New Hubspot Features: How to Apply Them To Your Small Business

HubSpots Inbound event gave us a number of new tools to use. For small businesses, which often face unique challenges like limited resources, fragmented tools, and inconsistent customer experiences, HubSpot’s latest updates offer practical solutions.

Let’s explore some of HubSpot’s new features and how they address major small business pain points.

1. Customizable Contact Scoring for Smarter Lead Prioritization

Pain Point: Wasting time on unqualified leads

Small businesses often struggle to identify high-quality leads due to limited resources for in-depth prospecting.

Solution:

HubSpot's enhanced contact scoring allows businesses to assign scores to leads based on custom criteria like website activity, email engagement, or specific demographic details.

• Why It Matters: Sales teams can focus on leads most likely to convert, saving time and improving close rates.
• Example Use Case: A local real estate agency can prioritize leads based on criteria like clicking on high-value properties or attending open house events, ensuring personalized follow-ups.

2. AI-Powered Content Assistance

Pain Point: Limited marketing bandwidth

Many small businesses struggle to consistently create high-quality content due to time or budget constraints.

Solution:

HubSpot’s AI-powered content assistant generates blog ideas, email drafts, and even social media posts tailored to your business.

• Why It Matters: Streamlined content creation means small teams can maintain a strong online presence without burning out.
• Example Use Case: A boutique coffee shop can quickly draft and schedule newsletters highlighting seasonal drinks or upcoming events.

3. Advanced Reporting Dashboards

Pain Point: Lack of visibility into performance metrics

Without clear insights into marketing, sales, and customer service performance, small businesses often make decisions based on guesswork.

Solution:

HubSpot’s updated reporting dashboards allow small businesses to consolidate data across teams and channels, offering real-time visibility into KPIs.

• Why It Matters: Businesses can make data-driven decisions, even with limited analytics expertise.
• Example Use Case: A home services company can track the ROI of Google Ads campaigns alongside email marketing efforts, optimizing for the best-performing channels.

4. Expanded Integration Capabilities

Pain Point: Fragmented systems that don’t communicate

Small businesses often juggle multiple tools for email, accounting, and CRM, leading to inefficiencies and data silos.

Solution:

HubSpot’s expanded integrations with accounting software, payment processors, and customer support tools bridge gaps between systems.

• Why It Matters: Streamlined integrations reduce administrative overhead and provide a 360-degree view of customers.
• Example Use Case: A small e-commerce store can connect Shopify and QuickBooks with HubSpot to track customer transactions and automate follow-ups.

5. Customer Journey Analytics

Pain Point: Difficulty understanding the buyer’s journey

Small businesses often don’t have the resources to analyze customer interactions across touchpoints.

Solution:

HubSpot’s customer journey analytics provides a visual representation of how customers interact with your brand.

• Why It Matters: Small businesses can identify drop-off points and optimize the customer journey without hiring expensive consultants.
• Example Use Case: A fitness studio can pinpoint when potential members abandon sign-ups and create targeted campaigns to re-engage them.

6. Enhanced CRM Customization

Pain Point: One-size-fits-all solutions don’t meet unique needs

Generic CRM tools can feel too rigid for small businesses with niche workflows.

Solution:

HubSpot’s enhanced customization options for CRM objects allow businesses to tailor the platform to their specific operations.

• Why It Matters: Custom workflows and data fields mean that HubSpot can adapt to any industry.
• Example Use Case: A wedding planning business can track vendors, client preferences, and timelines directly in their CRM.

7. Conversation Intelligence

Pain Point: Inefficient customer interactions

With small teams managing high volumes of inquiries, missed opportunities and inconsistent service can occur.

Solution:

HubSpot’s conversation intelligence tools analyze sales calls, emails, and chat interactions to highlight areas for improvement.

• Why It Matters: Sales and service teams can refine their approach, increasing customer satisfaction and conversion rates.
• Example Use Case: A small IT support company can identify frequent customer pain points and proactively address them in marketing materials.

8. Marketing Campaign Collaboration

Pain Point: Difficulty coordinating campaigns across small teams

When marketing and sales teams overlap in responsibilities, campaign execution can become chaotic.

Solution:

HubSpot’s campaign collaboration tools allow team members to plan, execute, and analyze campaigns from a central location.

• Why It Matters: Improved coordination means campaigns run smoothly, even with limited resources.
• Example Use Case: A small nonprofit can centralize volunteer outreach, email campaigns, and fundraising efforts to maximize impact.

Why Small Businesses Should Adopt HubSpot’s Latest Features

1. Ease of Use: HubSpot’s intuitive interface means small teams can quickly adopt the platform without extensive training.
2. Scalability: Features like customizable CRM objects and advanced analytics grow with your business.
3. Cost-Effectiveness: HubSpot’s free and tiered pricing options make it accessible for businesses with tight budgets.

Conclusion

HubSpot’s new features provide small businesses with the tools to overcome their biggest challenges, from generating consistent leads to managing customer interactions effectively. By leveraging these updates, small businesses can level the playing field, delivering big-business customer experiences without the complexity.

If you’re ready to implement HubSpot’s new tools or need help tailoring them to your business, contact Huntscape Operations Partners. We specialize in helping small businesses unlock their full potential with HubSpot.