Welcome to HubSpot Basic Training, Private. If you’re considering your options for a first inbound...
HubSpot’s marketing hub offers four different packages: Free, Starter, Professional and Enterprise. This blog will discuss the features which the Free package offers and whether it’s enough to help you run a successful inbound marketing campaign.
So, let’s talk about some of the free package’s best features…
What does HubSpot’s free package offer?
Email marketing
Research from HubSpot found that 59% of marketers believe email is their biggest source of ROI. If done properly, email marketing can be a beneficial part of your strategy.
HubSpot’s basic package offers 2,000 email sends per calendar month. Depending on the size of your business, this is more than enough to contribute towards a successful inbound marketing campaign.
However, instead of using mass marketing techniques and sending out emails to 2,000 people at once, we would recommend segmenting your database.
“Why is this?” - I hear you ask.
Well, you only need to look at the stats. HubSpot found that 39% of marketers who segmented their email lists experienced higher open rates, 28% experienced lower unsubscribe rates, and 24% achieved better deliverability and greater revenue.
Thankfully, HubSpot’s free package does offer list segmentation (five smart lists and 25 static lists). Depending on your goals and the size of your business, this is enough for you to leverage and gain positive returns from using the platform.
Live chat
38% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a company that offers live chat support. So, the difference between having a live chat on your website and disregarding the idea could be detrimental.
For anyone considering using HubSpot’s free package, the live chat feature is included. Hallelujah.
Any chat conversations that take place within your live chat are stored in an inbox which is enriched with data from their free CRM.
This will give your team full transparency and provide them with enough context to craft responses to whoever is trying to get in touch. However, do bear in mind that this package only offers one inbox.
Depending on the size of your business, this may not be enough. Imagine the mayhem when 100 people are all trying to manage one inbox. This is a potential recipe for disaster.
Conversational bots
Gartner believes that by the year 2020, the average person will have more conversations with bots than with their spouse. Try not to hold back the smiles too much.
Similarly to live chats, bots have become very important within the world of marketing. If companies wish to be successful, they really need to be on-board with conversational marketing and engaging with their customers through these new tools.
HubSpot’s free package does offer conversational bots, however the features are limited. You’ll only be able to create a limited amount of tickets and there’s no custom branching logic.
How does this compare to HubSpot’s enterprise hub?
The enterprise hub is HubSpot’s top package. There are quite a few additional features which it offers in comparison to free hub.
These include:
- Unlimited ticket creation.
- Extensive bot type creation.
- Customer branching logic and webhooks.
Depending on your company's goals, you should be able to make a success of your bot with the limited features only. Check out this blog which explains five situations where your company should be using a chatbot.
We’ve discussed some of the best features which HubSpot’s free package offers. Now let’s cover a few features which are unavailable and the benefits that you could be missing out on.
What doesn’t HubSpot’s free package offer?
Landing pages
Companies with 30 or more landing pages generate seven times more leads than those with fewer than 10. Unfortunately with HubSpot’s basic package, you’re unable to build any landing pages at all.
As well as improving lead generation, landing pages offer a wide range of other benefits. Some of these include:
- Improving brand awareness.
- Increasing credibility.
- Generating data and insights.
HubSpot’s landing page tool offers lots of room to get creative. Here are six of our favourite landing pages templates which are available to use from the HubSpot marketplace.
If you wish to use HubSpot landing pages, you’ll need to upgrade to the professional package (this starts at £655 per month).
Social Media
Around 42% of the world’s population are now active on social media. Therefore, your business needs to be active on social media too.
The social media tool on HubSpot is awesome because it allows you to publish social networks in the same place you build campaigns, easily monitor your social channels (as they’re all in one place) and easily pull through social media reports.
However, the social media tool isn’t available unless you’re signed onto the professional package, where you can create up to 10,000 posts per month and schedule posts up to three years in advance.
A/B testing
A/B testing is the process of sending one variation of your campaign to a subset of your subscribers and a different variation to another, with the ultimate goal of working out which variation of the campaign brings in the best results
… and it’s one of HubSpot’s most powerful weapons.
Although HubSpot’s free package offers the email marketing feature, there is no option to A/B test.
Again, the tool is only available for those who purchase the professional marketing package. So without it, you’re missing out on testing which variations of your campaign could be better.
Let’s wrap things up...
Although HubSpot’s free package is limited, it still holds plenty of opportunities. These include building effective emails and utilising the conversational marketing tools to create innovative campaigns.
The free package works, but success depends on the size of your business and the goals which you wish to achieve.
For those of you who market bigger brands with bigger budgets, we’d always recommend upgrading to one of the bigger packages. The costs may rise, but the chances of inbound marketing success will rise too.
Deciding which HubSpot package to go with can be difficult You also have the added pressure of setting up your account once the decision is made, but don’t worry!
This is where our new guide will come in handy…
Setting up your HubSpot account can be a little overwhelming. There are quite a few obstacles which everybody has to overcome. Our new guide to setting up HubSpot has all the tips and tricks you need to help you through this stage.
Download your free copy by clicking the link below.