3 HubSpot CRM Hacks Every Marketer Needs to Know

As marketers, we‘re always looking for ways to work smarter, not harder. We want to generate more leads, better leads, and convert those leads into customers as efficiently as possible. A key piece of this puzzle is alignment with our sales team – making sure we‘re not just handing off leads, but empowering sales to close the deal.

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This is where your CRM comes in. And if you‘re using HubSpot, you‘ve got a powerful ally in your corner. The HubSpot CRM is designed to facilitate seamless marketing-sales alignment, with features like contact and company records, deals, tasks, and more.

But here‘s the thing: simply having a CRM isn‘t enough. To really maximize your results, you need to use it strategically. You need to leverage the data and features in a way that informs and enhances your marketing efforts.

That‘s what we‘re diving into today. I‘m sharing three "hacks" – power user moves, if you will – that every marketer should know for getting the most out of the HubSpot CRM. These are techniques that I‘ve personally used and refined over years of working with HubSpot, and that I‘ve seen drive real results for businesses of all sizes.

Whether you‘re a HubSpot veteran or just getting started, these hacks will help you level up your marketing game. Let‘s jump in.

Hack #1: Segment & Personalize with Contact Properties

Personalization is the name of the game in modern marketing. In fact, 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences. But personalization at scale can be challenging – unless you‘re leveraging the power of your CRM.

With HubSpot, every interaction a lead or customer has with your business is tracked and stored on their contact record. This includes form submissions, email opens, page views, sales interactions, and more. You can also add custom properties to capture additional data points that matter to your business.

All of this data provides a rich foundation for segmentation and personalization. For example, let‘s say you want to target contacts who have visited your pricing page multiple times in the past week, but haven‘t reached out to sales yet. Here‘s how you could do that in HubSpot:

  1. Go to Contacts > Contacts and click "Create filter."
  2. Add a filter for "Page views" and set it to "Contains pricing."
  3. Add another filter for "Last page view date" and set it to "Is within the last 7 days."
  4. Add a filter for "Contact owner" and set it to "Is unknown."
  5. Save this view and name it something like "High Intent Pricing Page Visitors."

Now you have a dynamic list of contacts that updates automatically as people meet those criteria. You can use this list for targeted email campaigns, personalized chatbot messaging, or to notify your sales team to reach out.

This is just one example. The possibilities are virtually endless when it comes to using contact properties for segmentation. You can segment based on demographic data, company size, industry, behavior, engagement level, and more.

The key is to think strategically about what data points matter most for your business and your buyer‘s journey. What indicates that someone is ready for a sales conversation? What signals that they might need more nurturing?

By capturing this data in HubSpot and using it to inform your marketing efforts, you‘ll be able to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time – the holy grail of effective marketing.

Hack #2: Trigger Sales Actions with Workflow Automation

Marketing automation is a powerful tool, but it becomes even more impactful when it‘s tied directly to sales outcomes. With the HubSpot CRM, you can use workflows to automate actions and communications based on deal stage changes or other sales activities.

For example, let‘s say you want to ensure that your sales team is following up promptly with new opportunities. You can set up a workflow that triggers when a deal is created, and automatically assigns a task to the deal owner to make a call or send an email within a certain timeframe.

Here‘s how to set that up:

  1. Go to Automation > Workflows and click "Create workflow."
  2. Choose "Deal-based" and select "Enrollment criteria."
  3. For Enrollment triggers, choose "Deal created."
  4. Click "Save" to move to the workflow actions.
  5. Click the "+" icon and choose "Create task."
  6. Configure the task details – for example, "Call new opportunity within 1 business day."
  7. Set the task assignee to "Contact owner" and click "Save."
  8. Activate your workflow.

Now, every time a new deal is created in HubSpot, the salesperson responsible for that deal will automatically be assigned a task to follow up. This helps ensure that no opportunities slip through the cracks and that every lead gets a timely, personal touch.

You can also use workflows to automate lead rotation, deal stage progressions, internal notifications, and more. For example, you might create a workflow that notifies a sales manager when a deal reaches a certain value threshold, or that moves a deal to the next stage after a certain number of engagements.

By automating these sales actions and aligning them with your marketing processes, you can create a more seamless, efficient funnel from first touch to closed-won.

Hack #3: Measure Full-Funnel Impact with Multi-Touch Revenue Attribution

One of the biggest challenges in marketing is proving ROI. It‘s not always clear which tactics and touchpoints are actually contributing to revenue, especially in complex B2B sales cycles where a single deal might involve dozens of interactions over several months.

