Written by: We are big believers in the power of a marketing automation tool and CRM working well together. If you're like many of our clients, you're trying to configure your HubSpot to Salesforce integration.
We've managed several complex HubSpot to Salesforce integrations. We thought it might help to share what we've learned through those experiences.
Side note: Your digital strategy should include CRM and marketing automation in order to get revenue from your website. If you'd like to learn more about this strategy, we offer a one-day, customized diagnostic where you'll learn more about this integration and how your company can use it to realize revenue from the web. Get more information here.
Common HubSpot to Salesforce Integration Questions
- Does HubSpot prevent duplicate email addresses from being uploaded?
Yes. HubSpot will de-duplicate contact records based on email address and will not create two records. - Will HubSpot reject a duplicate email address or overlay the record’s data with the new record’s information?
HubSpot will update a contact record with any new information. For example, say you upload a spreadsheet with contact records to HubSpot. One contact's street address is different than what currently exists in HubSpot. HubSpot will overwrite the existing address with the new one. - Who from our website becomes a lead? Does anyone who fills out a form on our site become a lead? What about somebody who just wants to sign up for our blog?
When someone fills out an offer or contact form on your website, a contact record is created in HubSpot with a lifecycle stage of "Lead." That contact then syncs to Salesforce and creates a new "lead" in Salesforce. If needed, you can change the sync logic to create a new "contact" in Salesforce instead. The sync logic should align with your sales process.
If a visitor only fills out the Subscribe to Blog form, they are by default assigned a lifecycle stage of "subscriber" rather than "lead." They will therefore not sync to Salesforce. But, you can change settings to have those subscriber contacts sync to Salesforce if you'd like. - Which contacts should we sync to Salesforce? All contacts or just qualified contacts?
There are two schools of thought when it comes to CRM contact management. Which approach is right for you depends on your sales team and your sales process:
One is that you should sync all contacts to your CRM. You can then manage lifecycle stages and sales readiness from your CRM platform. This gives your sales team maximum visibility to all contacts. You'd use this approach if the sales team wants to contact all leads regardless of sales readiness.
The other approach is that you should only sync qualified prospects that should be actively worked by your sales team. There are two main benefits to this approach. It keeps the CRM clean and allows your sales team to focus on viable opportunities. You'd use this approach when the sales team is more particular about wanting just "sales ready" leads. - What if I want only certain people to sync from HubSpot to Salesforce? Can I do that?
Yes. To only sync certain contacts to Salesforce, you can create an inclusion list. To set this up, build a list with the desired criteria you'd like met. For example, say you only wanted to sync highly qualified leads (i.e. ones with the highest lead scores). You might create a smart list with all contacts whose lifecycle stage is "Marketing Qualified Lead," or a smart list with HubSpot Scores over a certain value. You can then set that list as your Salesforce sync inclusion list. - Where is the best place to manage contact records? For instance, we keep contact records in Salesforce and HubSpot. Say we find out that somebody has updated information (new employer, email address). Do we need to update the contact in both Salesforce and HubSpot?
We recommend that you keep the Salesforce record current since that's where your sales team likely spends the most time.
The HubSpot-Salesforce integration is flexible. You can set the sync to work with how you'd like to manage contact properties.HubSpot allows individual rules for how each contact property should sync with Salesforce.
By default, most properties follow the rule "Use Salesforce value unless blank." In other words, the Salesforce value will always overwrite the HubSpot value unless it doesn't exist in Salesforce. Yet, for some fields like phone number, you may want to set the sync rule to "Use most recent value." So, if a phone number changes in either HubSpot or Salesforce, both systems will update. - Will new Salesforce leads or contacts create new contacts in HubSpot?
That's up to you. The sync settings in HubSpot let you choose whether new records should be created or not. We recommend that you create a new contact in HubSpot when a new Salesforce contact is created. You don't want to miss engaging with those new contacts when you send your next HubSpot email. - How often does the HubSpot to Salesforce sync happen?
The sync between HubSpot and Salesforce triggers every 15 minutes, but most changes sync in less than 5 minutes.
Need Help Integrating HubSpot with Salesforce?
These are only a few of the questions we've received from clients recently. What questions do you have on your HubSpot-Salesforce integration?
You likely understand the value of aligning sales and marketing but are unsure of how to best bridge the two functions. We offer a hands-on business diagnostic to identify specific sales and marketing challenges. We'll then work with you on a roadmap for navigating those obstacles. Request your diagnostic here.
