Choosing the Right HubSpot Object for Customer Onboarding

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So you're starting to think about managing your customer onboarding process in HubSpot? Whether you're eyeing deals, tickets, or custom objects, we've got you covered. Let's explore the options and pick the best object for your team.

HubSpot Deals for Customer Onboarding

Many teams manage their sales process using deals in HubSpot's Sales Hub, so they're already familiar with that functionality. Before deciding to use deals for onboarding, consider the following:

1. Do you want to keep your sales and onboarding processes in the same Hub?

If your organization is already using HubSpot's Sales Hub, you might want to keep your sales and onboarding processes in the same Hub. This integration can be practical if you want to avoid upgrading your subscription or because you already have seats paid for in your current plan.

2. Do you want to report on revenue post-handoff?

If reporting on revenue is critical during the onboarding process, HubSpot deals offer out-of-the-box functionality for tracking revenue, which can be valuable when transitioning from a closed deal to onboarding.

🌟 Pro tip: if you do decide to use HubSpot deals to manage your sales and customer onboarding processes, we always recommend using a separate pipeline for each customer lifecycle stage.

HubSpot Tickets for Customer Onboarding

Similar to deals, if you already have a Service Hub subscription or have been considering upgrading, you might consider using tickets for onboarding.

1. Do you want to completely separate your pre-sales and post-sales processes?

Many organizations want to keep their sales teams inside deals, and give their post-sales teams like support, customer success, and onboarding their own dedicated space to work in. This allows your post-sales teams to develop their own distinct processes utilizing customize properties, pipelines, and reporting, and avoid interference with other teams.

2. Do you need more flexibility to support post-sale use cases?

If your onboarding team need access to features like surveys, knowledge bases, support tickets, and other functionalities that come with HubSpot's Service Hub, using tickets may be the right choice.

Custom Objects for Customer Onboarding

If your organization has a HubSpot Enterprise subscription, you have the option to create custom objects. Custom objects allow for extensive customization within your HubSpot portal, but there are some considerations:

1. Do you require extensive customization for your onboarding records?

Custom objects provide you with the ability to customize every aspect of the record for onboarding. This level of customization can be beneficial if you have specific requirements.

2. Does your team have the bandwidth to spend the time setting up your onboarding custom objects properly?

Implementing custom objects may require more setup work from scratch, which can be time-consuming.

3. Consider how custom objects work with HubSpot marketplace apps like Arrows.

HubSpot custom objects don't currently support all of the same features you may see from HubSpot marketplace apps. Specifically, timeline events and CRM cards, which are fully supported in both deals and tickets, are not supported with custom objects yet.