The HubSpot CRM product update for March is here! Staying ahead with the latest advancements in customer relationship management is crucial for businesses as they evolve and adapt to changing market dynamics.
Here's a look at HubSpot's newest features, enhancements, and improvements to empower businesses in managing their customer relationships and driving growth.
Import Offline Event Data to HubSpot Marketing Events
You can now import offline (in-person) event data into HubSpot. This will allow you to bring all your marketing events data into HubSpot - selecting from a range of integration for your online (virtual) events and using hubSpot’s new import flow for offline (in-person) events.
Use Case
Marketing events objects in HubSpot can be used for offline (in-person) Marketing events activities, with HubSpot’s new imports flow.
This means that customers can now bring ALL their Marketing events data into HubSpot, and use the power of HubSpot Marketing events to manage and automate their event activities.
AI Assistant for Google Search Ads
HubSpot users can now generate ad copy for Google search ads from scratch using AI Assistant in Ads.
Use Case
You can now use the AI assistant in Ads which will enable you to generate ad copy from simple prompts. You can also rewrite, expand, and shorten generated copy to give you more control over the AI-generated text.
Linkedin Audience Targeting for Organic Social
Marketers can tailor content to specific audiences using LinkedIn targeting. Posts can be targeted based on followers' profile data, including organization size, industry, function, seniority, geography, and language preference. The targeted posts are only displayed to members who meet the target criteria. The post will be visible to members outside of the target if it is shared or reposted.
Use Case
Content is everywhere and businesses with a social media presence must ensure their social content is personalized, targeted and effective.
By applying audience targeting to posts you publish, you can deliver high quality content to any desired segment of your followers. This helps businesses stay relevant in today's noisy and information-overloaded social spaces.
Google Enhanced Conversions for Leads
With Google enhanced conversions, you can improve your conversion measurement accuracy and unlock more powerful bidding options.
By sending hashed first-party conversion data from your website to Google in a privacy-safe manner, it supplements your existing conversion tags. Before sending your first-party customer data to Google, the feature uses a secure one-way hashing algorithm called SHA256.
Use Case
With enhanced conversions, HubSpot will send offline lifecycle stage change data back to Google server side. This will:
- Recover conversions that otherwise wouldn’t have been measured
- Improve bidding optimization through better data
- Be privacy safe with hashing of first-party customer data
Domain Authentication Alert on the Marketing Email Manage Page
A new alert is available on the Marketing Email Manage page when a published automated email from address does not have adequate authentication measures in place, and will be at risk of being blocked by major email inbox providers (e.g., Gmail and Yahoo Mail).
This is intended to ensure HubSpot's marketing emails comply with the authentication standards and sending policies enforced by major email inbox providers (e.g., Gmail and Yahoo Mail).
Use Case
Starting February 2024, Google and Yahoo will be requiring DMARC, DKIM and SPF for all bulk senders. Moving forward, any bulk sender who does not have all three authentication measures in place will be blocked or directed to spam.
This new alerts on the Marketing Email Manage page will flag when a published email's from address does not have the adequate authentication measures in place.
Legacy CTA Migration feature
With the new Legacy CTA Migration feature, you can now easily migrate Legacy CTAs to new CTAs.
Use Case
As HubSpot launched the new CTAs tool this year and are planning to sunset the Legacy CTAs by the end of 2024, you need an easy way to migrate from Legacy CTAs to the new CTAs tool.
With the new Legacy CTA Migration feature you can now easily create a clone of your Legacy CTA as a new CTA and automatically replace it in all the instances where it’s being used, including pages, email, workflows and lists.
Cookie Consent Banner Customization
New customization options have been added to the cookie consent banner settings. Colors, positioning, shape, and size can now be customized to better match your website's design and user experience.
Use Case
Responding to popular demand, HubSpot expanded their banner's customization capabilities. This update addresses the need for more flexibility in modifying the banner to complement your website's aesthetics.
Add your own titles to AI blog post generator
The AI blog post generator now allows you to edit the example titles and keywords. Your edited/updated title will inform the AI outline recommended for the next step.
