Are you considering migrating your CRM from Salesforce to HubSpot? This blog is not to convince you to stay or to go, but to show the main things you need to consider before making a decision. These are two different platforms that might accomplish different business needs. You may end up using both at the same time.
Should I Migrate from Salesforce to HubSpot?
Oftentimes, people using Salesforce wish for a more user-friendly platform that hosts CMS (website management), Marketing, Sales and Service tools all together in one system. If that’s you, you’re a great candidate for migrating your efforts from Salesforce to HubSpot.
HubSpot offers several different tiers of CMS, Marketing, Sales and Service tools while the CRM collects the data in the background to keep all your processes connected with each other. However, if you need a system that relies heavily on complex sales processes and reports, and you don’t need marketing or service tools, you may be happier staying in Salesforce.
Overall, one of the main forces that creates mixed feelings between the two platforms is how complicated it is to learn:
- how to use it;
- how to easily access support; and
- how to empower multiple team members to effectively use the tools.
This is where HubSpot can become your best friend as the platform is easy to use, intuitive and has tons of free support and online certifications.
Migration vs. Integration From Salesforce to HubSpot
Before you do anything between the two platforms, you need to decide if you want to transfer everything to HubSpot and disconnect Salesforce, or if you plan on keeping both platforms running at the same time.
Why would I want to keep both? You may be wondering.
Well, if you have complex sales processes, need complex reports, and your goals are currently being achieved using Salesforce, keep up with the good work!
But if on top of that, you also need marketing tools, service tools and/or a CMS, or you need a system that is easier for all your team members to use, that’s when you can use an integration to HubSpot and take advantage of the best of both worlds.
By navigating to Settings > Integrations > Connected Apps, you can sync your Salesforce account to HubSpot and have data come into HubSpot from Salesforce. That’s an easy way to have both platforms communicating and make sure data is available for any type of activity.
However, if you feel like you would still be happy using HubSpot’s sales tools and you need other Hub tools such as Marketing and Service, you might choose to make the switch and move forward with a migration.
What to Consider When Migrating Salesforce to HubSpot
This stage involves a lot of researching, planning and documenting. Know your processes, document them, and research which HubSpot tools correspond to what you would use in Salesforce.
If you don’t see the exact functionality in HubSpot, there is always a workaround that can be either done by third-party software (HubSpot has tons of integrations available) or it can simply be recreated with other HubSpot tools to achieve the same goal.
Take this time to ask a lot of questions and document what each part of your processes will look like in HubSpot. Here are some topics to think about:
- Do I have bad data that should come over to HubSpot? Or should I clean it up first?
- Do I have all the custom properties necessary in HubSpot to match what I have in Salesforce?
- How am I going to recreate automation?
- Is there any new automation that can help with efficiency?
- Do I need to transfer over attachments on records in the CRM? (*bonus tip: you will need a third-party software to do that!)
- Do you currently use any plugin or third-party integration that needs to continue running in HubSpot? This is an opportunity to check if that integration is available in HubSpot, or if you can actually discontinue using it because HubSpot can do that job.
Make a checklist of essential objects to transfer to HubSpot such as:
- Contacts
- Companies
- Deals
- Activities (this includes notes, logged calls, emails, etc. Be thorough when deciding what needs to be transferred to HubSpot)
- Attachments
- Custom Properties
What other objects are essential for your business? The number and types of objects are what’s going to drive the migration steps and complexity. This planning stage is the longest and most important part of this process.
Consider Different Ways to Migrate Data
This will depend on the size of your database and complexity of processes.
The Salesforce native integration in HubSpot was built to have both platforms running together. That means you don’t necessarily need to use it to do your migration and migration is not always the best approach. Smaller amounts of data can be exported from Salesforce and imported into HubSpot via a CSV file, for example.
Make sure to wait to disconnect your Salesforce until after your processes are rebuilt in HubSpot or at least until a solid plan is in place and you have downloaded a backup of all data.
Use Automation to Update Large Amounts of Data
After you transfer data to HubSpot and start implementing your processes into HubSpot tools, you might need to do mass updates of lifecycle stage, contacts and deal owners, and any other property you might get lost in translation. For this, you can use Workflows if the criteria for selecting records for the update is crystal clear.
In case you have some special circumstances that would not be successful with a mass update, make sure to identify the records using lists and do the appropriate manual changes.
Conclusion
If you found this article helpful, you may also enjoy:
- Learn How To Remove Duplicates In HubSpot
- How to Get Started with HubSpot’s CRM System
- What is HubSpot's CRM?
- How To Use The HubSpot CRM Like A Pro
- Want Better Results? Organize Your CRM System
- Why HubSpot's Customer Relationship Management is The Best
- HubSpot Free CRM: How Valuable Is This?
- HubSpot's CRM Pricing: The Most Attractive Deal In The World
- CRM Tools: 3 Ways HubSpot Delights Your Business
- Skill Up with HubSpot CRM Training
Are you ready to get started with HubSpot CRM? Great!
1) Set up your free account.
2) Read our 'Getting Started' post that guides you through the beginning steps.
*If you want to have a quick chat with a HubSpot CRM expert, feel free to book a call below.
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