by Melanie, on 2 Nov 2021
Last month was clearly a busy month for HubSpot. Not only did the company hold their three-day user conference, INBOUND, but they also rolled out many a new feature in the platform.
As I decided which updates to highlight, I was surprised by how many things I thought were important to discuss. So, I'll spare you more preamble and get to the good stuff.
As always, if you would like to discuss any of these in more detail, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at info@strategicpiece.com.
ChatFlows
More Detailed User Permissions
You can use chatflows within any of HubSpot's products. They are the automated conversations you hold through your website's chat widget, which can be an important part of your conversational marketing strategy.
Previously, if you wanted to grant a team member access to manage chatflows, they had to be an admin on your HubSpot account.
No longer! You can now give any HubSpot user write/edit permissions without having to grant them admin privileges.
For the record, I love Snowflake's chatflow (and avatar).
CMS
Smart Sections
A new CMS feature that I'm particularly excited about is the ability to build and save sections on one webpage and then re-use them on other pages.
You don't have to build these as modules in the Design Manager - which is important for no-code/low-code sites - and you can even replicate sections that include smart content.
Smart sections are rich text or image modules that are customized based on a visitor's data. For example, if they're a new visitor, maybe you show them a particular call-to-action, but if they are already a customer, you show them something else that's more meaningful to them.
We love personalization at scale and this is powerful functionality to enable that.
CRM
HubSpot Payments
Announced at INBOUND, HubSpot has launched HubSpot Payments so you can collect payments via links in quotes, chats, emails, or on your website.
This isn't just for e-commerce companies. HubSpot Payments will help any B2B company make purchasing easier for their customers.
This functionality is still in beta, so you may want to wait a little since changing your payment processes is no small feat.
Improved Slack Integration
I'm glad I don't check what percentage of my day is spent on email, HubSpot, and Slack (and Zoom). It's probably an obscene amount.
So, I love it when I need to do something in HubSpot and discover I can get the job done without having to leave whichever system I'm currently working in.
In the latest Slack integration, users can create contacts, companies, and deals, and even customize ticket creation.
Multiple Company Associations
I have needed this feature for YEARS!
We work with many clients whose contacts routinely work for multiple entities. For example, they interface with both their customers and their customers' consultants - who may in turn be working with multiple clients of their own.
It is crucial to map these relationships and HubSpot now makes this easier by allowing multiple company associations with contacts, deals, and tickets.
(As you can probably tell, this is my #1 favorite update this month!)
HubSpot App
Dark Mode
As we become increasingly aware of how much blue light we get, many of you are switching your devices to dark mode.
While I'd love to see HubSpot roll out additional dark mode settings (for marketing emails, as am example), I'm happy to see them adding a dark mode setting for the HubSpot App.
Hopefully that means more dark mode settings across the platform coming soon.
HubSpot Academy
There is so much great content in the HubSpot Academy, and HubSpot doesn't want to limit this education to people sitting at their computer. So, you can now find HubSpot Academy content on the mobile app.
What are you going to tackle first? SEO? Sales Management Training?
Marketing Hub
Ad Sequencing
This is my second favorite update from October!
With ad sequencing, marketers can set up specific campaigns, creatives, and other fundamental settings to deliver the most relevant ad for a person at different stages in their buyer's journey.
As HubSpot says, this is a more "inbound approach" to advertising. You're delivering the right message at the right time to the right person so that you can be a valuable resource to them.
Note, this is only available for Facebook Ads as of November 1, 2021.
REPORTING
Custom Reports - Rolling Dates & fiscal year
Do you work for (or with) a company that uses a fiscal year other than Jan-Dec?
Our UK clients in particular tend to have fiscal year ends on March 31st, but we've come across quite a few US companies with non-calendar FY's, too.
HubSpot now allows you to customize your fiscal calendar settings and to apply them when building and running reports (including custom reports).
Stay tuned for more updates next month!
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