How to HubSpot

Hey there - we’re happy you’re here. You’re a part of the esteemed HubSpot community, seeking simplified processes, training material, or a simple refresher for various procedures. That’s where we come in.

Here at Dijy, we strive for the most efficient way to get from A to B (or C, or Z). Our specialists excel in simplifying systems, so we wanted to offer a look into our favorite functions in HubSpot.

Let’s get started!

HubSpot CRM

What is a CRM?

More importantly, why do I need one and how do I maximize it?

A Customer Relationship Management database is essential to any business. It monitors customer lifecycles, relationships, and profitability while automating communications, processes, and reports. It stores information about individual contacts, companies, and requests via object records, and facilitates a streamlined approach through pipelines and playbooks. CRM improves the customer journey by managing direct interactions while empowering efficiency, loyalty, and overall success.

In terms of CRM systems, HubSpot is an incredible tool - did we mention it’s user friendly?

Through HubSpot, Marketing teams can design and publish advertisements, social posts, marketing emails, and surveys. Sales teams can embrace opportunities via pipelines, sequences, tasks, and more. Accounting professionals can rest easy, knowing invoices and payments are securely maintained. Internal Reps can communicate via HubSpot’s inbox, customer portal, and support tickets. Leaders of Operations can monitor KPIs and performance through custom reports, datasets, and SLA dashboards.

According to Mirela Cialai with LinkedIn, 88% of customers believe that the experience a company provides is just as important as its products or services. CRM is a philosophy that revolves around understanding and meeting the needs of customers - it is about building a strong connection, providing personalized experiences, and fostering loyalty.

Here at Dijy, we thoroughly support HubSpot’s omni-channel approach. Additionally, HubSpot’s API leverages tools and services that otherwise may not communicate. Through a variety of apps and native integrations, most mainstream systems can connect and coordinate with HubSpot. By maintaining one central database, time is restored for doing what you do best - building relationships and growing your platform.

We’ve compiled a plethora of HubSpot-specific features & functions below. Let us know what tools you use and how we can maximize your use across the board!

General User Settings

Ok, so you’ve signed up for HubSpot. What next?

Let’s head to your User Settings. In any HubSpot plan, you can easily access Settings via the tool icon in your Navigation toolbar. This will be found at the top of your page in the left-hand corner.

Once you click on this icon, you’ll be transported to the Settings for your entire HubSpot account. Depending on your access, you’ll be able to set account defaults (name, language, date/time) as well as connect your email, calendar, and more.

If you’re a Super Admin, or administrator, you’ll maintain permissions to view virtually all settings within the database, including account security, user permissions, data management, and integrations.

In order to set up your new CRM, you’ll focus first on Company Defaults. If you maintain a seasoned platform, we’re happy to maximize the capability of your current settings. We’ve broken down specifics into individual tutorials, such as Branding, Integrations, and Security - read on below!

Account Defaults

You're well on your way - let's set some Account Defaults.

Account Defaults in HubSpot include visible attributes that remain standard throughout various capacities in HubSpot. These include internal Company Details, Branding, User Default Settings, and Currency.

Company Details display your company’s name in the account, time zone, and fiscal year preference. You’ll also use this section to specify your company’s domain, physical address, and industry. These defaults may show up in HubSpot invoices, marketing email footers, scheduling links, and more.

Branding is where you’ll set your company colors, logos, and favicon. When creating public-facing content, HubSpot will default to these preferences. Your primary and secondary brand colors will be visible in any color picker across the platform, and establishing a theme installs consistency throughout your website and marketing experience.

Logos will be accessible in email templates, quotes, and invoices; your favicon will display in the tab when someone accesses your HubSpot-integrated website.

User Defaults include language, date & time format, and internal email font + color. Emails composed from a contact or deal record directly (as well as sequence emails) will include these defaults. You can also set capacity limits for users assigned chat conversations.

Currency can only be set by authorized users or Super Admins. You’ll use this setting to indicate the preferred currency for deal amount totals, account payments, invoices, and payment links in estimates.

