25 Common HubSpot Mistakes to Avoid in the New Year

HubSpot is a powerful marketing and sales tool, but it's also a complex system. To get the most out of the platform, it's important to avoid some common mistakes. As a HubSpot partner agency with over a decade of expertise, we've put together the following list to help you achieve maximum success.

Data Management and CRM Mistakes

1. Failing to add offline contacts to the CRM

Many businesses miss out on valuable opportunities by neglecting to include contacts gained through offline interactions in their CRM. These prospects often go untracked and un-nurtured, leaving potential revenue on the table.

Example:
You collect a stack of business cards at a trade show, but instead of entering them into your CRM, they end up forgotten in a desk drawer.

Pro Tip:
Streamline the process of adding offline contacts:

• Use the HubSpot mobile app to quickly add contacts on the spot.
• Sync your CRM with Outlook or Gmail to automatically capture new contacts.
• Schedule regular manual batch transfers to ensure no contact is left behind.

Don’t let offline connections slip through the cracks—integrate them into your CRM strategy and unlock their full potential!

2.  Not cleaning your CRM data

A cluttered CRM with duplicate contacts, outdated information, and incomplete records can derail your marketing efforts and harm your customer relationships. Poorly maintained data leads to inefficiencies, misguided decisions, and a frustrating customer experience.

Example:
Imagine a single customer appearing in your CRM with multiple entries: one with a personal email, another with a professional email, and several with different phone numbers. This duplication can result in the customer being contacted multiple times by different team members, causing confusion for both the customer and your sales team.

Pro Tips to Keep Your CRM Data Clean:

• Schedule Regular Data Cleansing: Periodically review and clean your CRM to remove duplicates, update outdated information, and fill in missing details.
• Leverage Duplicate Detection Tools: Use your CRM’s built-in tools to identify and merge duplicate records efficiently.
• Set Clear Data Entry Rules: Create standardized guidelines for data input to ensure consistent and accurate entries from all team members.

Clean data is the foundation of a productive CRM—invest in keeping it organized to boost your team’s efficiency and provide a seamless customer experience.

3. Incorrectly using contact and company records

A common mistake in CRM management is mixing up contact and company records or failing to create records for all relevant stakeholders within an organization. This lack of clarity can lead to inefficient segmentation, missed opportunities, and less effective targeted campaigns.

Example:
You create separate contact records for each employee of a company but neglect to establish a central company record. This disjointed structure prevents you from viewing the full scope of your relationship with the organization, leading to inefficiencies in communication and strategy.

Pro Tips for Clear Contact and Company Records:

• Always Create a Company Record: Ensure every organization is represented by a company record in your CRM.
• Link Related Contacts: Associate all individual contacts with their respective company record to centralize information and streamline communication.
• Use CRM Features for Structure: Leverage tools like HubSpot’s contact-to-company association to maintain a clear and organized database.

A well-structured CRM helps you better understand relationships within organizations, enabling smarter segmentation and more effective marketing efforts.

4. Not associating contact and company records

Failing to link contacts to their respective companies can result in missed automation opportunities and unnecessarily complex data processes. Linked records are essential for enabling automated workflows, such as seamlessly passing information to sales or tailoring marketing messages to specific audiences.  

Example:  
You plan to send an email campaign to all contacts within a specific company, but because contacts aren’t linked to the company record, this becomes impossible. The manual workaround consumes valuable time and introduces errors.  

Pro Tips to Ensure Linked Records:

• Implement a Rule: Make it mandatory for every contact to be assigned to a company in your CRM.  
• Regularly Audit Your Data: Periodically review and update records to ensure no contact is left unlinked. 
• Automate the Process: Use your CRM’s automation tools to detect and prompt associations between contacts and companies.  

By ensuring all contacts are linked to their companies, you’ll simplify data processes, enhance automation, and create more targeted and effective campaigns.

5. Overlooking Data Import Best Practices

Incorrect data imports can wreak havoc on your CRM, causing formatting errors, duplicates, incomplete records, or even data loss. These issues not only compromise data integrity but also hinder the effectiveness of your CRM processes.

Example:
You upload a CSV file without proper column headers or with incorrect data types. As a result, key information doesn’t map correctly, leading to misplaced or missing data that disrupts workflows and reporting.

Pro Tips for Accurate Data Imports:

• Double-Check Your Data: Review and clean your data before every import to ensure accuracy and completeness.
• Leverage Import Templates: Use your CRM’s predefined templates to avoid mapping errors and streamline the process.
• Test Before Importing Fully: Perform a test import with a small data set to verify everything maps and formats correctly.
• Limit Access: Assign one or two trusted individuals to oversee data imports and ensure consistency and accountability.

