INBOUND 2021 insights: HubSpot's transformation from funnel to flywheel and further to a full customer-centric platform

Yesterday at INBOUND HubSpot announced some hot new updates that make HubSpot CRM a lot more than just a sales tool. From now on every HubSpot user can think of HubSpot CRM as the heart of scaling business. As the CEO of HubSpot Yamini Rangan expressed, it’s all about buyer empowerment rather than seller enablement. HubSpot has dedicated their work to really put the customer first and the focus has clearly shifted from marketing and demand generation to full customer experience approach where the first touch-points are just a part of a larger, entirely seamless customer journey experience.

Many CRM platforms tend to become over-engineered and complex. HubSpot however, aims to avoid that by developing the product so that in the future HubSpot is the number one tool to meeting customer needs, aligning teams and working smarter without slowing down. Next we will introduce you to our favorite feature launches that from our perspective will definitely be the game changers.

One of the biggest announcements was HubSpot Payments, a feature which will expand HubSpot’s versatility as a full customer journey platform. Commercial processes are an integral part of all businesses and it really makes sense to bring that element closer to the place, where all the other customer relationship data is living. The more you think about it the more it really makes sense! 

Another major announcement is Operations Hub Enterprise, which will provide more tools and possibilities for the people in charge of the revenue operations. Earlier this year released Starter & Professional Ops Hub licences were just a starting point for the full extended rev ops toolkit. If the starting point was to offer possibilities to gather data to HubSpot from different sources, the next step is to help businesses take full advantage of the data and it’s insights. Again, it all starts to make sense now! We couldn’t be more excited about the new Ops Hub features that will be launched soon!

Interested to hear the full list of the newly launched features? In that case we recommend you to continue reading.

The new HubSpot CRM updates can be divided into three sections:

1. Features that make HubSpot’s CRM Platform customizable
2. Features that make HubSpot’s CRM Platform more connected
3. Features that make HubSpot’s CRM Platform more customer-centric

Let’s start with the features that make HubSpot more customizable.

• At INBOUND HubSpot introduced Sandboxes. Sandboxes provide a safe place for users to experiment and test changes without permanently changing data or interrupting the daily work of the company’s marketing and sales teams in HubSpot. The Sandboxes, however, are not the same thing as developer test accounts or cms developer sandboxes. The brand new Sadboxes feature can be used by admins and ops to maximize the potential of HubSpot and to test connections to other systems, for example. Sandboxes can also be used by developers to ensure that the code they have created has the intended impact before actually implementing it. 

In addition to Sandboxes HubSpot introduced brand new Admin Capabilities to the CRM Platform. There are three admin capabilities that make the platform more customizable; the public beta version of Flexible Associations, the Business Units feature and the Permissioning and Governance capabilities.

• Until now associations in HubSpot haven’t allowed customers to really shape their business or processes in the CRM. Associations improvements will change that by enabling functionality such as records, email, workflows and lists across HubSpot. So in other words, Associations give you more control, so your system can 'adapt with you', not the other way around.
• Business units we have already covered in our September HubSpot updates blog post, since the update is already live. Basically, with business units customers can confidently manage contacts, marketing and sales assets, and settings across multiple brands in HubSpot.
• The Permission Sets is a set of additional defaults that help admins create users to make more informed decisions considering the permissions that they should provide users with. This ensures that everyone has the right level of access to your HubSpot account. Admins are now able to review and recommend list of permissions for standard job roles when adding new users to a HubSpot account.

Next up, introducing new features that make the HubSpot CRM platform more connected. HubSpot delivers a more connected experience by offering a comprehensive CRM platform.

• Operations Hub Enterprise, which will be launched soon, saves your time, enables easier reporting for downstream users and provides more consistent and compelling insights. Earlier this year HubSpot launched Operations Hub which connects and tidies customer data, so businesses stay aligned and efficient as they scale. Operations Hub Enterprise brings even more business intelligence features to HubSpot, such as Data sets, Calculations and Snowflake Data Share, enabling HubSpot reporting to support an even wider selection of businesses.

Features that are already live and make HubSpot more connected are reporting related.

• Custom Behavioral Events are an excellent way to take customer micro targeting tactics to the next level allowing customers to segment and trigger actions based on any behavior of their contacts. They also help you craft better customer experience by personalizing your customer’s purchase journey with the specific actions taken by them.
• HubSpot is also re-introducing Custom Report Builder which is likewise live and ready to use. With this feature users can create custom reports on all of their CRM data including companies, deals and contacts and report on custom objects, behavioral events and campaigns.
• Another reporting improvement is Forecasting, also a re-introduced feature. With HubSpot Forecasting you get timely business forecasts on a monthly or quarterly basis on an easy-to-use interface. HubSpot forecasting is also a great tool for forecast planning or holding 1:1s with sales or service teams. What’s new is a Deal splits feature (beta) that allows customers to share credit for a deal between up to five users.

Lastly, there are new features that make the HubSpot CRM platform more customer centric. HubSpot is committed to putting the customer first by delivering features aimed at improving the customer experience.

• At INBOUND HubSpot introduced Payments which is currently available to US customers only. HubSpot Payments natively processes payments within the CRM system and includes three key features; Payment links, Recurring payments and Native quotes and payments integrations. 
• The other new features are customer experience related, such as Customer Portal. Customer Portal is a web page behind a login where customers can access and reply to support tickets. Customer portal encourages customers to get the support they need when they need it and also minimizes repetitive tasks for support reps. This increases transparency and trust between customers and reps.
• Lastly, another feature that makes an impact on customer experience is Custom Surveys that HubSpot introduced a while back. This feature is already live and allows customers to request the feedback they need for specific products or services.

Can’t wait to get all these new features in use? We’re totally with you! In case you need any help with HubSpot, do not hesitate to contact us. See how we can help you by clicking the link below.