Over our many years as HubSpot Partners, we’ve learnt a few tricks, and one of them is never to miss an opportunity to attend a HubSpot event. This doesn’t just extend to the Inbound Annual Conference (the rock star of all marketing events), but also to their partner-specific initiatives as well.
These invite-only events overflow with unique opportunities to learn from and connect with other HubSpot partners. They’re also where HubSpot reveals new and exclusive content and product development insights to help partners boost their competitive edge.
Earlier this year Craig and I had the good fortune to attend HubSpot’s EMEA Partner Summit 2018 event in Dublin, and we were once again completely wowed. HubSpot has a host of groundbreaking stuff coming up in their pipeline, which will certainly be game-changing for their customers.
Reflecting on the event a month later, there were a few key takeaways we felt were pivotal. In no particular order, these include:
HubSpot has taken their game to a new level, and the world is taking note
Gartner’s Peer Insights recently surveyed the best CRM lead management software for 2018. We’ll get into greater detail on this in another post, but the big focus here is that HubSpot came out on top against some stiff competition. This accolade is impressive because it’s based on the reviews and ratings given by a vendor’s customers, and subsequently a direct indication of how well they’re meeting user needs.
The customer is now the primary focus more than ever before
HubSpot’s focus has always been a customer-centric one, and the addition of their new Service hub, essentially a helpdesk ensuring greater service delivery and support to their customers, is an example of how they’re taking customer service up a notch.
They presented an interesting diagram to indicate the decision to shift away from a funnel-style methodology previously related to their services, to what they’re calling a “flywheel”. In this model, the CRM sits in the middle, with the sales, marketing and services functionalities surrounding it.
The addition of the Service hub is a significant one, as it takes customer service to up a notch with features such as conversations, tools that make responding to tickets simple, quick and efficient, and self-service tools like automation and Knowledge Base to empower customers. There’s also customer feedback, which allows you to listen to customer posts across their lifecycles for greater insight.
They’re exploring key technologies to augment their offering
HubSpot has been digging into conversational bot technology, with the belief that in the future we’ll successfully be able to substitute forms for chatbots. That day has arrived, and they’ve made building out chatbot functionality as simple as creating a workflow in the CRM. Wondering if it’s worth using a chatbot instead of a form? Well, consider that chatbots have 0.001x less friction than an ordinary form, and you can see the value. While not yet available, we felt that this feature was one to watch out for in the coming months.
They’re no longer just another product; they’re now a significant platform
With plans to announce plenty of native integrations and several already underway, HubSpot is redefining themselves as a platform, not just a product.
What’s noteworthy is that HubSpot has not only been hard at work at improving their offering on multiple levels and redefining themselves, but they’ve been doing so while keeping their existing users in mind. Many of the new features, especially those in the Service hub are highly user-friendly, and are based on pre-existing HubSpot features so that current users can quickly adapt to these new features in rapid time.
They’ve also added features like bulk social uploads, Instagram publishing and scheduling, Facebook messenger integration, domain manager improvements and editor enhancements to meet current user needs. You can now quickly generate quotes from within the Sales hub, and improve your meeting integrations with reminders, multiple calendar support functionality and more in-depth customisation options.
Looking forward to even greater things
We came away from the event once again impressed with the direction HubSpot is headed in, and excited to be a part of the journey as a HubSpot Partner.
Want to know more about HubSpot, or any of their updated features and how to make them work for you? Reach out to us – we’re here and happy to help.