This is also the currency used in deal reports. You may edit the exchange rate and format of this currency, and if you have Starter, Professional, or Enterprise, you can add multiple or custom currencies for deals and internal use.

HubSpot Branding

Dijya know? You have an internal Brand Kit in HubSpot!

This feature is found in the Branding Tab of your Account Defaults. This brand kit allows your company to instill consistency in colors, fonts, logos, and more for all users across the board.

To understand the capacity of your brand kit, head to My Brand Kit in your settings. You’ll be able to upload Logos for customer-facing content, such as marketing emails and forms. Your Favicon is a small image displayed proudly next to your page title in the one’s browser tab.

For ease of color usage throughout emails, reports, and templates, you can set brand colors as primary and additional colors in the Colors setting. Brand Colors create consistency and rapport through recognition and brand identity.

Brand colors also give your company a competitive edge within the digital world we thrive in today. To learn more about the benefit of brand colors, head to this HubSpot blog post and choose the best colors to represent your company.

System page designs and blog format can be set via Themes, where you’ll select a theme that best suits your brand’s initiative. A theme is a set of modules, templates, global content, and default style settings that can be used to build or embellish a website. HubSpot provides a plethora of theme options, including contemporary, technical, eccentric, and more.

Finally, establish your Brand Voice in HubSpot by submitting a writing sample, or copy, which AI can use to replicate your tone throughout content. You can use this feature to update retroactive material and represent your company’s unique personality.

HubSpot’s branding defaults are powerful in creating clear, consistent, and concise material for customer-facing content. Don’t hesitate to use custom design tools and pickers to establish the brand kit of your dreams - the quality will speak for itself!

HubSpot Integrations

Why integrate? To innovate, of course!

While HubSpot is an incredible system on its own, we all know that you have pre-existing relationships with other apps or needs beyond the CRM. That’s ok - we do, too! That’s why HubSpot developers and partners have worked tirelessly to create a multitude of Integrations and Marketplace Apps to facilitate your overall user experience.

Firstly, what is an integration? An Integration allows an existing tool or software to share data through one-way or two-way synchronization. Let’s say you have a library of contacts or jobs in one system and you’d like HubSpot to display the same data. Not to worry! That’s where integrations through apps, API, or custom coding come in.

To access your HubSpot integrations, you’ll head to your HubSpot settings > Integrations > Connected Apps under Account Setup. In order to locate the specific tool you already use or explore in-app solutions, you’ll want to visit to the infamous App Marketplace.

HubSpot’s App Marketplace is a digital store for perusing tools and plug-ins, including revenue platforms, sales software, automation enhancements, and more. Not only does the Marketplace connect your existing tools, but it can provide the right apps to help you grow your business.

In Marketplace, you’ll want to use the search feature to locate the tool or app solution. You can add filters, describe a scenario, or type in the physical name of the tool you’re hoping to connect. Select between the provided options to compare suggestions, and once you’ve discovered the solution that’s best for you, you’ll simply click Install App in the upper right-hand corner. It’s really that easy!

Some integrations will require further verification, such as logging in on the existing portal. You may need to add HubSpot to that tool’s internal integration settings as well. If you have any troubles, read the Setup Guide under “resources” or contact HubSpot support.

It’s important to note: HubSpot partners and developers are constantly working on new solutions, so if you don’t immediately locate your tool or ideal app solution, check back each quarter and see what stands out. You can also utilize a software called Zapier to create custom integrations through “Zaps,” or custom code.

If you're looking to consolidate or retire anything in your current tech stack, check out this article in The Dijest. Prior to installing a new app or solution, it's important to consider what tools are serving your business versus those that are, quite frankly, collecting dust.

Here at Dijy, we’re constantly designing new methods to push data from one end to another, and our developers are key to providing a seamless integration experience through HubSpot’s hosted apps or custom connections. Let us know how we can improve your experience!

Create a User

Welcome aboard, new users!

