Getting the most out of your HubSpot integrations with SpotDev

HubSpot is a powerful tool, but it doesn't do everything. Nor is it designed to. For the unique needs of each individual business, HubSpot allows for easy integration with any other piece of software that has an API.

Platforms like Zapier can help with this, but for truly unique needs, nothing beats a custom integration. 

What are CRM integrations? 

Most business software available today has an API (application programming interface) that allows developers to write code so that the software can communicate with other software tools.

Although marketing software once tried to be all things to all people, it quickly became clear that this wasn't a practical solution. Companies are realising that it isn't enough to tack on tools across their marketing and sales departments. For maximum efficiency, software across the whole company needs to be able to communicate with each other effectively. 

The result of this is an explosion in the popularity of third-party apps and integrations for CRM software, like HubSpot. Nearly every popular business software product has an entire ecosystem built around it where apps that provide integrations of all kinds can be acquired. On top of those ecosystems, many companies are embracing the utility of an integration that's been custom-designed for their unique needs. 

SpotDev's core principles for CRM Integrations

Off-the-shelf components can be great when you've just started out. As your business grows, however, you may find yourself needing more specific functionality than they can provide. That's where SpotDev can help. When developing custom HubSpot integrations for clients, we adhere to four key principles. 

• Stability and robustness — Software that constantly crashes or exhibits bugs is more of a burden than a benefit. That's why SpotDev thoroughly tests the integrations we build to ensure they're rock solid and ready to increase your productivity without causing you headaches.
• Flexibility and scalability — The main benefit of custom integrations is that you can get the exact functionality you need. This includes the flexibility to be easily adapted to new requirements and the scalability to grow with your business.
• Usability — Simply having a powerful integration isn't enough. If your staff can't use the software effectively because it has a poor design or clunky workflows, then the purpose of integrating technologies to improve productivity is defeated. 
• Security — When dealing with cloud-based software, cybersecurity is an ever-present threat. Poorly designed software can leave your entire business vulnerable to attack. 

The need for CRM integrations

With the desire to integrate all aspects of a business into one cohesive unit, there comes the inevitable situation where a required task or automation workflow falls outside the range of your existing CRM's capabilities. This is the exact situation that CRM integrations are designed to solve. 

Not all integrations are created equal: research is required

Most first-party integrations are lacklustre at best: they provide the bare minimum to get the job done.

While there are some great third-party integrations available, they largely suffer from the same problem; in order to appeal to the most amount of people, these solutions must be very one-size-fits-all in nature. That leaves them lacking in the flexibility and scalability factors that we discussed earlier.

The sole purpose of an integration is to make a marketer's life easier

Ultimately, the need for CRM integrations comes from the desire to make the work of a marketer easier. A lot of processes and tasks go into a marketer's workday. If those can be automated away or otherwise streamlined, integrations provide a huge productivity boost.

Automation also helps to remove human error and keep data synchronised, so errors occur less frequently and processes complete more reliably. 

How SpotDev ensures you get the most out of your HubSpot integrations

The actual development of a HubSpot integration is only one part of the process. SpotDev wants to ensure that the integrations we develop provide maximum utility for you and your business.

In keeping with that philosophy, there are a few ways in which we stand out from the competition:

Determine utilisation and data requirements through a diagnostic engagement

Before we start any coding, it's important that we understand the software you want us to integrate into HubSpot. We'll look at the features it offers, the API available to developers, and the unique needs of your business to formulate a custom integration plan.

We'll bring our expertise to the table to help you understand how integrating the software can help increase productivity, so you're getting what you need and not just what you think you need.  

Train you and your team on the new software 

We talked about usability being a part of our core philosophy. It isn't good enough for us to simply create software that we think is easy to use and then leave you and your team to figure it out.

Part of our service is training you up so that everyone knows what the software can do and how to use it. Our aim is to help you hit the ground running and get the best return on your investment right away. 

Perform integration without degrading website performance

Website performance is so important. Not only are customers more likely to leave a website that loads slowly, but search engines penalise pages that don't load within a certain amount of time. Poorly written integrations can lead to slower website performance.

In worst-case scenarios, they can introduce bugs that make it more difficult for visitors to use your site. We make it a priority to add functionality to your tech stack without degrading your website performance in any way. 

Integrate without negatively impacting data

One of the biggest reasons to integrate the rest of your software stack with HubSpot is so there can be a single source of truth for your data.

For example, you don't want several copies of a customer's address stored in disparate software products, because then you run the risk of the data becoming out of sync and errors occurring. Our implementations will always ensure that HubSpot remains a single source of truth so no inaccurate data creeps into your reports or dashboards.

When you've outgrown your current third-party solution, or there isn't one available for the software you need integrated, it's time to consider a custom integration.

If you need help building a custom integration, or just auditing the ones you currently use to see what can be improved, contact us today.