Taking the time to import data properly helps maintain a clean, organized CRM and reduces the risk of costly errors.

6. Not Updating Lifecycle Stages

Neglecting to update a contact’s lifecycle stage as they move through the customer journey can lead to disconnected marketing and sales efforts. Lifecycle stages provide valuable insights for tailoring emails, offers, and content while enabling better measurement of your marketing and sales success.

Examples:

A lead who downloads a whitepaper or offer should be promoted to the Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) stage.
A contact who makes a purchase should advance to the Customer stage.

Pro Tips for Managing Lifecycle Stages:

• Automate the Process: Set up workflows in your CRM to automatically update lifecycle stages based on specific actions (e.g., content downloads, purchases, etc.).
• Regularly Review Stages: Periodically audit your contacts to ensure lifecycle stages align with their current position in the customer journey.
• Leverage Stage Data: Use lifecycle stages to create highly personalized campaigns and track the effectiveness of your strategies.

Keeping lifecycle stages up-to-date ensures seamless coordination between your marketing and sales teams while improving the overall customer experience.

7. Using Default Properties Only

While HubSpot’s default contact properties are a great starting point, relying on them exclusively can limit the depth of insights you gather. Creating custom fields allows you to capture unique data tailored to your business needs, enabling more effective segmentation, targeting, and analysis.

Examples:

Add a custom “Industry” field to better segment your audience and craft industry-specific marketing messages.
Use a “Buying Interest” field to track specific customer needs, enabling you to create more personalized offers and campaigns.

Pro Tips for Custom Properties:

• Align with Your Goals: Design custom fields that align with your industry, target audience, and specific business objectives.
• Ensure Consistency: Standardize the use of custom properties across your team to maintain data quality and usability.
• Leverage for Insights: Use the additional data captured to create highly segmented lists, track trends, and refine your marketing and sales strategies.

8. Not Setting Up Automation Triggers for Data Updates

Failing to automate property updates when contacts take specific actions can result in outdated or inaccurate data, leading to missed opportunities and inefficiencies. Automation not only ensures your data stays current but also saves valuable time and minimizes the risk of manual errors.

Examples:

• Automatically send a follow-up email when a contact attends a webinar.
• Move a contact to the “Customer” phase as soon as a deal is marked as won.
  
  

Pro Tips for Setting Up Automation Triggers:

• Use HubSpot workflows to create automated actions based on specific triggers, such as form submissions or deal updates.
• Personalize with Workflow Branches: Set up branches in your workflows to tailor actions based on contact characteristics, ensuring a customized experience.
• Test Before Launching: Always test your automations thoroughly to ensure they function as intended and avoid unexpected errors.

Automating data updates keeps your CRM accurate and actionable, allowing your team to focus on meaningful engagement rather than manual maintenance.

9. Skipping Regular Data Maintenance

Your CRM is only as valuable as the data it contains. Neglecting regular maintenance can lead to duplicates, outdated contacts, and incomplete fields, which compromise your marketing and sales effectiveness. Clean, accurate data forms the backbone of successful campaigns and decision-making.

Examples:

• Duplicates: These can distort your reports, result in redundant efforts, and confuse your team and customers.
• Outdated Information: Sending communications to incorrect or outdated contacts reduces engagement and harms your credibility.

Pro Tips for Maintaining Clean CRM Data:

• Schedule regular reviews to identify and correct duplicates, fill in missing fields, and remove outdated records.
• Train your team to follow data entry best practices to prevent inconsistencies from the start.

10.Not Syncing HubSpot with Other Tools

Failing to integrate HubSpot with other essential tools—like email platforms, e-commerce solutions, or customer support systems—can lead to data silos and decreased efficiency. Seamless integration ensures a smooth workflow, better collaboration, and prevents valuable data from slipping through the cracks.

Examples:

• E-commerce Integration: Sync your online store with HubSpot to automatically transfer order data and track purchase behavior.
• Customer Support Integration: Connect your CRM with your help desk system for a unified view of customer interactions, enhancing support quality and efficiency.

Pro Tips for Effective Integration:

• Explore Pre-Built Integrations: Use the HubSpot App Marketplace to find ready-made integrations tailored to your needs.
• Leverage the HubSpot API: For unique requirements, develop custom integrations using HubSpot’s robust API capabilities.
• Plan Your Data Flow: Map out how information will move between systems to ensure smooth and consistent data syncing across tools.

Integrating HubSpot with your tech stack breaks down silos, streamlines workflows, and maximizes the value of your CRM.