Congratulations on expanding your team - we’re so excited for you. In order to add this team member to your HubSpot portal, you’ll first need to Create a User in HubSpot. HubSpot maintains very simple steps to invite someone new to your portal, so let’s dive in on how to add a new user and set up their permission settings.

Invite a New User

1. Head to Users & Teams under Account Setup in your HubSpot Settings. This is best performed on a desktop computer.
2. On the Users tab, click Create User above the existing users.
    
   1. You’ll be prompted to add an email address for this user. The address will be this user’s login to your HubSpot portal.
   2. You’ll also need to set up permissions for this user. HubSpot will provide you a template based on default suggestions, or you can opt to customize their permissions individually. This includes access to various Hubs and permissions to view, edit, delete, or download secure records. (Dijy Suggestion: Start with a template - permissions can be changed by an admin at any time.)
      
      
   3. Once you’ve reviewed and confirmed permission preferences, HubSpot will allow you to send an invitation to the contact via email or natively, by logging into HubSpot. If you’d prefer they simply receive log-in access, select the “Don’t send an email invite” prompt below “Invite your teammate to HubSpot.”
      
      
   4. If you opt to send an email, they will receive an invitation to Join the team in their inbox.
3. Once this user has successfully logged in, they’ll become familiar with their personal portal interface. For example, if they receive Marketing permissions, they’ll be able to access your Marketing Hub (otherwise, it won’t show up).
4. If this user is an admin or sales personnel, it may be helpful to update their HubSpot Seat. Please review your subscription’s seat allotment at the Seats tab in your Users & Teams setting.

Assign Permission Sets

1. While in your Users & Teams settings, head to the Permission Sets tab.
2. Click on the title of the permission set you’d like to assign.
3. Navigate to the Users section of this set.
4. Type the name of your new user and click Save in the upper right-hand corner. This set will be applied immediately.

HubSpot Security

Within the world of technology, we must acknowledge the risks of cybersecurity and how we can best protect our sensitive data.

HubSpot’s security features are resolute, innovative, and effective, leading the market in terms of privacy and protection. According to Manobyte, “HubSpot’s inbound marketing and sales software is now the leading inbound platform in the world.

Tens of thousands of customers in 90+ countries use HubSpot to attract, engage and impress customers in an ongoing way. It features the capacity for blogging, SEO, social media publishing and monitoring, email marketing, website content management, reporting, and analytics all in one integrated platform.

This award-winning application brings service and sales teams more leads, prospects, customers and conversions than they thought possible. However, HubSpot is also extremely secure. Businesses that generate and work with highly sensitive data such as in the banking, legal and healthcare sectors can rest assured that all required precautions for data safety are being taken.”

Within your Security settings, you can set your session timeout preferences, login settings, and 2FA authentication requirements, view activity logs, and establish appropriate IP addresses and ranges for login.

These security settings will be default for all users - however, each user can further enhance their security settings within their general security preferences. This includes password reset, adding a trusted phone number, two-factor authentication, and session termination. Determine what's best for your team and communicate with each user to ensure security is a top priority across the board.

Objects & Records

Your business is unique - you need contacts, companies, and projects in HubSpot. Don’t worry, there’s an Object for that.

In the HubSpot CRM, Objects are data entities used to organize and manage information about your business relationships and activities. Each object stores relevant details and tracks interactions, helping you efficiently manage and analyze your customer interactions and business processes. Objects contain data in the form of Properties to indicate specific information or actions required throughout that object’s journey with your company.

HubSpot's Default Objects include: Contacts, Companies, Deals, Tickets, Leads, Quotes, Invoices, Products, Payment Links, Lists, Forecasts, Activities, Campaigns, Marketing Events, Workflows, and Custom Objects. And yes - objects can be Associated, i.e. represented on and connected to another object’s record.

Contacts are the clients you interact with - HubSpot stores their details, past engagements, and sales so you can easily retain the relationship. Companies are the organizations these people belong to or businesses you work with; company records help you keep track of who’s connected to whom and what role they hold within the company.

