A HubSpot audit can help you get the most out of your CRM.
HubSpot has become an essential tool for businesses to streamline marketing, sales, customer service, and content management. However, as teams grow and processes evolve, HubSpot instances can become cluttered, outdated, and inefficient. This is where a HubSpot audit becomes valuable.
As a member of York IE’s go-to-market and RevOps services team, I advise growing technology companies on the best strategies to choose, implement, and audit their CRMs. Naturally, I’ve conducted my fair share of HubSpot audits.
Below, we’ll cover why a HubSpot audit is essential, what areas it should focus on, and the steps to conduct a successful one.
What is a HubSpot Audit?
A HubSpot audit is an exercise that helps ensure your HubSpot CRM is organized, data is clean, processes are optimized, and every team member has the access they need to make impactful decisions.
A HubSpot audit helps businesses maintain a clean, organized, and efficient CRM. Without regular auditing, CRMs can become bogged down with outdated or redundant information, leading to inconsistent reporting, poor user adoption, and wasted resources.
Why is a HubSpot Audit Important?
Here are some key benefits of conducting a HubSpot audit:
- Data Accuracy: Ensure all data is accurate, up-to-date, and reflects current business objectives.
- Improved Reporting: Eliminate cluttered data that can distort reporting and analytics.
- Enhanced User Adoption: A cleaner, more intuitive CRM encourages better user adoption.
- Optimized Workflows: Audit your workflows and automation to ensure they’re still relevant and efficient.
- Cost Efficiency: Clear out unused or redundant features, freeing up resources and saving costs.
Key Areas of a HubSpot Audit
To maximize the effectiveness of your audit, it’s essential to focus on specific areas within HubSpot:
1. Data Quality
- Data Hygiene: Clean up duplicate records, incomplete entries, and outdated information.
- Standardization: Ensure data is standardized (e.g., uniform naming conventions, and contact details).
- Field Usage: Assess whether custom fields are still relevant or if new ones are needed.
2. Contacts and Companies
- Segmentation: Review lists and segments for relevance and accuracy.
- Lifecycle Stages: Verify that lifecycle stages accurately reflect your sales process, ensuring proper alignment across teams.
- Associations: Confirm that contacts are correctly associated with companies, deals, and relevant tasks.
3. Deal Stages and Pipelines
- Pipeline Structure: Assess if your pipelines align with the current sales process, making adjustments as necessary.
- Deal Stages: Confirm that each deal stage has a clear purpose and is being used consistently by the sales team.
4. Workflows and Automations
- Relevance: Review workflows to ensure they’re still relevant to current processes.
- Efficiency: Assess whether workflows are optimized and look for any redundancies.
- Permissions: Check that users have appropriate permissions based on their roles and that no sensitive information is exposed to unintended audiences.
5. Reporting and Dashboards
- Report Accuracy: Ensure all reports reflect up-to-date data and support current KPIs.
- Dashboard Relevance: Review dashboards to ensure they’re user-friendly and include only necessary data.
- User Access: Tailor dashboard access based on user roles to streamline usability.
6. Integration and APIs
- Integration Audit: List all current integrations and determine if they’re still needed and functioning correctly.
- Data Flow: Verify that data is flowing seamlessly across connected tools and that all integrations are documented.
How to Conduct a Successful HubSpot Audit
Successful HubSpot audits take time. You don’t want to simply conduct an audit “for the sake of it.” Here are some steps we recommend to our clients:
Step 1: Define Your Objectives
Begin by defining what you aim to achieve with your audit. Are you focusing on cleaning data, improving workflows, or refining reporting? This will guide the entire process.
Step 2: Gather Key Stakeholders
Invite team members from marketing, sales, and operations to ensure a comprehensive understanding of each department’s requirements. Each team will offer unique insights that help tailor the audit.
Step 3: Analyze and Document Findings
As you review each area, document your findings and identify areas for improvement. Include any inconsistencies, redundancies, or gaps that may be hindering your team’s productivity.
Step 4: Implement Changes
Once you’ve identified improvement areas, begin implementing the necessary changes. This could involve deleting duplicate records, refining deal stages, or updating workflows.
Step 5: Monitor and Iterate
After implementing changes, it’s crucial to continuously monitor your CRM. Conduct regular mini-audits quarterly or biannually to ensure everything remains organized and aligned with your evolving business goals.
Partner With York IE for Your Next HubSpot Audit
Conducting a HubSpot audit is a powerful way to unlock your CRM’s full potential. It enables you to ensure data accuracy, streamline workflows, and create a more efficient system that aligns with your business strategy. Regular audits can help maintain a healthy CRM environment, making it a strategic tool that supports growth and scalability.
If you’re looking for a detailed guide or a partner to assist in your next HubSpot audit, we’re here to help ensure your HubSpot CRM is set up for long-term success.