Use Case
The AI blog post generator does a great job of helping users who don't quite know what they want to write about. However, it doesn't support users who know exactly what they want to write about, since you can't put in your own titles and generate posts from those. One of HubSpot’s top feedback requests is from users asking for more control over the generated blog post. So they made all of the titles on step 2 of the wizard fully editable!
New lead object owner property and improved visibility/actions in the prospecting workspace
Two exciting, highly requested leads features are now live!
- Lead record ownership improvement that allows users to use lead owner as a discrete value separate from contact and company ownership
- Admins and super admins now have improved lead visibility and bulk actions
Use Case
With this release, HubSpot has given users the ability to use lead owner as a discrete property by disabling 'lead owner inherit' in lead settings, ensuring that the process you build in Sales Hub accurately reflects how your business operates.
Respect Deal Split Percentage in Forecast Rep View
From the forecast rep view, bulk-selecting deals to include in a forecast submission now uses the deal split amounts rather than the total deal amounts. As a result, no deal amounts are double counted in submissions, and reps only submit amounts attributed to them.
When applicable, the Amount in Company Currency and Weighted Amount in Company Currency properties now reflect the deal split amount.
Password-less Authentication
Password-less authentication allows members to log in without having to remember their passwords. For password-less authentication, site visitors simply need to provide their email address associated with their membership.
A login link will then be emailed to the visitor. After fifteen minutes or after use, that link will expire. The link will redirect the user to the private content and authenticate them across domains.
Bulk Editing Tickets in Help Desk
From the list view of Help Desk, customer support leaders and reps can manage tickets more efficiently. Select a group of tickets and update properties in bulk instead of editing each one individually.
Use Case
Scaling support teams can experience spikes in ticket volume because of seasonality, launches, campaigns, and product issues. Bulk editing tickets allows support teams to make simultaneous changes to multiple tickets, improving rep efficiency and reducing the time needed for ticket management tasks.
Change language for calling consent messages
To accommodate our growing international user base, HubSpot added the ability to change the language for calling consent messages. You can now easily change the language of the consent message, giving you more control over your calling experience.
Report on and analyze Playbook use
HubSpot is adding the ability to report on playbook usage. As a result, users can now see how effective their playbooks are at moving important sales metrics over time.
Use Case
Sales managers want to understand how their playbooks are being used and how effective they are. The new usage metrics will help them gain a better understanding of their playbooks, the people using them, and how well they are working.
Implied opens for Sales and Service emails
If a sent email receives a click or reply, it implies the email was opened.
Use Case
Some email clients have configurations that prevent HubSpot's open tracking pixel from loading. If a recipient in this situation opens your email, there's no way for HubSpot to know. However, if the recipient clicks a link in the email or replies to it, then you can infer they opened the email.
"Close Date" Automation for Deals and Tickets
Whenever a deal or ticket record is moved to a closed pipeline stage, its "close date" is automatically set to today's date. This helps save users time from having to manually set the date. Admins now have the option to disable this "close date" automation feature at a per-pipeline level. The automation will be enabled by default across all pipelines, but if you don't need it for a specific deal or ticket pipeline, you can disable it.
This automation feature has also been optimized for more consistency across the CRM.
Use Case
This automation was designed to help save users from an additional step, so they can focus on more important tasks. However, it's important to offer more flexibility so admins can turn off this feature where it might not make sense (i.e. if your pipeline has many closed stages, you might not want the "close date" automatically updated).
Required Field Mappings in Data Sync
HubSpot will surface required fields within a data sync setup's field mappings table. After surfacing, these properties will also be enforced to be mapped.
Use Case
In order for certain CRM records to be created in HubSpot, some properties are mandatory. For HubSpot’s many data sync apps, this is no different. Here are some more examples of properties that are required, for various apps:
- A new deal record in HubSpot cannot be created unless it has a deal name, a pipeline and a stage specified.
- A new contact record into Zoho CRM has the last name as a mandatory property, among many other properties that an admin could mark as required.
- A new product in Xero needs a code/SKU to be populated.
Workflow Enrollment Diagnosis
You can now efficiently troubleshoot workflow enrollments directly in-app! This functionality will empower users to independently investigate and resolve workflow enrollment questions.
