HubSpot Mistakes Costing You Growth (and How to Fix)

A solid growth strategy is the backbone of any successful business. But even the most meticulously planned strategies can falter if you stumble into common pitfalls. With so many marketing tools available, it’s easy to get caught up in the technical aspects and miss the bigger picture. Are you making these mistakes right now and not even realizing it?

Step 1: Defining Your Target Audience in HubSpot

One of the biggest blunders I see companies make is failing to properly define their target audience within their marketing automation platform. I had a client last year who was blasting every email in their database, and the results were predictably awful. Let’s walk through how to correctly segment your audience in HubSpot to avoid this fate.

Creating Lists Based on Personas

1. Navigate to Contacts > Lists in your HubSpot account.
2. Click the Create List button in the upper right corner.
3. Select Active list (dynamic) or Static list (manual). For most segmentation purposes, Active lists are the way to go, as they automatically update as contacts meet or no longer meet the criteria.
4. In the “Filters” section, begin defining your criteria. You can filter by a wide range of properties, including:
   • Contact properties: Job title, industry, location, lifecycle stage, etc.
   • Company properties: Company size, revenue, industry, etc.
   • Engagement properties: Email opens, clicks, form submissions, website visits, etc.
   • List membership: Include or exclude contacts from other lists.
5. For example, let’s say you want to target marketing managers in the Atlanta metropolitan area. You would add the following filters:
   • Job Title | contains | “Marketing Manager”
   • City | is any of | “Atlanta”, “Sandy Springs”, “Roswell”, “Marietta”, “Alpharetta”, “Smyrna”, “Dunwoody”
6. Name your list something descriptive like “Atlanta Marketing Managers” and click Save.

Pro Tip: Don’t over-segment. Too many lists can become unmanageable. Focus on the key demographics, psychographics, and behaviors that truly differentiate your ideal customers.

Common Mistake: Relying solely on demographic data and neglecting behavioral data. A contact’s past interactions with your website and content can be just as, if not more, insightful than their job title or location.

Expected Outcome: By properly segmenting your audience, you’ll be able to deliver more relevant and personalized messaging, leading to higher engagement rates and improved conversion rates.

Step 2: Leveraging HubSpot’s Attribution Reporting

Another frequent error is failing to accurately measure the ROI of your marketing efforts. What’s the point of running a campaign if you can’t prove it’s generating revenue? HubSpot’s attribution reporting can help, but only if you know how to use it. According to a recent IAB report, nearly 40% of marketers still struggle with accurate attribution. If you are one of these marketers, it may be time to ditch gut feeling now.

Setting Up Attribution Models

1. In HubSpot, navigate to Reports > Analytics Tools > Attribution.
2. Click the Create attribution report button.
3. Choose the type of report you want to create. Options include:
   • Revenue attribution: Tracks which marketing activities contributed to closed deals and revenue.
   • Lead generation attribution: Tracks which marketing activities contributed to new leads.
4. Select your desired attribution model. HubSpot offers several models, including:
   • First touch: Credits 100% of the revenue to the first marketing interaction.
   • Last touch: Credits 100% of the revenue to the last marketing interaction.
   • Linear: Distributes credit evenly across all marketing interactions.
   • U-shaped: Gives 40% credit to the first touch, 40% to the lead conversion touch, and 20% distributed evenly among the remaining touches.
   • W-shaped: Gives 30% credit to the first touch, 30% to the lead conversion touch, and 30% to the opportunity creation touch, with 10% distributed evenly among the remaining touches.
   • Full path: Custom model where you define the weight of each touchpoint.
5. Configure the report settings, such as the date range and the specific marketing assets you want to analyze.
6. Click Run report to generate the attribution data.

Pro Tip: Experiment with different attribution models to see which one provides the most accurate representation of your customer journey. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. I prefer U-shaped for most B2B sales cycles, as it acknowledges the importance of both the initial touch and the conversion point.

Common Mistake: Sticking with a single attribution model without testing others. Each model has its own biases and limitations, so it’s essential to find the one that best aligns with your business goals and customer behavior.

Expected Outcome: By accurately tracking attribution, you can identify your most effective marketing channels and campaigns, allowing you to allocate your budget more efficiently and maximize your ROI. We saw one client increase their lead quality by 35% just by shifting budget from a poorly-performing channel identified via attribution reports.

Step 3: Avoiding Automation Overload in HubSpot Workflows

Automation is a powerful tool, but it can also be a double-edged sword. Over-relying on automated workflows without proper oversight can lead to impersonal and irrelevant messaging, damaging your brand reputation. Here’s how to strike the right balance.

