The Ultimate HubSpot Implementation Checklist

The Ultimate HubSpot Implementation Checklist

So, you’ve just pulled the trigger on a HubSpot account — a smart move, if we may say — but now you’re staring down the barrel of one of the most stressful parts of any tech project. The implementation. 

If you’ve ever seen (or experienced) what it’s like to dive into a tech implementation without a plan, you know how that story ends: Mismatched data, underutilized features, and a cobbled-together mess. You don’t want that to be your HubSpot story — especially when a well-executed HubSpot implementation means a well-oiled lead gen and customer management machine.

This post walks you through the major checklist items you need to keep in mind during your HubSpot implementation. Then, we’ll give you some options for how to move forward to set yourself and your team up for success. 

1. Pre-Implementation Planning

Before implementing HubSpot, it's crucial to lay a solid foundation through careful planning. This phase sets the stage for a successful rollout and ensures you're making the most of its features.

Start by assessing your current systems and processes. Take a close look at how you're currently managing your marketing, sales, and customer service efforts. What's working well? Where are the pain points? This assessment will help you identify areas where HubSpot can most impact your brand.

Next, define clear goals and objectives for your HubSpot implementation. Are you looking to streamline your sales process? Improve lead nurturing? Enhance customer service? Specific, measurable goals will guide your implementation and help you understand whether your implementation is successful. 

Assembling the right implementation team is critical. Your team should include representatives from marketing, sales, customer service, IT, and leadership. Each member brings unique insights and ensures the implementation addresses all aspects of your business. You should also consider bringing in external onboarding help, like Lean Labs, to provide expertise and streamline the process.

Finally, create a realistic timeline and budget for your implementation. Consider factors like data migration, training, and potential disruptions to your current processes. Remember, a thorough implementation takes time, but it pays off in long-term efficiency and effectiveness.

2. Account Setup and Configuration

With your planning complete, it's time to dive into the nitty-gritty of setting up your HubSpot account. 

Start by creating your HubSpot account. This process is straightforward, but pay attention to the details. Choose your account name carefully – this is how HubSpot will identify your portal.

Next, set up user roles and permissions. HubSpot offers a range of user roles, from basic users to super admins. Think carefully about who needs access to what information and features. Proper role assignment ensures data security and prevents unnecessary complications down the line.

Related Read: Ask These 6 Questions Before Hiring A HubSpot Onboarding Agency (+ How To Find A HubSpot Partner)

Then, you’ll need to configure your basic settings. This includes setting your time zone, currency, and language preferences. These might seem like small details, but they're crucial for accurate reporting.

Finally, connect your domain to HubSpot. This step is essential for using HubSpot's marketing tools effectively. If you've purchased that hub, it allows you to host landing pages, track website analytics, and use HubSpot's CMS features.

3. Data Migration and Integration

With your HubSpot account set up, it's time to bring your existing data into the platform. This process can seem like a headache, but it's crucial for ensuring a smooth transition to your new platform. 

Start by auditing and cleaning your existing data. Your implementation is the perfect opportunity to get rid of outdated or inaccurate information. Look for duplicate entries, standardize formats, and ensure data completeness. 

Next, map your data fields. HubSpot has its own set of standard properties for contacts, companies, and deals. You'll need to decide how your existing data fits into these categories and create custom properties where necessary. 

Now comes the actual import of your contacts, companies, and deals. HubSpot offers various import tools to make this process easier. You can import via spreadsheet or directly from certain CRM systems. Take your time with this step and double-check your work — accurate data import is crucial for future success.

Finally, integrate other tools and software with HubSpot. Whether it's your email marketing platform, social media tools, or customer service software, HubSpot offers integrations to help you create a cohesive tech stack. 

4. CRM Customization

HubSpot's CRM is powerful out of the box, but its real strength lies in its customizability. Tailoring the CRM to your specific business needs will make it an invaluable tool for your team. How can you get started with customization? Let’s take a look. 

Start by customizing properties for contacts, companies, and deals. While HubSpot provides a comprehensive set of default properties, your business likely has unique data points you need to track. Create custom properties to capture this information.

Next, set up pipelines and deal stages. Your sales process is unique to your business, and your CRM should reflect that. Create a pipeline that mirrors your sales journey, from initial contact to closed deal. Define each stage clearly, and consider setting up automation to move deals along the pipeline.

