HubSpot CRM is the industry leader in terms of customer relationship management (CRM).
Because they hold a third of the market share, I’m guessing you’re familiar with them. There is a good chance that one of your friends already has an account with them, or that you came across one of their informative blog articles while researching the best practices for digital marketing.
It is a business that we feel comfortable supporting…at least to some degree. After all, isn’t it true that we’re all trying to cut costs wherever we can? Which is precisely why you’re going to want to make sure you read this review of HubSpot CRM all the way through until the end.
It is true that HubSpot provides a very generous free CRM plan for small sales and marketing teams; however, what happens when you outgrow its “lite” features and become aware of its limitations? You just switch over to one of their paid plans, right?
After conducting extensive research into other HubSpot CRM reviews as well as the product itself, we decided it was time to share our findings with you. This will allow you to make an educated decision regarding whether or not the HubSpot CRM platform is a good fit for your business.
HubSpot CRM Overview
The free CRM plan that HubSpot offers, which comes with 1 million contacts, unlimited users, email marketing, tracking, and landing pages, will likely be of interest to the majority. People who want to get rid of the HubSpot branding, send higher volumes of email, automate campaigns, and add more custom properties and reporting dashboards should consider the Starter plan, which begins at fifty dollars per month. Those who are interested in more advanced analytics, content management system features, and lead scoring should consider the significantly more expensive Professional and Enterprise plans. However, when we refer to expensive, we are referring to a monthly cost of $890.
In light of this, let’s examine the HubSpot CRM to determine whether or not it is the most suitable CRM for your requirements.
HubSpot CRM Pricing
The free plan offers a generous amount of storage space, and the Starter plans are priced at a level that is almost affordable for small businesses. On the other hand, the Professional and Enterprise plans come with exorbitant monthly fees. This means that HubSpot is not a particularly good solution for scaling.
Does HubSpot CRM meet your needs as a CRM program?
Recommended if:
- You’re looking for a free plan. If you are willing to make do with a “lite” version of paid features, then the free CRM plan that HubSpot offers is something you should investigate further.
- You’re a beginner. You won’t have any trouble getting the hang of HubSpot CRM, even if you have no prior experience working with customer relationship management systems or other marketing features, because the interface is very user-friendly and there are a lot of resources available to you in the event that you get stuck.
Not recommended if:
- For a small cost, you need thorough reporting. The reporting capabilities of the free plan are extremely restricted in comparison to those of the paid plans. It’s not a cheap add-on, but their reporting add-on, which lets you create custom reports and multiple dashboards, costs $200 per month. This is especially true when you consider that it’s only available to customers with the Professional plan or higher.
- You run a modest (yet aspirational) business with a limited budget. In the event that the “lite” features included in the free plan are not sufficient for your needs, I would recommend taking a look at these HubSpot alternatives before you sign up for one of the paid versions. If you do so, you may find a cheaper alternative that includes the features you’re looking for at a lower price point.
Rating details
- Ease of Use. The interface of HubSpot CRM is designed to be very simple and straightforward. Because the menu is so well organized, it is very simple to find the items that you require. In point of fact, the entire user interface is very friendly to newcomers. You will be walked through the process of setting up, and you will have the option to skip anything that you are not prepared to do. In addition, there is support for chat available within the dashboard.
- Pipeline Management. The use of technology that allows you to drag and drop items simplifies the process of organizing your deal pipeline. The capability to edit the stages of the sales pipeline and add or remove custom properties in order to better reflect your sales process simplifies management of the sales pipeline. There is the option to view things in kanban or in list format.
- Contact/Deal Management. The HubSpot CRM provides useful features for lead management that make it easier to keep track of deals. Include any relevant documents, notes, and tasks here. You will have a record of the geolocation, call log, emails, and other communications with your contacts. The free plan allows you to add up to 10 custom properties, while all other plans allow you to add up to 1,000. Every contact is considered a potential lead. You could create a custom field to apply to certain contacts that you didn’t want to include in the sales or deal pipelines, or you could simply leave them as unassigned if you’d like to get around this restriction. If you’d like to do so, read on.
- Email Features. Email marketing is part of the package: The free plan allows 2,000 emails to be sent each month (with HubSpot branding). As you move up to higher-tier plans, this limit will gradually become more restrictive. HubSpot does not provide the capability to send out mass mailings, such as to a small group of leads. It would be convenient to be able to check multiple contacts and have the option to send an email to all of them at the same time.
- Automation. The free plan for this customer relationship management solution includes a restricted number of follow-up email forms. The Starter plan and all bundles now include access to the marketing automation features. This is very exciting information, as it was previously only available to users of the more expensive Professional plan. The visual automation workflow builder is user-friendly and provides a selection of dozens of triggers, conditions, and actions from which to choose. You’ll need to be on the Professional plan in order to have access to the omnichannel automation features.