Common Workflow and Automation Mistakes

11. Overcomplicating workflows

Overly complex workflows can lead to confusion, errors, and inefficiencies. When workflows attempt to cover every possible scenario or include excessive conditions, they become difficult to manage and troubleshoot. Simpler workflows are more effective and easier to maintain.

Examples:

• A workflow designed to handle all possible customer scenarios but lacks clear decision points, leading to convoluted logic.
• A workflow overloaded with conditions and actions, making it hard to understand or modify.

Pro Tips for Streamlined Automation:

• Apply the KISS Principle: Keep it simple and straightforward. Start with basic workflows and gradually build in complexity as needed.
• Visualize Your Workflows: Use HubSpot’s visual workflow editor to map out processes and better understand connections and dependencies.
• Test Thoroughly: Before activating any workflow, run tests to ensure it functions as intended and aligns with your goals.

By keeping your workflows simple and focused, you’ll reduce the risk of errors, improve efficiency, and make it easier to optimize your automation processes over time.

12. Relying on Generic Email Campaigns Without Proper Segmentation

Traditional segmentation techniques, like sending generic emails to entire contact lists, often result in low engagement and high unsubscribe rates. HubSpot’s advanced features enable hyper-personalization, leveraging contact properties, behavioral data, and dynamic content to deliver messaging that resonates with individual recipients.

Examples:

Sending the same email to all contacts, regardless of their purchase behavior or interests, risks alienating your audience and reducing campaign effectiveness.

Pro Tips for Hyper-Personalized Campaigns:

• Go Beyond Demographics: Use behavioral data (e.g., past purchases, website interactions), company information, and stated interests to create precise audience segments.
• Dynamic Lists: Leverage HubSpot’s dynamic lists to automatically update audience segments as contact properties change, keeping your campaigns relevant and timely.
• Personalization Tokens: Incorporate personalization tokens to customize emails, landing pages, and other content with recipient-specific information like names, company names, or recent activities.

13.Creating Isolated Workflows Without Considering Their Impact

Building workflows in isolation can lead to conflicting actions, duplicated efforts, and inconsistent customer experiences. Misaligned workflows may result in contacts being processed by multiple automations simultaneously, causing data inconsistencies and a disjointed customer journey.

Example:

Multiple workflows performing the same task but with different conditions, leading to overlapping or conflicting actions.

Pro Tips for Workflow Alignment:

• Centralized Oversight: Assign clear ownership for the creation and management of workflows to avoid duplication and ensure consistency.
• Maintain a Workflow Overview: Develop a comprehensive map or list of all active workflows, including their triggers, actions, and relationships, to visualize how they interact.
• Regular Audits: Periodically review your workflows to confirm they remain relevant, efficient, and conflict-free.

14. Underusing If/Then Branches

Relying on linear workflows can limit the personalization and relevance of your automations. By leveraging If/Then branches, you can create flexible paths that adapt to a contact’s actions, behaviors, or properties, delivering more tailored and impactful experiences.

Example:

A workflow that sends different follow-up emails based on whether a contact has visited a specific page or completed a particular action.

Pro Tips for Effective Use of If/Then Branches:

• Map Complex Decision Paths: Use If/Then branches to mirror nuanced decision-making processes, ensuring workflows respond dynamically to a contact’s unique journey.
• A/B Test Strategies: Incorporate branches to test different approaches, such as varying email content, and analyze which performs better.
• Combine with Personalization: Pair If/Then logic with personalization tokens to maximize engagement by tailoring content to specific audience segments.

By incorporating If/Then branches, you can elevate your workflows from static sequences to dynamic, data-driven automation that resonates with your audience.

15. Failing to Set Task Notifications

Automations often generate tasks for sales or marketing teams, but without proper notifications, these tasks can go unnoticed. This leads to missed opportunities, delayed actions, and a breakdown in the customer experience.

Example:

A demo request is automatically logged as a task in your CRM, but without a notification, the sales team fails to follow up promptly.

Pro Tips for Ensuring Task Visibility:

• Configure automations to send task notifications directly to the assigned team member via email, CRM alerts, or mobile push notifications.
•  Add priority levels and deadlines to tasks to emphasize urgency and keep teams focused on high-value activities.
• Use escalation rules to ensure uncompleted tasks are flagged to a manager or reassigned if necessary.

Underutilization of Features

HubSpot is a robust and versatile platform packed with features designed to streamline marketing, sales, customer service, and operations. However, its complexity can be overwhelming, leading many users to underutilize its full potential. By failing to explore and leverage all available tools, businesses miss opportunities to optimize workflows, enhance customer experiences, and drive growth.