Custom views and filters are essential for helping your team focus on what's important. Create views highlighting high-priority leads, deals nearing close, or any other segment crucial for your business.

Next, configure lead scoring. This powerful feature helps your team prioritize leads based on their likelihood to convert. Define the actions and characteristics that indicate a quality lead for your business and set up a scoring system accordingly.

Pro-Tip: Remember, CRM customization isn't a set-it-and-forget-it task. Regularly review and refine your setup based on user feedback and changing business needs. 

5. Marketing Hub Setup (if applicable)

If you've invested in HubSpot's Marketing Hub, you'll need to set this Hub up next. 

Start with setting up email marketing. HubSpot's email tool is robust and user-friendly. Configure your sender details, set up email templates that align with your brand, and familiarize yourself with the drag-and-drop email editor. Don't forget to set up subscription types and create opt-in processes that comply with email regulations.

Then, create landing pages and forms. HubSpot's landing page builder allows you to create stunning, conversion-optimized pages without needing a web developer. Set up templates that match your brand guidelines and create forms to capture lead information. Remember to connect these forms to your CRM for seamless lead management.

Related Read: HubSpot Marketing Hub Onboarding: A Step-By-Step Guide For Startups

Blog setup is crucial if content marketing is part of your strategy. Configure your blog settings, set up author profiles, and familiarize yourself with the content creation tools. Consider setting up topic clusters to boost your SEO efforts.

Finally, integrate your social media accounts. HubSpot allows you to publish and monitor social media activity directly from the platform. Connect your accounts, set up publishing schedules, and configure your monitoring streams to keep everything on a single dashboard. 

6. Sales Hub Setup (if applicable)

Have you invested in Sales Hub? If so, you’ll want to set up your Sales Hub tools next.

Begin by configuring sales email templates and sequences. Templates save time by providing a starting point for common sales communications, while sequences automate follow-up processes. Work with your sales team to identify the most effective messages and create templates and sequences that reflect your sales strategy.

Next, set up meeting scheduling tools. HubSpot's scheduling feature integrates with your calendar and allows prospects to book time with your sales team effortlessly. Configure availability, meeting types, and customize the booking page to match your brand.

Implementing sales documents and tracking is crucial for understanding prospect engagement. Upload your sales collateral to HubSpot and set up tracking. This feature lets you see when prospects view your documents and which sections they spend the most time on.

Finally, configure deal management and forecasting. Set up your sales pipeline stages, create deal properties that capture important information, and configure forecasting settings. These features give your sales leaders visibility into the pipeline and help with accurate revenue projections.

7. Service Hub Setup (if applicable)

If you've invested in HubSpot's Service Hub, you’ll need to set that environment up next in your onboarding process.

Start by setting up the ticketing system. This tool is the core of your customer service operations in HubSpot. Configure ticket properties, create pipelines that reflect your support process and set up ticket routing rules. To keep things organized, consider creating different pipelines for different types of support requests.

Next, create knowledge base articles. A well-structured knowledge base can significantly reduce the load on your support team by allowing customers to find answers themselves. Identify common questions and issues and create clear, helpful articles addressing these topics. Remember to organize your articles into categories for easy navigation.

Related Read: Your Guide To Customer Development: What It Is + How To Do It Right

Configuring customer feedback tools is next. HubSpot offers tools for creating and sending customer satisfaction surveys. Set these up to automatically trigger after ticket resolution or at key points in the customer journey. This feedback will help you improve your service and let you identify happy customers who might become advocates or provide a testimonial. 

Finally, set up live chat or chatbots. Automation tools can provide immediate assistance to customers and help qualify leads. Configure chat routing, create chatbot flows for common queries, and set up offline messages. Remember to integrate these tools with your ticketing system for seamless issue resolution.

8. Automation and Workflow Creation

Automation is where HubSpot truly shines, allowing you to scale your operations without proportionally increasing your workload. Setting up effective automation and workflows can help you boost efficiency across marketing, sales, and service. Let’s take a look at how to set yourself up for success!

Start by identifying key processes to automate. Look for repetitive tasks, follow-up sequences, or any process that would benefit from consistency and speed. Common candidates include lead nurturing, deal stage progression, and support ticket routing.

Creating marketing automation workflows is often a good place to start. These might include welcome sequences for new subscribers, re-engagement campaigns for dormant contacts, or nurture tracks for different buyer personas. Remember to align these workflows with your overall marketing strategy and buyer's journey.