Implementing Quality Control Checks

1. Navigate to Automation > Workflows in your HubSpot account.
2. Open the workflow you want to review.
3. Look for opportunities to add manual review steps. For example:
   • Lead Qualification: Before automatically enrolling leads into a sales sequence, add a task for a sales rep to review their profile and determine if they’re a good fit.
   • Email Personalization: Before sending a highly personalized email, add a task for a team member to proofread the content and ensure it’s accurate and relevant.
4. To add a task, click the “+” icon in the workflow editor and select Create task.
5. Configure the task settings, including the task type, subject, description, and assignee.
6. Add if/then branches based on contact properties. For example, if a contact’s industry is “Healthcare”, include a HIPAA compliance statement in the email.

Pro Tip: Use HubSpot’s “If/Then Branch” logic to create personalized experiences based on contact properties, behaviors, and lifecycle stages. This allows you to tailor your messaging to each individual’s unique needs and interests.

Common Mistake: Setting up workflows and forgetting about them. Regularly review your workflows to ensure they’re still functioning as intended and that the messaging is up-to-date and relevant. I recommend a quarterly audit, at minimum.

Expected Outcome: By implementing quality control checks and personalizing your automated workflows, you can ensure that your messaging is always on-brand, accurate, and relevant, leading to stronger relationships with your customers and prospects. Nobody wants to feel like they’re just another number in your database.

Step 4: Ignoring Sales and Marketing Alignment Features

Sales and marketing alignment is not just a buzzword; it’s a critical component of a successful growth strategy. HubSpot offers tools to bridge the gap between these two departments. We see time and again that companies with strong sales and marketing alignment achieve significantly higher revenue growth. It’s important to stop guessing and start growing.

Using Shared Dashboards and Reporting

1. Create custom dashboards in HubSpot that display key metrics for both sales and marketing teams.
2. Include metrics such as:
   • Website traffic
   • Lead generation
   • Conversion rates
   • Sales pipeline velocity
   • Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
   • Customer lifetime value (CLTV)
3. Schedule regular meetings between sales and marketing to review the dashboard data and discuss any areas for improvement.
4. Use HubSpot’s Salesforce integration (if applicable) to ensure that data is synced seamlessly between the two platforms.

Pro Tip: Create Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between sales and marketing to define expectations and responsibilities. For example, marketing might agree to deliver a certain number of qualified leads each month, while sales might agree to follow up with those leads within a specific timeframe.

Common Mistake: Siloing sales and marketing data. When each department operates in its own bubble, it’s difficult to get a complete picture of the customer journey and identify opportunities for optimization. Nobody tells you how much time is wasted when Sales and Marketing don’t see eye-to-eye.

Expected Outcome: By fostering greater collaboration and alignment between sales and marketing, you can improve lead quality, accelerate the sales cycle, and drive revenue growth. A recent eMarketer study found that companies with aligned sales and marketing teams generate 36% more revenue.

Step 5: Failing to Adapt to Algorithm Updates

The marketing world is constantly evolving, and what worked yesterday may not work today. Search engine algorithms, social media algorithms, and even email spam filters are constantly changing. You must stay informed and adapt your growth strategy accordingly.

Staying Informed and Testing New Strategies

1. Subscribe to industry blogs, newsletters, and podcasts to stay up-to-date on the latest marketing trends and algorithm updates.
2. Follow reputable marketing experts on social media.
3. Regularly review your HubSpot reports to identify any significant changes in website traffic, lead generation, or conversion rates.
4. Experiment with new marketing tactics and strategies to see what works best for your audience.
5. Use A/B testing to optimize your website, landing pages, and email campaigns.

Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to try new things, but always track your results so you can measure the impact of your efforts. A/B testing is your friend.

Common Mistake: Becoming complacent and sticking with the same old marketing tactics, even when they’re no longer effective. You’ve got to be willing to break from the pack and try new approaches.

Expected Outcome: By staying informed and adapting to algorithm updates, you can maintain a competitive edge and ensure that your marketing efforts continue to deliver results. You might get burned, but you’ll learn something in the process.

Avoiding these common mistakes in your growth strategy and effectively using HubSpot’s tools can significantly improve your marketing performance. Don’t let these errors hold you back from achieving your business goals. Implement these steps and watch your analytics ROI soar.

To make sure you are not wasting your marketing budget, take a look at your KPI tracking.

The most effective growth strategy involves continuous learning and adaptation. Don’t just set it and forget it. Dedicate time each week to analyzing your data, testing new approaches, and staying informed about industry changes. This proactive approach is the key to long-term marketing success.