16. Ignoring SEO and content strategy tools

HubSpot’s search engine optimization (SEO) recommendations and content strategy tools offer powerful features to help you optimize your content for search engines and better align it with your audience’s needs. While not a replacement for an in-depth SEO team audit, these tools are highly effective for identifying early-stage issues and uncovering opportunities to boost visibility and engagement.

17. Underusing reporting and analytics

Failing to leverage HubSpot’s robust reporting tools can leave you with a lack of insight into your marketing performance, making it difficult to measure success or optimize strategies. HubSpot’s analytics features provide comprehensive data to help you track metrics, identify trends, and refine your marketing efforts for better results.

Examples of Key Metrics to Track:

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Understand how engaging your content is and where improvements are needed.
• Open Rate: Evaluate the effectiveness of your email subject lines.
• Conversion Rate: Measure how effectively your campaigns turn leads into customers.
• Return on Investment (ROI): Determine which campaigns deliver the most value.
  
  

Pro Tips for Maximizing HubSpot’s Reporting Tools:

1. Set Clear Goals: Define specific objectives for your campaigns to guide your analysis and reporting efforts.
2. Identify Relevant KPIs: Focus on key performance indicators that align with your goals, such as lead generation, engagement, or revenue growth.
3. Create Custom Dashboards: Use HubSpot’s reporting features to build tailored dashboards that consolidate important metrics in one place.
4. Regularly Review and Adjust: Schedule regular reporting intervals to assess performance, identify trends, and adapt your strategy accordingly.

18. Misconfiguration of forms and landing pages:

Poorly optimized forms and landing pages can lead to low conversion rates. Poorly designed forms and landing pages can deter potential customers and lead to low conversion rates. A clear and concise design and an optimized call to action are crucial.

Example

Forms that are too long, unnecessary fields, slow loading times or an unattractive design can negatively affect the conversion rate.

Tip:

A/B test different variations of your forms and landing pages to find out which ones work best. Use clear and concise language and optimize loading time.

19. Neglecting Sales Enablement Features

HubSpot provides a suite of powerful sales enablement tools, including deal pipelines, email templates, and call tracking, designed to streamline sales processes and provide actionable insights. However, these tools are often underused, leaving sales teams without the resources they need to close deals efficiently and effectively.

Pro Tips for Empowering Sales Teams with HubSpot:

• Integrate Sales into the Platform: Ensure your sales team is actively involved in adopting and optimizing HubSpot’s tools. Regular communication and collaboration between teams are key.
• Provide Regular Training: Offer ongoing training sessions to ensure all team members understand how to use the tools effectively and stay updated on new features.
• Monitor and Optimize Usage: Regularly review how your sales team is using HubSpot to identify gaps in adoption or areas for improvement.
• Encourage Collaboration: Use HubSpot to foster better collaboration between sales and marketing teams, aligning efforts and sharing insights.

20. Overlooking Knowledge Base and Chatbot Tools

HubSpot’s customer service tools, such as the knowledge base and chatbot, are powerful resources for enhancing customer satisfaction and reducing the workload on your support team. Neglecting these tools can lead to slower response times, lower efficiency, and missed opportunities to improve the customer experience.

Pro Tips for Maximizing Knowledge Base and Chatbot Tools:

• Keep Content Fresh: Regularly update your knowledge base with new questions, product updates, and feedback from customer interactions to keep it relevant and helpful.
• Personalize Your Chatbot: Adapt your chatbot to reflect your brand voice and tailor its responses based on common customer needs and behavior patterns.
• Monitor Usage: Analyze data from your knowledge base and chatbot to identify gaps in content or common issues that require further attention.
• Integrate with Support Tools: Ensure your knowledge base and chatbot are fully integrated with your CRM and ticketing system to provide a seamless support experience.

21. Skipping A/B testing for campaigns:

HubSpot allows users to conduct A/B testing for emails, landing pages, and CTAs, which is crucial for optimizing performance. Neglecting to test variations means you’re potentially missing out on higher engagement and conversions.

Implementation and Training Issues

22. Incomplete Setup

Failing to properly configure HubSpot can severely impact its effectiveness, leading to issues like incorrect data, broken reports, and inefficient processes. A complete and thorough setup ensures that all tools and features work together seamlessly to deliver optimal results.

Examples of Common Setup Errors:

• Missing integrations with essential tools like email platforms or e-commerce software.
• Unconfigured email sending domains, leading to deliverability issues.
• Missing tracking codes on your website, preventing accurate analytics and lead tracking.

