New features like customer journey analytics, flexible payments, and connected data give businesses a deeper, more holistic view of the customer experience.

HubSpot, the customer relationship management (CRM) platform for scaling companies, announced at its annual INBOUND event new features and updates to help businesses create deeper, more meaningful connections with their customers.

“Bringing payments onto the same platform gave us visibility across the board and cut down on time managing multiple tools. We’re now able to understand the behavior of our customers to better meet their needs.”

Fundamental shifts in buyer behaviors have made it increasingly challenging for organizations to create meaningful connections with their customers. In fact, research from Gartner found that, when considering a purchase, B2B buyers spend only 17% of that time actually meeting with the potential suppliers. A major driver of that disconnection is the proliferation of new software and technology, making it hard for companies to connect with their data and systems, as well as with each other. HubSpot’s latest releases are a response to this current crisis of disconnection.

“Businesses are in a crisis of disconnection today. Their systems and data are disconnected because of cobbled point solutions. They’re disconnected from their customers, as buyers tune out saturated channels. And, they’re disconnected from their peers in a more hybrid world,” said Yamini Rangan, Chief Executive Officer at HubSpot. “At HubSpot, we see a path forward. We believe the businesses who will win in the future are the ones who focus on customer connection, not customer management. We’re committed to helping our customers grow in this new world by providing strategies, technology, and communities that foster deeper connections. I’m excited about the product developments we announced today at INBOUND because they empower our customers to do even more to solve this crisis with HubSpot’s connected CRM platform.”

Investing in Platform Features that Deepen Connection

When looking to connect with customers, companies need to look beyond the software, and focus on what customers actually want – ownership, flexible buying experiences and deeper connections with companies and one another. As a commerce-powered CRM platform, HubSpot addresses this need by enabling merchants to connect with their own customers when and where they want.

With newly launched payment schedules, HubSpot merchants can customize their payments through a collection of dates and amounts and will soon be able to connect those details with HubSpot payments transactions. Additionally, HubSpot’s quote-to-cash solutions help teams save time through the quoting, billing, and contracting process. Targeting operational efficiencies, these enhancements create a fast, seamless experience for customers.

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“We didn’t realize the impact that our previous tech stack had on the efficiencies of our business until we implemented HubSpot,” said Eric Wulf, CEO of International Carwash Association. “Bringing payments onto the same platform gave us visibility across the board and cut down on time managing multiple tools. We’re now able to understand the behavior of our customers to better meet their needs.”

HubSpot also released new data management enhancements to provide customers with transparent and timely data insights through import error handling and enhanced automation. The newest data import experience flags and resolves data errors before they are ever published. Data quality automation recommendations also eliminate the manual burden of fixing data errors. Using the power of HubSpot AI assistance, customers can now set up automation to resolve issues as they surface. As a result, teams can now spend less time on manual work and reactive problem-solving, giving customers more time and confidence to level-up their impact.

Helping Customers Grow Better Through Connected Applications

Customers want to feel known and valued throughout their interactions with a business. To make that a reality, companies need to be able to create more connected, customized experiences for their customers. HubSpot’s latest enhancements enable companies to attract, engage and delight customers in a more connected way.

Having a comprehensive view of the entire customer journey is a key part of fostering customer connections, which is why HubSpot announced the upcoming launch of customer journey analytics at INBOUND. The new feature, available in public beta later this year, will provide marketers with detailed visualizations that make it easier to identify moments in the customer journey that can be optimized for better conversion, and deeper insights into customer behaviors. HubSpot also announced enhancements to campaigns to provide marketers a consolidated view into all initiatives together.

In addition to launching improvements for marketers, HubSpot also announced new features to help customer service teams create more connected experiences. Teams using Service Hub can now interact with their customers through a fully connected service desk, complete with a helpdesk, channels, and automation. Through the new WhatsApp integration, currently available through public beta, teams can connect a WhatsApp business account to their shared inbox to communicate with prospects and customers without leaving the HubSpot platform. With the introduction of inbound calling, customers can make and receive calls right from HubSpot without exposing their personal phone numbers.

HubSpot also addresses the need for connected customer data for sales organizations through new data quality features to keep customer data connected, clean, and secure. With the custom object builder, teams can now craft customized data models without code, and enforce consistent data entry with property validations. Prioritizing data hygiene is easier than ever with HubSpot’s data quality command center, where teams can get insights on the health of all data in one place.

“Creating meaningful, lasting connections is the future. HubSpot is on a mission to create a powerful and easy-to-use product that gives you the insights you need to drive growth in this changing landscape,” said Steph Cuthbertson, Chief Product Officer at HubSpot. “At INBOUND we announced a wide range of innovations all to this end – tools to identify and connect with your customers, and insights to drive growth.”

In addition to new product updates, HubSpot also announced the launch of connect.com, a new connected community for growth professionals that helps them build strong relationships with their peers and community.

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