Next, set up sales automation. This could include automatically assigning leads to sales reps, setting follow-up tasks based on prospect actions, or sending internal notifications when high-value deals reach certain stages. The goal is to ensure no opportunities slip through the cracks and to free up your sales team to focus on high-value activities.

Implement service automation to streamline your support processes. This might include automatically categorizing and routing tickets, sending follow-up surveys after ticket resolution, or triggering internal escalations for high-priority issues.

As you create these automations, always keep the end-user experience in mind. Don’t let automation detract from your customer experience and leave customers tearing their hair out, wishing they could just speak to a human! 

Remember, effective automation is an ongoing process. Start with a few key workflows, monitor their performance, and gradually expand your automation efforts as you see success.

9. Reporting and Analytics Setup

With your HubSpot implementation nearing completion, it's time to ensure you can measure and analyze your efforts effectively. Proper reporting and analytics setup is crucial for verifying ROI and identifying areas for improvement.

Begin by configuring default dashboards. HubSpot provides a range of pre-built dashboards for marketing, sales, and service. Customize these to highlight the metrics that are most important to your business. Ensure that key stakeholders have easy access to the data they need.

Next, create custom reports. While the default reports are useful, your business likely has unique KPIs that require custom reporting. Spend time understanding HubSpot's reporting tools and create reports that provide actionable insights for your team.

Setting up goals and benchmarks is crucial for measuring success. Define what success looks like for different aspects of your business, and set up goal tracking in HubSpot. These goals might include revenue targets, lead generation goals, or customer satisfaction benchmarks.

Finally, implement tracking codes and analytics. Ensure HubSpot's tracking code is properly installed on your website. If you're using other analytics tools like Google Analytics, set up the necessary integrations to get a complete picture of your digital performance.

10. Testing and Quality Assurance

As you near the end of your HubSpot implementation, remember to stress-test your work! Robust quality assurance practices help you catch issues before they impact your operations and make your transition to HubSpot smoother.

Start by conducting comprehensive testing of all features. This includes everything from basic functionality like form submissions and email sends to more complex processes like workflow triggers and CRM updates. 

Verifying data accuracy and integrity is crucial. If you can’t trust your data… you can’t trust anything. Check that your imported data is complete and correctly mapped. Test your integrations to ensure data is flowing correctly between systems. Pay special attention to any calculated fields or scoring systems to confirm they're working accurately.

Next, test your integrations and automation. Trigger test workflows, verify that integrated tools are communicating properly, and ensure that automated actions occur as intended. This is particularly important for critical processes like lead routing or support ticket escalation.

Perform user acceptance testing with representatives from each team that will be using HubSpot. This helps identify any usability issues and ensures the setup meets the needs of actual users.

Monitor system performance, looking for any signs of slowdown or errors. HubSpot is cloud-based, but it's still important to ensure it's performing well with your specific setup and data volume.

Make sure to gather user feedback throughout the process and be ready to make real changes based on what you hear. Your team's input can help you find areas for improvement or identify additional training needs. 

Finally, plan for continuous improvement and optimization. HubSpot implementation isn't a one-time event but an ongoing process. Set up regular review periods to assess the system's performance and make changes as your business and your needs evolve.

Overwhelmed By Your HubSpot Implementation? Don’t Go It Alone!

By now, you've got a solid checklist to guide your HubSpot implementation. But if your head is spinning from all these steps, you're not alone. HubSpot is like a Swiss Army knife for digital marketing; it's packed with powerful tools and features. And while that's fantastic for your business potential, onboarding can feel like drinking from a firehose. 

The good news? You don't have to navigate this journey solo. 

This is where a HubSpot Onboarding partner comes in. At Lean Labs, we offer HubSpot onboarding packages tailored to fit your needs, whether you're looking for a simple site migration or a comprehensive, white-glove onboarding experience.

We're not just here to flip switches and set up automation. We're here to help you understand how to leverage HubSpot's full potential to drive your business growth. Our team of HubSpot experts can help you avoid common pitfalls, implement best practices, and create a strategy that aligns perfectly with your business goals.

Ready to turn your HubSpot implementation from a daunting task into an exciting growth journey? Let's chat! Schedule a meeting with our onboarding team today. 

Mallory is a Growth Marketer at Lean Labs, working with brands to ignite their growth engine through conceptualizing, implementing, and optimizing growth marketing strategies.

12 Min Read

HubSpot

Aug 08, 2024