marketing features similar to those of a tool like Mailchimp. Professional is a more advanced platform with attribution reporting, automation, and some integrations. Enterprise includes every available feature.
To use the HubSpot Salesforce integration, you need at least a Professional subscription, as it is not available on the Starter level.
As of 2024, the new menu in HubSpot is on the left-hand side. The list includes Workspaces, CRM, Marketing, Content, Commerce, Automations, Reporting, Data Management, and Library. Each button breaks into sub-categories for each Hub. This is the equivalent of Lightning Apps in Salesforce.
One of the main differences in the views in HubSpot and Salesforce is that you can customize your navigation in Salesforce using the Lightning App Builder, whereas you can’t change the navigation per user or app in HubSpot.
Next, your HubSpot settings, properties, and integrations are managed from the Settings menu in the top right corner. This is the same as in Salesforce, but unlike Salesforce, automation and workflows are not managed from Settings.
General settings and Notification settings are managed in this section.
Under General settings, users can set their own preferences and customization for email integrations, their calling connection with HubSpot, and more.
As an admin in Salesforce, you can assign a Lightning app to your team members so they see that specific homepage every time. You can use presets in HubSpot to achieve a similar effect. Individual users can select their homepage through the Settings menu. Users can also set working hours, which helps allocate workload.
In the Notification settings, every HubSpot user can customize the notifications they receive through desktop, apps, and emails.
You want to ensure that users have the Workflows tool's notifications activated. Otherwise, they won’t be notified of new activity, such as newly assigned leads or form downloads.
Similarly, if you have the HubSpot Salesforce integration, the person in charge of managing it should regularly receive Sync Error notifications.
Under Account Management settings in HubSpot, administrators are able to control a wide variety of HubSpot settings, including how HubSpot integrates with other tools, which Users and Teams have access to HubSpot, which security settings are configured, and more. HubSpot’s Account Defaults section also allows you to edit your time zone, fiscal year, company information, and industry.
Under Users & Teams, you can configure user permissions and create users. In Salesforce, you have licenses, which are the equivalent of HubSpot seats. Both platforms have Users. Teams in HubSpot are similar to Salesforce roles. However, Salesforce Permission Sets are more similar to HubSpot Presets, which are a set of preferences for a large group of users.
Data Management settings in HubSpot are similar to Object Manager in Setup in Salesforce. The ability to create new objects, object associations, and properties live in Data Management settings. While Validation Rules exist as a standalone section for each object in Salesforce, Validation Rules are built into the individual properties in HubSpot.
While you can import and export data from several places in the HubSpot platform, a full history of all imports and exports is also available under the Data Management settings in HubSpot.
In Salesforce, the settings for tools similar to HubSpot’s Tools are managed via integrations or 3rd party applications. In HubSpot, all core tools like Meetings, Calling, Help Desk, Payment Processing, and more are managed in a centralized location. This is a core difference between HubSpot and Salesforce as most Salesforce Admins need 3rd party apps to expand Salesforce’s usability, while HubSpot Admins can rely on the in-app features built by HubSpot.
There are four key automation features in HubSpot.
The Workflows tool is a simplified version of Salesforce Flows, automating email campaigns, lead scoring, and team notifications. The Workflows tool provides powerful automation for all objects (even Custom Objects) in HubSpot. You can manage your marketing, sales, and service automations in one tool. If you need to level up the Workflows features available in HubSpot Professional, add custom-coded Workflow Actions and Webhooks with HubSpot Operations Hub.
Sequences are sales automation available under Sales Hub Professional or Enterprise. You can make sequences from pre-made templates for different cases, like prospecting or re-engaging. You can also start one from scratch.
Sales Hub Enterprise allows you to auto-enroll Contacts in Sequences, which is a game-changer for inbound leads, speed to lead, and sales enablement in general. This sets Sales Hub apart from Salesforce in terms of sales enablement.
Chatflows are pop-ups on your website that answer your visitors’ questions with pre-selected answers and direct them to specific content.
Surveys are available under Service Hub. If a Contact meets certain criteria, they can receive a customer experience or NPS survey.
Two objects represent individuals in Salesforce: the Lead and the Contact. Initially, the Lead was supposed to be a record of someone for whom we didn’t have enough information to create a full Contact. But over time, that use has shifted. Now, teams use it to track inquiries from existing Contacts and net new inquiries.
HubSpot has one object to represent individuals. HubSpot’s data model is also Contact-based, meaning everything revolves around the Contact object. They released a Lead object in 2024, but it is closer to an Opportunity than it is to the Salesforce Lead.
PS - Here’s how you can finally drop the Lead object from your Salesforce account.
Campaigns in HubSpot and Salesforce generate a lot of confusion. There’s a lot you can do with Campaigns in the HubSpot Salesforce integration, but they’re different in each platform. A HubSpot Campaign compiles a group of assets created with a shared purpose, such as hosting a webinar or sponsoring a tradeshow. You can have emails, social posts, graphics, landing pages, and more associated with a HubSpot Campaign, and their collective performance will generate Campaign performance reports. Salesforce defines a Campaign as a revenue-driven effort consisting of a group of people; it’s not about the assets but the sales activities targeting these people.
We hosted a live training on leveraging Campaigns in HubSpot and Salesforce. Join the Navigators Community to view the recording and download the resources.
Integrations are apps that connect and work with your HubSpot account, like Gmail, Salesforce, Zapier, or Associ8. You will find these apps through the App Marketplace, which is the equivalent of App Exchange in Salesforce.
Nine times out of ten, you will find an app in the App Marketplace to fulfill the job you’re looking for. However, there are also private apps that allow you to configure specific settings for integration. So, if you create a private app, you can give it permission to access only what it needs to achieve the job, and it will generate an access token to build that integration.
HubSpot used to charge per Contact, which can get pricey if you’re not careful over time. Now, you’re only charged per Marketing Contact, so you want to be very careful in categorizing a Contact as a Marketing Contact. We recommend preventing integrations from automatically creating Marketing Contacts. Instead, we create them as Non-marketing Contacts and use Workflow Logic to set them as Marketing Contacts when they come in.
A quick refresher: A Marketing Contact is the only Contact you can target in your marketing. Aka, you can only send emails or create ad audiences to target Marketing Contacts. You can send sales emails to Non-marketing Contacts, but they have to be paid Marketing Contacts to receive emails automated from a Workflow.
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