Migrating from Salesforce to HubSpot isn't just a matter of transferring data. It's an opportunity to reinvent your CRM, optimize your workflows and give your teams back a tool that's truly adapted to their needs. But without a rigorous methodology, the process can quickly become a headache.
Our mission: to help you anticipate, structure and execute this transition without loss of data, without operational disruption, and with smooth adoption by your teams.
Migrating from Salesforce to HubSpot isn't just about transferring data. It's an opportunity to reinvent your CRM, optimize your workflows and give your teams back a tool that's truly adapted to their needs. But without a rigorous methodology, the process can quickly become a headache.
Our mission: to help you anticipate, structure and execute this transition without loss of data, without operational disruption, and with smooth adoption by your teams.
Business challenges with Salesforce: complexity, high costs, lack of adoption
Salesforce is a powerful CRM, but it can quickly become a hindrance rather than a growth gas pedal:
- Complex interface and settings: not very intuitive, it often requires advanced training to be fully exploited.
- High cost: between licenses, integration and maintenance, Salesforce can represent a substantial investment.
- Difficult adoption: an overly technical and inflexible tool is often poorly adopted by teams, undermining data quality and sales efficiency.
Why HubSpot? A more intuitive, scalable and cost-effective alternative
When companies opt for HubSpot, they're looking for a simpler, more flexible CRM that's better integrated with the realities on the ground:
- A fluid, intuitive interface designed for marketing, sales and support teams.
- Accessible customization, enabling CRM to be adapted to needs without the need for a technical expert.
- A connected ecosystem, with over 500 native integrations and a flexible API for synchronizing essential tools.
- Scalable pricing, where you only pay for the functionality you actually use.
How to make a success of your migration?
Successfully migrating Salesforce → HubSpot isn't just about data. It's about redefining processes, optimizing information quality and guaranteeing a smooth transition. Rigorous preparation enables:
- A stronger alignment of teams, with a CRM adopted by all.
- A cleaner, more efficient database.
- Streamlined workflows to automate and simplify sales and marketing management.
1. Anticipating and preparing for CRM migration
The key to a successful migration? Careful preparation. Before transferring anything, you need to audit, cleanse and structure your data to avoid replicating the problems of the old system.
1.1. Define your migration objectives and challenges
Before taking the plunge, ask yourself the right questions:
- Why change CRM? What limitations do you encounter with Salesforce?
- What benefits are you expecting? Better adoption, productivity gains, cost reductions?
- What processes need to be optimized? Automations, lead management, interaction tracking?
The aim: to ensure that migration is not simply a "copy and paste" exercise, but a real lever for improvement.
1.2. Audit and clean up existing data
Migrating a CRM is also an opportunity to clean up your data. Before taking any action:
- Eliminate duplicates and obsolete contacts.
- Standardize formats (names, e-mails, phone numbers, etc.).
- Comply with RGPD requirements by deleting unnecessary or non-compliant data.
A clean database from the outset avoids inconsistency problems and improves the quality of reports and automations.
1.3 Map and document CRM processes
A common mistake? Neglecting data mapping. HubSpot and Salesforce do not structure their objects in the same way. So you need to :
- Map equivalences (Contacts, Companies, Transactions, Workflows, etc.).
- Define new HubSpotproperties and pipelines.
- Align teams (sales, marketing, support) with the new CRM processes.
Good mapping ensures that every piece of information finds its place without loss or inconsistency.
2. Plan and execute data migration to HubSpot
Once you've prepared the groundwork, it's time to execute the migration methodically.
2.1. Choose the right migration approach
Once preparation is complete, it's time to execute the migration methodically.
Salesforce ↔ HubSpot integration (native)
Objective
Automatically synchronize data between HubSpot and Salesforce to unify the management of contacts, companies and transactions.
1. Prerequisites
- A Salesforce Enterprise or Professional account (with API enabled).
- A HubSpot Pro or Enterprise account.
- Administrator rights on both platforms.
2. Integration installation
- Go to HubSpot > Application Marketplace.
- Search for Salesforce and click on Install application.
- Connect to Salesforce and authorize the integration.
3. Synchronization settings
- Define the objects to be synchronized:
- Contacts, companies and transactions supported.
- Define which platform has priority in the event of data conflicts.
- Configure update rules:
- Determine whether synchronization should be unidirectional or bidirectional.
- Set the fields to be synchronized and the association conditions.
- Activate and test:
- Import a data sample to check that information matches.
- Adjust mappings if necessary.
4. Benefits and limitations
Advantages:
- Fast, secure integration with no development required.
- Automatic updating of contacts and transactions between the two platforms.
- Data accessible in real time in both tools.