The tool provides users with:
- Comprehensive logs detailing the enrollment status of each record.
- A clear indication of successful enrollments
- Reasons a workflow wouldn't (or did not) enroll
Use Case
This solution provides customers with enrollment information directly in the workflow tool and will empower you to quickly and efficiently resolve workflow enrollment discrepancies!
Payment Schedules on Quotes
Commerce Hub users can now have Invoices automatically created for the payment schedules on their Quotes.
Use Case
For companies selling project-based work, it’s common to ask customers to make an initial payment towards the promised work and collect remaining payments later at a specific date or milestone.
These initial payments could cover the initial costs of providing the work (e.g. 50% down for a website build to secure the dev resources) or indicate the buyer is serious about their contract (e.g. a 1k non-refundable deposit). The remaining installments are collected as needed based on the contract. Payment schedules enable companies to de-risk their business and ensure more stable cash flow for project based work.
Multi-currency: Global Currency Expansion, Stripe Payment Processing
15 additional currencies are being added to Stripe Payment Processing (beta): AUD, MXN, NZD, CHF, SGD, SEK, DKK, NOK, HKD, PLN, RON, CZK, BGN, HUF, PHP
- Already Available: USD, EUR, CAD, GBP
Use Case
Customers in 15 new markets globally can now use Stripe payment processing in their local currency allowing buyers to check out in their local as well as other major currencies around the globe.
New Source Property on all CRM Records
All records now have a new “Record Source” property which describes how the record was originally created.
Use Case
All records have a new property called “Record Source.” This property can be used across HubSpot in everything from filtering data to building reports.
Activity Log for Individual Lists
HubSpot is introducing the ability to easily track key changes that occur to any individual list. Inside any list, you can now see:
- When a list was created, edited, deleted, or restored
- When a list was used in another tool, such as an ad, a workflow, or a report
- When a list was converted from active to static
- When a list notification was triggered via List Settings (enterprise only)
You will also see who performed these actions.
Use Case
As your company grows, you need to control and understand the significant events that have led to changes in your most important lists.
List Notifications
HubSpot is introducing List Notifications to help Enterprise customers understand critical list changes in real-time. Now, get notified when:
- A list is edited or deleted
- A list size changes significantly (powered by HubSpot AI)
- A list reaches a specific size
Use Case
- Hosting an event with limited capacity? You can now receive a notification when your list reaches that capacity.
- Have a list of your most important customers? You can now receive a notification, powered by HubSpot AI, when there are sudden drops or increases in your list. This can help you quickly understand the impact of a campaign or any recent communications.
Find emails by any word or phrase in the email body through Global Search
You can now find an email by searching for any term present in the email body in Global Search. The emails show up under the "Emails" section in Global Search.
Use Case
It was difficult to find specific email threads if you didn't have the information in Notes or you didn't remember the email subject line - for example, if you wanted to find customers who mentioned a specific product in an email or customers facing a specific issue so that you could update them on a fix. Global Search now lets you search for email conversation terms directly.
View Products Purchased from the Contact or Company Record
You can now see what products your customer has purchased from you, directly from the Contact or Company record.
Use Case
Want to know if your customers have ever purchased your green bike product? How about what's the top item they buy from you? Where do they spend the most money with you?
Right now, you'd need to open all the associated deals, scroll to line items, then do a lot of mental modeling to find the answer.
All Academy courses, lessons & certifications under a single section in Global Search
You can now find all Academy courses and lessons related to your search in the same section of Global Search, making it easier to find all relevant results. Tags indicate which results are COURSEs and which ones are LESSONs. A course that includes a certification will have a tag that says CERTIFICATION.
Bidirectional custom object sync between Salesforce and HubSpot
You can now update custom objects in Salesforce directly from HubSpot, in addition to syncing them from Salesforce to HubSpot. With bidirectional custom object sync, you can ensure that your Salesforce environment stays consistently current with the latest changes.
Use Case
Custom objects serve a multitude of purposes and have proven highly beneficial when synchronized with your Salesforce environments. Now, HubSpot is enhancing their custom object sync capability by enabling full bidirectional synchronization.
As always, you are in full control, setting the precise sync rules and triggers that align with your needs and preferences.
