Yes, we get that question a lot, and we admit that when we first considered options for a CRM system five years ago, and then two years later as a CMS, we also thought it was expensive! Now, however, when we got to know the system and use it across the team, and in so many different ways, it feels really affordable, but above all incredibly good. HubSpot is a large platform with many areas of use, so users obviously get the best value for it if it is used across many of these areas. We thought that there might be someone out there who is currently considering HubSpot as a system and we thought we would help you with arguments why we think it is worth every penny.
"After careful consideration, we chose HubSpot, because you get a 360 degree view of the customer that you do not get in any other solution."
- Robert Bråkenhielm, Sales Manager, Resultify
What is included in HubSpot's platform?
As we wrote earlier, HubSpot is not a niche product - it is broad and thus powerful for a large part of the company. Some of the uses and features we would like to highlight are:
- HubSpot is a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system - this part is always included and is actually free. You can import up to one million contacts for free and only pay for the contacts you want to target . Why is this important? Well, a CRM is the foundation for a smooth sales process, the basis for who can receive your newsletters and crucial for you to have a functioning customer service.
- HubSpot is also a CMS (CMS = Content Management System). Many people don't know this - you can build your entire website inside HubSpot! This is actually also free for basic features. There are an incredible number of design frameworks that are ready for you to use and can of course be adapted to your needs (we can recommend the one we built ourselves: Nimbly).
- User-friendly CMS - this is a separate point, because you don't have to be a developer to build a simple website. You can get started thanks to user guides and intuitive modules.
- Web development system - since HubSpot is a CMS, you can also develop your web inside HubSpot. You can optimize websites, add features, develop designs, etc.
- Design - You can create beautiful designs inside HubSpot using their Design Manager. For example, you can fix with layouts, or customize code, etc.
- Sales - There is an entire Hub dedicated to sales - HubSpot is largely a sales platform. You have the contact information inside the system, but there are huge opportunities to work with your different leads depending on where in the sales cycle they are. It is possible to follow a contact through the entire customer journey and all its contact points with the company, from completed form to completed purchase. This means it suits companies with longer sales cycles as it provides a holistic view of the customer journey.
- Another powerful way to drive your sales is to work on your marketing. And you guessed it - HubSpot is also a marketing platform. You can work with newsletters, post on your social media, marketing automation, link your Google Ads and META account, write exciting blog posts that are part of your inbound marketing strategy. All these channels and efforts are of course linked to your customer journey and thus make it easy to measure KPIs such as ROAS/ROI.
- All companies that work with sales and marketing need to be good at their analysis - therefore HubSpot is also an analysis tool. You can see statistics from the website, your various sales and marketing efforts, but most interesting is probably still that you can analyze your various leads and where they are in the customer journey. If you can understand this - then you have a much better chance of getting the right message to the right person at the right time.
- A little further up I mentioned that HubSpot can help you with your inbound marketing strategy. Much of HubSpot's basic methodology revolves around this - creating the right content for the user when they need it. It's an incredibly powerful method to use in all communications.
- You can also make your marketing more effective by using HubSpot's Marketing automation system. This involves a range of smart features that you can use to reach out with messages that the recipient wants. For example, you can create smart flows that are triggered when a visitor or newsletter reader acts in a certain way.
- As you can see, there are enormous opportunities in HubSpot - this means that they have a great responsibility to help us customers utilize it in the right way. That's why they put a lot of resources into their solid training platform, user guides, and videos to help you.
- If you feel that there are not enough functions inside HubSpot - then it is actually possible to build smart integrations with other systems. It can be your financial system, event planning or content creation, etc.
We hope that this list gives you a sense of all the great opportunities available in HubSpot. What we find most exciting is that it is possible to follow the visitor on their entire digital journey with you! During this journey, you can also see what results - you no longer have to guess or assume.
More arguments for investing in HubSpot
In addition to all these uses and functions, there are a few more arguments that we want to highlight when considering HubSpot.
- The system itself is incredibly stable and a lot of effort is put into maintenance inside HubSpot, which means that the work done can flow smoothly.
- Constant News & Development - The team at HubSpot releases beta features and news often. They really listen to user feedback and try to implement.
- Hosting, CDN and SSL are included. Yep - you won't have another site to keep track of and won't have an extra bill for this!
- "Unlimited free users" - This means that everyone in the company can get access without having to buy individual licenses, this means that you never have to think about who is "most important" in the team but everyone can get insight.
- HubSpot is rarely, or almost never, down due to technical issues or so-called "bugs" - thanks to their investment in continuous maintenance.
- Yet another benefit of their constant maintenance is that the risk of being hacked is minimal; they don't get hacked. Never say never, but we have yet to see or hear about it. This is thanks to the fact that all infrastructure is centrally managed and they have completely different resources than an individual operator might have.
- "Beta" & "New" - These small signs we often see inside the account. It is clear that HubSpot is actively working on improvements and there are new features all the time. They tend to be released to paying customers first, but most features become available to everyone eventually.
- Security - because a lot of resources are put into the platform, it is also a very secure place. That means customers' data is safe there, websites don't get hacked as we wrote above, and there's rigorous monitoring where DDoS attacks are thwarted by a central team.
- GDPR - HubSpot is dependent on compliance with these laws so they put a lot of effort into making it easier for their customers to comply. Of course, it is always up to each individual company to do the right thing, but HubSpot's system simplifies it significantly!
- The support - we find that HubSpot's support is very fast, they put a lot of effort into helping their customers, which means that we rarely stand and stumble or get stuck.
- Streamline time - because HubSpot contains so many different uses, you can save time by not having to log in and out between platforms, or try to get your analyzes together.
- Enthusiastic users - There are not many people who just like HubSpot - they LOVE HubSpot - thus there is a large forum with HubSpot users where you can get help and inspiration.
Who is the optimal customer for HubSpot?
HubSpot is not for everyone - although we think everyone should try it! If we are to try to define a precise target group for HubSpot, it is:
- Small to medium-sized companies
- Preferably B2B, SAAS companies or focus on lead generation.
- You have a service or product that has a longer buying process - then you can take advantage of the features such as Inbound marketing - you can follow the customer journey and create workflows that can send relevant content to potential customers.
- You want to work on lead generation.
What does it cost - is there a price list?
Now we write a blog post where we say that HubSpot is actually not expensive, but the fact is that it still costs money. In the pricing, they usually take into account the size of the company, the number of users, which hubs you want, etc. so it is difficult for us to write exactly what it costs. The best we can do is refer to HubSpot's own page on pricing - but we recommend that you contact their sales department for a customized quote.
Alternatives to HubSpot? - Well, there are of course!
The goal of this post is not to create a comparison with other tools or platforms, but to mention some tools that customers usually include as alternatives when considering HubSpot, we can mention: Salesforce, Lime, Pipedrive, Dynamics 365.
What do you say - is HubSpot expensive - or not?
If you are thinking about buying CRM or a new website, we really recommend that you consider HubSpot, it is worth its weight in gold! Feel free to book an appointment with us via the form below and we can help you reason and find the best solution for you!