UPDATED JULY 17, 2019
Aside from the fact that it’s the most popular free CRM software with the widest range of features, HubSpot’s free CRM is extremely underrated by a lot of business users.
From letting you know exactly which channel drives the most revenue for your business to automatically updating detailed information on your contacts, we’ve put together 5 ways HubSpot’s free CRM will help you grow your business.
Analyze the Source of Your Closed Deals and Duplicate Success
There’s nothing quite as relieving as knowing where exactly your business revenue is flowing from since that’ll help you focus more attention on what works, while refining other channels for better results.
HubSpot’s free CRM gives you a detailed inside look into the leads generated via specific channels (social media, organic traffic, PPC, etc.) including the total amount generated in deals and the corresponding average deal value for each channel.
With these insights, it becomes easier to analyze the marketing strategies employed across your social channels, making it easier to optimize them for efficiency and to easily duplicate results across your other social channels.
Simply put, HubSpot's CRM helps you pinpoint what’s working, why it’s working, and replicate the strategy.
Automated Contact Intelligence
Using the HubSpot CRM reduces the need to manually enter basic contact information such as Name, Company, etc. since HubSpot automatically syncs this information from your lead capture tools. Further, HubSpot logs every measurable interaction a lead makes with your business (e.g. social media interactions, website visit, sales email click, etc.) and automatically populates the leads’ profile. This is a powerful tool which reveals customer intent, measures overall engagement, funnel penetration, and helps determine which marketing tactic would get a lead closer to the bottom of the funnel.
Need help building your buyer personas? Use this easy template
Also, with the custom view option, you can create filters based on actions taken by leads. The HubSpot CRM creates a to-do list of leads who have been prequalified by taking a set of actions, making it easier to make targeted outreaches that move them down the funnel faster.
Personalize the Sales Process with Pinned Notes
As the name implies, pinned notes for HubSpot CRM are just like your regular sticky notes which can be attached to a contact’s profile, providing insight into the sales process and keeping critical information concerning a prospect handy.
From a customer who's facing a pending support issue to the engaged lead who you're trying to build rapport with, pinned notes provide a place to display summary information to improve the connection between your prospects and your team.
Whether it’s a note to “remember to ask how his cousin’s wedding went”, or it’s just an update on a customer order, pinned notes help add that extra degree of personalization and bring you information right where you need it.
For an added punch, using the @ sign, you can tag your team members to a pinned note to get their take on a situation, suggest an action, or just crack a random joke.
Generate New Customers on Facebook & Instagram Via Lead Ads
With 3.38 billion active monthly users, there’s no doubt that your ideal prospects are on Facebook and Instagram on its photo sharing platform. With the huge community available on both social networks, Facebook and Instagram have proven to be ideal for reaching out to potential customers with offers.
And here’s where HubSpot comes in: HubSpot’s free CRM enables users to link Facebook/Instagram pages in order to create and launch lead capture ads right from the HubSpot dashboard.
In case you’re wondering what lead ads are, they’re simply ads that offer what your prospects would be interested in, requiring them to provide their contact information to learn more. Once a lead clicks on your ad, they’ll be directed to a form that’ll be automatically filled out with the contact details associated with their Facebook/Instagram account and requiring their consent to submit it.
Finally, HubSpot has an extensive knowledge base that’s designed to provide digital handholding from start until you launch your lead ad campaign.
Automated Task Queueing
While everyone dreams of being a hyper-focused founder of a tech unicorn, who wakes by 4:00 AM, creates a 100-item to-do list and revs off to a 20-hour workday, distraction guarantees that very few will ever achieve that.
With the task queueing function, HubSpot removes the what-to-do factor, leaving to get down to doing what really matters. With HubSpot's task queues, all you need to do is to schedule engagements with leads and customers right from their contact records in the HubSpot CRM. Once the date and time specified for any task arrive, it's automatically queued into your to-do list, leaving you to focus on getting the job done.
Other ways to use the HubSpot free CRM’s lead generation capacity include:
Email Tracking Notifications
What’s better than having a foolproof email delivery strategy for your business? Knowing exactly how your customers and prospects interact with your emails.
HubSpot’s free CRM provides extensive email tracking reporting that feeds you with instant updates the moment a prospect opens an email, clicks a link, or downloads a lead capture asset (like a case study or a proposal).
Email tracking provides insights that when properly interpreted can guide with better decisions such as further personalizing a warm lead or dropping off cold, uninterested prospects.
What’s more, HubSpot integrates seamlessly with the email tools you already use, such as Gmail, G Suite, Outlook, or Office 365, ensuring that you’ll have a coordinated control over your campaigns.
Email tracking notifications for HubSpot’s free CRM is capped at a stream of 200 recent opens beyond which you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan. This feature quickly reminds you how many emails you send on a daily basis!
Meeting Scheduling
HubSpot’s meeting scheduling function enables you to eliminate the usual back-and-forth associated with scheduling appointments with clients. With HubSpot, you simply send over a link to your meeting page and your prospects/customers find a vacant time window that suits them to schedule an engagement.
In a situation where a meeting needs to be rescheduled, that can easily be carried out using HubSpot, reducing unnecessary friction.
Not only does this make you come across as more professional, but it shortens the sales cycle and gets prospects to the bottom of the funnel faster.
A free HubSpot CRM account entitles you to a single meeting link, beyond which you’ll be required to upgrade to Pro for a variety of meeting links that’ll further supercharge your business for success.
SEE WHICH ADS ARE WORKING
In July of 2019, HubSpot integrated their Ads tool to the free CRM. This was an exciting announcement. Now, you can:
- Connect two ad accounts across any supported network.
- Report on your success across networks and see which channels are working best
- See exactly which contacts are interacting with your ads
- Automatically sync leads.
- Create audiences off your website traffic, and Facebook Lookalike audiences.
SAVE TIME WITH SNIPPETS
HubSpot snippets are like mini templates that you can use in emails, live chat, on contact records, and more. They're re-useable text blocks.
Let's say you answer some of the same questions over and over in emails. Or during conversations in the chat tool. Save time and help your prospects and customers access the information they're looking for faster with snippets.
Judging by the expansive suite of tools available on HubSpot, it’s unquestionably the ideal platform to begin setting up your business for digital success. What’s more, HubSpot is designed to grow with you, powering your business with increasing levels of digital tools.
Sound like something you’d want for your business?
Contact us today to find out more about how HubSpot can help you supercharge your business for success.
