The foundation of your HubSpot account is a database of your business relationships and processes, called the CRM (Customer Relationship Management). In HubSpot, the CRM includes four standard objects: contacts, companies, deals, and tickets. Each object represents a different type of relationship or process. Below, learn how to get started managing a CRM database in HubSpot.
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As you get started with the CRM, it's important to understand its main components: objects, records, and properties. In HubSpot, CRM objects represent the different types of relationships and processes your business has. Standard CRM objects include contacts, companies, deals, tickets, and any custom objects you create (Enterprise accounts only).
HubSpot-defined objects, such as calls, conversations, products, and quotes, use the same object framework, which enables you to segment or report on them. A record is a single instance of an object, where you can store information and track interactions. You can also make associations between records to understand the relationships between them. Properties represent the different types of information you can store on a record.
For example, John Doe is a contact record and his email address, johndoe@email.com is stored in the Email contact property. His company, Orange Inc., is a company record, which can then be associated with John Doe to show the relationship between the two. As John interacts with your sales and support teams, you can create and associate deals and tickets with John and his company.
Properties allow you to store all the different types of information you collect about your records in HubSpot. This information allows you to segment, track, and report on your HubSpot database. Each of HubSpot's standard CRM objects has its own set of default properties, which apply to all records within that object. You can also create custom properties to store additional types of information about your records.
Records can be added to HubSpot in a few different ways. You can manually create them or import them in bulk from other systems. When importing, you can import records from a single object (e.g., contacts) or import and associate records from multiple objects (e.g., contacts and companies). You can also use HubSpot data sync to set up a two-way data sync between HubSpot and a variety of other platforms.
Each object in HubSpot has an index page where you can see all of the records within that object. On each record, you can view the information stored in each property and a timeline of all activities, including calls, meetings, emails, tasks, and notes. While many properties and activities in HubSpot will be updated and logged automatically, you can also manually edit property values and log activities.
Associating records allows you to track the relationships between records across different objects. For example, if you have multiple contacts at one company, you can associate all of them to that company. Many activities on record timelines will automatically be logged on associated records; however, you can also manually associate individual activities across records.
You can use the information stored on records in HubSpot to segment your CRM database using saved views or lists. This allows you to target your efforts based on different criteria, such as region, level of engagement, etc. With saved views, you can see different groups of records at a glance from the object's home. The lists tool provides some additional criteria options and allows you to take action on segments of contacts and companies in other HubSpot tools.
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