- Reporting. You are provided with a variety of dashboard templates by HubSpot CRM. These dashboard templates contain a variety of easy-to-read reports, such as new contacts by source, revenue by source, and other similar reports. The free plan allows for up to three dashboards, each of which can contain up to ten reports. The Starter plan comes with ten different dashboards. Integration with Google Analytics is a possibility here. Your reports can also be exported in a simple manner.
- Top Scoring. Sadly, only plans of a higher tier will have access to this feature. Users with Professional and Enterprise HubSpot accounts have the ability to modify the default contact property of the HubSpot score to qualify leads based on their own set of criteria. You also have the option of creating individualized scoring properties for your deals, companies, and contacts. The Enterprise plan includes provision for predictive lead scoring.
- Real-time chat. Included in each and every plan. The Live Chat feature offered by HubSpot CRM includes an integration with the company’s chatbots as well. The free plan, on the other hand, includes HubSpot’s branding.
- Online tracking. You have the ability to set up advanced tracking that spans both domains and subdomains. Keeps tabs on location, original source, pages viewed, and other information.
- Security. Authentication using two different factors and multiple access levels for user accounts SOC 2 compliant. You have the option of configuring security alerts to contact you via phone.
- Languages. The website can be accessed in a total of eight different languages.
- Applications and Integrations. There is a vast selection of available app integrations to choose from.
- Support. HubSpot is widely considered to be the most effective CRM for handling customer service. Very comprehensive informational foundation and supplementary resources. The representatives working in customer support are friendly and quick to respond.
Overall Score. HubSpot CRM is a well-rounded, simple-to-use customer relationship management tool that has sufficient functionality to assist small businesses in getting off the ground at no cost. Marketing and sales teams are able to effectively manage their customer relationships thanks to the excellent customer service and a good range of well-designed CRM features that are available to them.
Pros & Cons
Rich freemium plan — It is wonderful that the free version of HubSpot CRM allows you to add an unlimited number of users as well as one million contacts. You will discover that the functionality of many other free CRMs is severely restricted. Web forms, email marketing, ticketing, email tracking, and landing page functionality are all included as features. Those looking for a free service will find that it truly is the best CRM available.
Ease-of-use — Utilizing HubSpot’s CRM platform comes with a number of benefits, one of the most notable of which is the platform’s friendliness to users. Because of its guided set-up wizard, demos, and user-friendly interface, it is an excellent tool for people with varying degrees of experience. Despite the fact that it is a massive piece of software with a lot of bells and whistles, the software’s usability is still exceptional. The features that deal with lead management will particularly impress you.
Excellent customer support — Your dashboard provides you with access to chat support, and the customer service representatives who staff it are quick to respond with answers that are beneficial. Additionally, they have a wealth of valuable information on their knowledge base, blog, and within the Academy, which is their platform for offering free online classes.
Call feature — The call feature of HubSpot enables you to place phone calls directly from your account to both your existing leads and potential new leads. Your contact log can be used for future reference and calls can be recorded and saved there. This feature is accessible to users of all subscription tiers, albeit with varying time limits.
Conclusion
Because they are experts in inbound marketing, HubSpot is the undisputed leader in the market for sales and marketing software. To put it another way, they make a wealth of informative content available to both prospective and existing clients, and once you become a client, they provide you with an exceptional user experience that consists of a product that is thoughtfully designed, support that is responsive, and a variety of free features that are of high quality.
Because the free plan includes a little bit of everything from its Marketing, Sales CRM, and Service hubs, sales and marketing teams in small businesses and solopreneurs are able to do everything for absolutely no cost, from capturing leads to managing contacts.
The one and only catch is that when it comes time to upgrade, you can expect to see a sizable increase in the associated costs. However, because the free plan from HubSpot CRM allows for an unlimited number of users and 1 million contacts, you should be able to make use of it for a considerable amount of time.
You aren’t certain that HubSpot is the best CRM for you, are you? You can give it a try by signing up for the free trial and using it.
FAQ
If you run a small company and are looking for a free CRM tool, the free CRM plan that HubSpot offers should definitely be something you give some thought to.
HubSpot and MailChimp are two somewhat distinct pieces of software. Both Mailchimp and HubSpot offer a variety of marketing services, but Mailchimp’s primary function is as an email service, whereas HubSpot’s primary function is as a customer relationship management tool.
It is essential to evaluate each tool taking into consideration the requirements you have.
According to the results of our semi-annual deliverability tests, the percentage of HubSpot emails that are successfully delivered is shockingly low. It is important to maintain vigilance regarding this matter.