• Use a Detailed Checklist: Create or follow a comprehensive checklist of all required configurations, including integrations, tracking codes, and domain settings.
• Leverage HubSpot Documentation: Take advantage of HubSpot’s extensive resources and step-by-step guides to ensure all critical settings are addressed.
• Conduct a Setup Review: Audit your configuration to confirm all components are functioning as expected and aligned with your business needs.
• Consult Experts: If the setup process feels overwhelming, consider working with a certified HubSpot partner or consultant for guidance and support.

A complete and well-executed setup lays the foundation for accurate data, effective workflows, and a successful HubSpot experience.

23. Not customizing the Platform

Failing to tailor HubSpot to your business’s specific needs can lead to underutilization of its powerful features and a disconnect between the platform and your processes. A standard configuration may not fully align with your unique workflows, making it essential to customize HubSpot to meet your goals.

Examples of Missed Customization Opportunities:

• Uncustomized Properties: Default properties may not capture all the data your business needs for segmentation and analysis.
• Missing Custom Objects: Relevant data, such as products, services, or projects, may be left unstructured without custom objects.
• Unused or Generic Workflows: Pre-built workflows may not reflect the nuances of your business processes.

Pro Tips for Customizing HubSpot Effectively:

• Map Your Processes: Make a list of all the key processes you want to manage within HubSpot, such as lead tracking, sales pipelines, and customer follow-ups.
• Add Relevant Custom Objects: Extend HubSpot’s capabilities by creating custom objects for critical aspects of your business, like inventory, service requests, or events.
• Refine Pre-Built Workflows: Adapt HubSpot’s pre-built workflows to reflect your specific business requirements, ensuring automation aligns with your processes.
• Train Your Team: Educate your team on how to use the customized platform effectively, so they can maximize its potential.

24. Lack of Team Training

Without proper training, your team may struggle to use HubSpot effectively, leading to missed opportunities and underutilization of its features. A well-trained team can unlock the full potential of the platform, improving productivity and achieving better results.

Examples of Training Gaps:

• Sales team members unsure how to qualify leads effectively.
• Marketing team members lacking knowledge of how to create impactful email campaigns.
• Employees unable to evaluate reports and derive actionable insights.

Pro Tips for Effective HubSpot Training:

• Develop a Role-Specific Training Plan: Tailor training programs to the needs of different user roles (e.g., sales, marketing, customer service) and their specific tasks within HubSpot.
• Incorporate Hands-On Exercises: Provide practical, real-world exercises that allow employees to immediately apply their knowledge, reinforcing key concepts.
• Build an Internal Knowledge Base: Create a centralized repository of resources, such as tutorials, best practices, and FAQs, so employees can access information when they need it.
• Offer Ongoing Learning Opportunities: Regularly update training materials and hold refresher sessions to keep the team current with new features and best practices.

Investing in team training ensures that everyone understands how to use HubSpot efficiently, helping your business maximize the platform’s value and achieve its goals.

25. Not creating a usage strategy

Without a clear strategy for using HubSpot, businesses risk uncoordinated activities, undefined goals, and underperformance. A well-defined usage plan ensures that your team is aligned, responsibilities are clear, and HubSpot is used effectively to achieve your objectives.

Examples of Common Gaps:

• No defined KPIs to measure success.
• Ambiguous or missing assignment of responsibilities for HubSpot tasks.

Uncoordinated efforts across teams, leading to inefficiencies.

Pro Tips for Creating a HubSpot Usage Strategy:

• Define Clear Goals: Establish specific objectives for using HubSpot, such as increasing lead generation, boosting customer retention, or driving sales growth.
• Set Relevant KPIs: Identify the key performance indicators that will help you measure success (e.g., conversion rates, engagement metrics, or revenue).
• Assign Responsibilities: Clearly define roles and responsibilities for tasks within HubSpot, such as managing workflows, analyzing reports, or creating campaigns.
• Align Teams: Ensure all teams using HubSpot—marketing, sales, and customer service—are coordinated and aligned with the overarching strategy.
• Document the Strategy: Create a shared document outlining your usage plan, including goals, KPIs, assigned roles, and workflows, to keep everyone on the same page.

Benefit from HubSpot's Full Potential with Expert Guidance

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make when using HubSpot is trying to navigate its powerful but complex suite of tools without the guidance of a dedicated team who truly understands how it works. HubSpot’s potential is immense, but unlocking it requires expertise in configuration, strategy, and optimization.

Partnering with a team that knows the platform inside and out can save you time, eliminate costly errors, and ensure you’re making the most of its features to drive measurable results.

Don’t let a lack of expertise hold you back from achieving your goals—collaborate with professionals who can help you unleash the full power of HubSpot.