This is where multi-touch revenue attribution comes in. With the HubSpot CRM, you can track every interaction a lead has with your business, and then attribute revenue back to those touchpoints when a deal closes. This gives you a much clearer picture of what‘s working and what‘s not.

HubSpot offers several attribution models, but one of the most insightful is the full-path model. This model gives credit to every interaction a contact had leading up to a deal close, weighted differently depending on how close the interaction was to the conversion.

Here‘s how to set up full-path attribution reporting in HubSpot:

  1. Go to Reports > Analytics Tools.
  2. Under "Attribution," click "Create new report."
  3. Name your report and choose "Contact attribution report."
  4. Select "Deal revenue" as your attribution metric.
  5. Choose "Full path" as your attribution model.
  6. Define your conversion point (e.g., Deal stage is "Closed won").
  7. Select the interaction types you want to include (e.g., Page views, Form submissions, Sales emails).
  8. Set your report time frame and click "Create."

Now you‘ll have a report that shows you exactly how much revenue can be attributed to each marketing and sales touchpoint. You can see which channels, campaigns, and assets are driving the most value, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

For example, let‘s say you notice that a particular ebook is consistently showing up as a key touchpoint in closed deals. That‘s a signal that you should promote that ebook more heavily, or create similar content on that topic.

Or maybe you see that deals that include a product demo close at a much higher rate and value than those that don‘t. That could prompt you to optimize your demo process and make it a required step for all qualified leads.

Multi-touch attribution provides the insights you need to make data-driven decisions about where to invest your marketing and sales efforts for maximum impact. It‘s a game-changer for proving and improving ROI.

Putting It All Together

These three hacks – segmenting with contact properties, triggering sales actions with workflows, and measuring impact with multi-touch attribution – are powerful on their own. But they‘re even more effective when used together.

Imagine this scenario:

  1. A lead fills out a form to download an ebook on a topic relevant to your product. This action is captured on their contact record.

  2. Based on this engagement, they‘re automatically enrolled in a lead nurturing workflow that delivers additional content over the next few weeks.

  3. Once the lead has reached a certain engagement threshold, a task is automatically created for a sales rep to reach out.

  4. The sales rep has a productive conversation with the lead and creates an opportunity in HubSpot.

  5. As the deal progresses, the contact continues to engage with marketing materials, and each of those interactions is logged.

  6. Finally, the deal closes and revenue is recorded in HubSpot.

  7. In your attribution report, you can see the full path of interactions that led to that closed deal, from the initial ebook download to the final proposal. You know exactly which marketing and sales efforts contributed to that revenue.

This is the power of using the HubSpot CRM to its full potential. By leveraging contact data, automation, and attribution, you can create a seamless, data-driven customer journey that maximizes the impact of every touchpoint.

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are countless other ways to use HubSpot to align and empower your marketing and sales efforts. The key is to continually experiment, analyze, and optimize based on your unique goals and challenges.

Getting Started

If you‘re new to HubSpot or looking to take your skills to the next level, I recommend starting with HubSpot Academy. This free online learning resource offers courses and certifications on all aspects of inbound marketing and sales, including in-depth training on the HubSpot software.

Here are a few specific courses that relate to the hacks we covered today:

In addition to HubSpot Academy, there are many other resources available to help you get more out of the HubSpot CRM. The HubSpot Blog is a great source of tips, tutorials, and thought leadership, as is the HubSpot Community where you can connect with other users and experts.

You can also find a wealth of knowledge on independent blogs and websites (like this one!), YouTube channels, podcasts, and more. The key is to always be learning and experimenting.

Conclusion

The HubSpot CRM is a remarkably powerful tool, but like any tool, it‘s only as effective as the way you use it. By leveraging hacks like segmentation with contact properties, sales automation with workflows, and multi-touch attribution, you can supercharge your marketing efforts and drive real business results.

But remember, these are just a few examples. The real magic happens when you apply these principles to your unique situation and goals. Use these hacks as a starting point, but don‘t be afraid to innovate and customize.

And above all, keep the big picture in mind. The goal of any CRM strategy should be to create a better experience for your customers and a more efficient, effective process for your team. Always ask yourself how you can use the data and features at your disposal to serve those ends.

With that mindset and the practical tips shared here, you‘re well on your way to mastering the art of the HubSpot CRM. Happy hacking!