In the right hands, HubSpot can be a powerful tool that helps businesses to efficiently grow. Inbound marketing relies on data to create a concise picture of a network. On the flip side, having so many options means that you might lose sight of potential performance slowdowns - there are simply too many balls to juggle.
This is why system audits are essential. A few things to consider when auditing HubSpot portals are the business' industry, goals, what numbers were they working with prior and what are they hoping for?
For example, are they trying to build awareness, convert, or upsell existing customers?
Here is a comprehensive guide to a solid HubSpot audit:
1. Check to see what HubSpot products they have in Account > Products, then review that subscription, what tools they have access to in the product catalog.
2. Go to Traffic Analytics to quickly see a 360 view of what sources are driving the most traffic over certain time periods, what the conversion rates are for session-to-contact (should be over 1%) and ensure they are tracking customers (contacts-to-customer) - if there are 0’s in the customers that’s a red flag that they aren’t fully tracked customers/sales.
3. Within analytics, review the top viewed pages - which have been “entered” the most and check the URLs to ensure there are conversion opportunities on these pages. Is there an offer, pop up etc to better capitalize on the visits to the site?
4. Check the Properties - are there unique custom properties to allow for segmentation and customization for their business? You can see if these are made/active in properties>any created by non-HubSpot. While here, Check Properties>HubSpot Score>to also see if attributes are created for lead scoring.
Next, check each section of the portal in order:
Contacts
How many are there?
Do they have saved views created to help sales reps?
Lists
Do they have active lists to allow for segmentation and sending them more tailored content? I.e. contacts who visited this AND are from X zip code etc.
Conversations
Chatflows - do they have live chat and/or chatbots? Great for more lead gen.
Snippets/Templates
Both are great for time saving and efficiencies
Marketing:
Ads
Are they doing PPC? Are any running? What is the ROI?
Email
When was the last email sent?
What is the ‘analyze’ data telling us? Open rates should be ~20%
Are they sending different types of emails?
Review the email health tab
Social
Are they using the HS social tools?
If not, are they using social media platforms externally?
Landing pages
Do they have any landing pages?
What are the analytics on each?
Are there landing pages for each stage of the buyer’s journey, top of funnel, middle of funnel and bottom of funnel?
Blogs
Are they creating blogs in HubSpot?
If not, are they creating blogs in general on their website? When was the latest one published?
Lead capture
- CTAs: Do they have HubSpot CTAs actively being used (seen last 30 days)
- Are any of them image-based/graphic CTAs?
- Do they leverage SMART CTAs (a filter to see)?
Forms
Do they have active forms being tracked in HubSpot?
Do they have any active pop-up forms on the site? (A filter to see this)
Planning & Strategy
- Calendar
Are they using the content calendar tool at all? If not, do you know what they use externally for PM/marketing scheduling
Campaigns
Are they using HubSpot campaigns? If so, go to Campaign Analytics under Reports>Analytics and see how they are performing.
* This is a main value add for Marketing Pro+ so important for customers to see the full picture of how all assets are impacting the bottom line.
SEO
Do they have Google Search console integrated?
Do they have any topic clusters set up? If so, are they all clustered in a way that makes sense with pillar pages?
If they are, review the Reports>Analytics>Traffic Analytics>Topic Clusters to see which clusters are performing best to influence content strategy
Sales:
1. Deals
- Are they actively using the CRM? When was the last deal card made? If not, how are we tracking who becomes a customer?
- Do they have custom deal properties to allow for filtering (check properties created by non-Hubspot)
- Are the deal stages custom? Are they based on actions taken by the prospect?
- Do they have multiple pipelines? (Sales pro only)
2. Tasks
- Are they using tasks?
- Do they have task queues?
3. Documents
Do they have documents in the portal for sales personnel to easily insert into email?
4. Meetings
Are they using the meetings link?
5. Playbooks/Quotes *Sales Pro+
Do they have these set up?
Service:
Tickets
- Do they have at least one ticket pipeline setup? This is included in all portals so best to determine a use case for post-sale process tc.
- Do they have multiple pipelines? *Service Pro+
- Feedback Surveys *Service Pro+
- Are they using Feedback Surveys? If so, what was the most recent response like?
- Knowledge Base *Service Pro+
- Do they effectively use articles for self-help? What is the process for creating new ones? What is the traffic?
Automation:
1. Workflows
- Do they have workflows set up for internal process/organization ex. Set X contact to MQL & send notification
- Do they have lead nurturing workflows so if a form is submitted or interest is shown, send emails to nurture.
- Are there goals being set in the workflows to see how contacts are engaging?
- If Sales Pro+, do they have deal based workflows?
- If Service Pro+, do they have ticket based workflows?
2. Sequences
- Are they sequences created?
- How are they performing?
Reports:
- Analytics > Review all analytics for any noteworthy data
- Dashboards > Do they have custom dashboards created?
- Do they receive dashboard reports via email?
- Reports > Are there custom reports created?