Deals are qualified opportunities or confirmed sales, with stages to track your progress and timelines to keep you on track. Tickets function as service requests, systematically addressing customer inquiries and concerns. HubSpot's new Help Desk displays conversations and tickets together to ensure every problem is resolved promptly. All of the pieces fit together to provide transparency on your clients' journey, sales process, and customer service endeavors.

In our humble opinion, the best object feature in HubSpot is Record Customization. Each object's details and activities are displayed through Record Views within HubSpot's interface. This includes a left-hand and right-hand sidebar, each of which contain custom fields and associations. The central overview can be customized to include reports, property tables, and engagements logged within that specific object.

Through HubSpot’s settings, you can customize record views, association cards, and object creation forms to collect and share the information of your choosing. These views can be specific to teams, and can utilize conditional logic through dynamic sections for greater efficiency.

A Unique Identifier, such as the Record ID, is a unique property assigned to each record in the HubSpot database. This unique identifier allows internal functions to identify or update that specific record, such as bulk imports, workflows, or advanced filters in reports. While names may differ to the naked eye, HubSpot’s backend monitors unique identifiers to keep everything neat and concise. For example: deduplication can occur natively due to two contact records maintaining similar email addresses but differing record IDs.

While integrating HubSpot into your day-to-day, it’s important to consider how the default objects compliment the needs of your business. Let’s say you collect recurring donations and rely on deals to document individual donations, so you'd prefer another independent object to represent the donation subscription. Depending on your subscription, Custom Objects can be created to associate with other records and behave similarly to default objects. If you're looking for custom object use cases, this reference by Vendelli contains multiple real-world applications.

One commonality between storing information and customizing an object's data includes HubSpot Properties. Learn more about the variety of properties and multiple use cases below!

HubSpot Properties

Your users are added and settings are air-tight. Now, how’s that data looking?

HubSpot Properties, or custom fields, are individual data points which store information on individual records. You may be familiar with fields on other CRM or data-entry platforms, and HubSpot maintains a library full of default properties to represent important values for each object. However, what happens when you require more than what’s provided? Never fear - Dijy is here.

Properties are a great way to specify details, create custom form questions, and build analytical reports. For instance, you can rely on HubSpot’s Record Source and Create Date default properties to determine how and when that record originated. You can also create custom properties, such as a Project Requested dropdown to clarify services required. Let’s dive first into default properties, use cases, and when to dip your toe into HubSpot’s custom field selections.

Default Properties are fields provided by HubSpot to store data which can be applicable to most business models. When building a custom record view or form, one can use First Name, Last Name, Company Name, Phone Number, and Email to create a contact or company. HubSpot includes Lead Source and various Lifecycle properties to track the status of each client or business stored in the platform. Users can apply an Amount to deal records, indicating the price point or budget for a specific project. Additionally, there are numerous date properties which are set on an automatic basis, such as Create Date and Last Activity Date. 

However, most businesses require unique data for storage and engagement purposes. In the event that a default property does not fulfill the needs of your company or vision, you can create a new Custom Property. Custom properties include:

• Dates
• Numbers
• Free text fields
• Dropdowns
• Single-select
• Multi-select/radio-select checkboxes
• Calculations

Please note: most objects in HubSpot contain default and custom field options. However, some property customization options are limited to the object they belong to. For instance, calculation properties are not available for invoices. Read more about creating and editing properties in HubSpot's Knowledge Base.

For help with customizing or cleansing your current properties, reach out to the Dijy team. We’re happy to discuss your current use of HubSpot and implement changes that will introduce greater efficiency with data tracking across the board.

Looking for more?

Don't worry - there's more to come.

We are constantly enhancing portals here at Dijy, and as we continue to establish efficient methods for HubSpot functions, we'll be sure to add on.

In the meantime, don't hesitate to reach out if we can be of service. Our team of professionals work with clients of various industries and experience, and it's our pleasure to customize, build, and integrate to your satisfaction. By trusting a certified HubSpot partner to empower your team, you're good to grow.