How to Use HubSpot for eCommerce
HubSpot is a well-known company, but it might not be the first solution you think of when it comes to eCommerce. One reason for that is because HubSpot has built its brand on inbound marketing and some eCommerce marketers don’t realize how powerful inbound can be for their business. This guide will fix that. We’ll explain how you can sell more products with inbound marketing, why HubSpot for eCommerce makes perfect sense, and what you’ll need to make it work.
HubSpot’s eCommerce Options
HubSpot has a few different options to choose from. All of them are built to extend their free CRM.
First, there’s Marketing Hub, which is primarily designed to increase traffic and generate leads. Sales Hub is designed for sales teams and isn’t a good fit for most eCommerce companies. Then there’s Service Hub, which can be helpful if you’re looking for a platform to manage customer service interactions.
Finally, there’s CMS Hub, which is a powerful website builder that integrates with the rest of HubSpot’s tools. Marketing Hub is the primary HubSpot eCommerce tool. It includes forms, email marketing, landing pages, and live chat without HubSpot branding.
Most eCommerce sites will stick with Marketing Hub, but if you have the team and budget to spend on customer engagement, Service Hub will help increase customer loyalty and satisfaction.
The Benefits of HubSpot for eCommerce
Many eCommerce marketers are focused on quick wins and find the inbound methodology unappealing for that reason. But inbound marketing doesn’t necessarily require a long sales cycle to work, and there are other ways HubSpot’s eCommerce features can increase profitability.
Inbound Marketing for eCommerce
Inbound marketing for eCommerce[1] is generally a long-term approach that focuses on buyer personas and the Buyer’s Journey. But those concepts are useful even for companies with a shorter sales cycle. Different sorts of buyers go through different customer journeys and—no matter how short they are—it’s beneficial to understand who your shoppers are and their needs throughout the sales process.
HubSpot’s eCommerce features allow you to do that. You can see what products shoppers are looking at, what other pages they’re visiting, and a whole lot more. Then you can trigger automated workflows to nurture and close those leads.
eCommerce Personalization
One thing that makes HubSpot great for eCommerce is its focus on building detailed profiles of your customers through features like progressive form fields. Since eCommerce personalization is critical, Marketing Hub is an obvious choice. It’s purpose-built to get to know your website visitors and customers.
You can use HubSpot to personalize all of your marketing efforts, including email marketing, abandoned cart recovery, and upsell campaigns.
Tracking and Attribution
HubSpot for eCommerce also makes it easy to see how shoppers are finding your store, what they’re doing when they get there, and what campaigns are having an impact on revenue.
HubSpot eCommerce Integrations
There is a large library of HubSpot eCommerce integrations[2] so it will probably work with whatever software you’re using now. Here are some of the integrations you’ll need to get the most out of HubSpot.
eCommerce Platforms
HubSpot integrates with most of the major eCommerce platforms, like:
- WooCommerce
- HubSpot
- Magento
- BigCommerce
If you use a platform that doesn’t have HubSpot integration, Ecomm Bridge is a set of HubSpot APIs that the company built to make it easy for you to connect your store to HubSpot.
Website Visitor Identification for eCommerce
One great inbound marketing tool for eCommerce[3] is visitor identification software.
According to HubSpot, over 9 out of 10 shoppers won’t buy anything the first time they visit your website. Website visitor identification helps with that by collecting the name, email address, and mailing addresses of those shoppers and sending them to the HubSpot CRM.
The software matches up to 40 percent of your website visitors even if they don’t buy anything or fill out any forms on your site. It only costs $0.25 per lead, and you can get 100 free leads when you try LeadPost today.
Other eCommerce Integrations
While Marketing Hub is a powerful tool for eCommerce marketing, retail is not HubSpot’s primary focus. So, you’ll need third-party tools to make it work. For example, if you don’t use an eCommerce platform like Shopify, you’ll need a shopping cart. Fortunately, HubSpot has other integrations with eCommerce solutions like SamCart, Square, and Unific, so it’s easy to build a store on HubSpot without a platform like WooCommerce.
You Might Also Need…
HubSpot’s marketing automation workflows are only included in their pricier plans, so you may want to use one or two other solutions in combination with HubSpot to avoid paying hundreds of dollars a month for HubSpot.
Email marketing platforms like Mailchimp and Klaviyo have a lot of marketing automation functionality built in at a lower price point that HubSpot, so consider one of those.
Maximize Sales with HubSpot for eCommerce
Whatever products you’re selling, a good inbound marketing strategy can help you sell more products at a higher ROI. If you decide that you want to take an inbound approach, HubSpot’s eCommerce tools and integrations can help you implement the inbound methodology efficiently and effectively.
[1] A Simple but Effective Approach to Inbound Marketing for eCommerce
[2] Announcing the Best Hubspot eCommerce Integrations for 2022
[3] Here is The Best Affordable Inbound Marketing Tool for eCommerce