Limitations:
- Only standard objects are supported.
- Management of complex associations may be limited.
- Requires database cleansing prior to synchronization to avoid duplicates and inconsistencies.
Migration via CSV file
Objective
Manually import contacts, companies and transactions into HubSpot via CSV files, ensuring data cleansing beforehand.
1. Prerequisites
- A well-structured CSV file containing the data to be imported.
- Check field formats to match HubSpot properties.
- Create custom properties in HubSpot if necessary.
2. Preparing CSV files
- Organize data:
- Separate files according to objects (contacts, companies, transactions).
- Ensure data consistency between files for associations.
- Clean and standardize:
- Remove duplicates and correct inconsistencies.
- Check format of e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and dates.
3. Import into HubSpot
- Go to HubSpot > Contacts or Companies.
- Click on Import and select CSV file.
- Associate the file columns with the corresponding HubSpot properties.
- Run the import and check the error report.
4. Advantages and limitations
Advantages:
- Enables thorough cleansing of data prior to import.
- Large quantities of data can be imported in a single operation.
- Total control over the associations and quality of imported information.
Limitations:
- Manual process requiring time for file preparation.
- Relationships between contacts and companies must be associated manually or via a second import.
- Poorly structured files can lead to import errors.
This method is ideal for companies wishing to make a gradual transition to HubSpot, while optimizing the quality of their data prior to migration.
Use of HubSpot APIs and third-party integrators (Trujay, Import2, Data2CRM)
- Recommended for complex migrations with customized objects.
- Automates and secures the process, but requires technical expertise.
Choosing the right method from the outset saves precious time and avoids errors.
2.2 Configuring the HubSpot environment before migration
Before importing data, you need to prepare HubSpot to reflect your business needs.
- Create custom objects and CRM pipelines to structure data correctly.
- Define automation rules and user permissions to ensure proper CRM usage.
- Configure key integrations (Zapier, Operations Hub) to connect your third-party tools (billing, customer support, etc.).
Good configuration upstream guarantees a smooth transition and rapid adoption.
2.3 Test migration on a pilot environment
The fatal error? Migrating all data at once, without prior testing.
- Import a sample and check the integrity of the information (contacts well linked to companies, properties well synchronized).
- Validate the correct execution of migrated workflows and automations.
- Have your teams test the CRM to ensure that the data is usable.
A test migration enables you to anticipate and correct errors before the global roll-out.
2.4. Launch full migration and ensure continuity
- Synchronization of Salesforce → HubSpot databases.
- Final data validation: segmentation, scoring, contact association.
- Contingency plan: in the event of a problem, provide a rollback solution or backup history.
A well-managed migration means a smooth transition, with no business disruption.
3. Rethink and optimize your HubSpot CRM after migration
A successful migration doesn't stop at simply transferring data. Optimizing HubSpot is a key step in maximizing efficiency and ensuring a rapid return on investment. This involves automating processes, training teams and rigorous data management.
3.1. Automate processes to maximize efficiency
One of HubSpot's key advantages is its ability to automate sales, marketing and customer service tasks. After migrating or synchronizing data with Salesforce, it is crucial to re-adjust workflows to adapt to the HubSpot structure and ensure seamless continuity of business processes.
Reproduce and optimize Salesforce workflows in HubSpot
Existing Salesforce automations need to be transposed into HubSpot using native workflow management tools. However, it is important to take into account the differences in logic between the two platforms.
- Identify critical automations: pinpoint the workflows most frequently used in Salesforce (lead allocation, internal notifications, status updates, etc.).
- Adapt workflow logic: HubSpot works mainly with triggers based on contact actions, while Salesforce often relies on more complex automation rules.
- Test and adjust: once workflows have been configured, it's essential to check that they are triggered correctly, and to fine-tune conditions if necessary.
Implement effective marketing automation
Once the migration is complete, HubSpot enables you to make full use of the data to automate interactions with leads and customers.
- Advanced lead segmentation: use contact properties and behaviors to group them into dynamic lists.
- Automatic lead scoring: assign a score based on their interactions (clicks, e-mail openings, website visits, etc.) to prioritize sales actions.
- Nurturing campaigns: send personalized e-mail sequences based on the lead's stage in the buying process.
Customize dashboards and reporting
Performance monitoring needs to be adjusted to the new workflows to provide clear visibility of sales and marketing activities.
- Create customized reports: define KPIs in line with HubSpot's lead and opportunity management logic.
- Track conversions: analyze the evolution of leads to identify points of optimization in the sales tunnel.
- Integration of sales objectives: align dashboards with team performance and key indicators (conversion rate, opportunities won, etc.).
3.2 Training teams to use HubSpot
CRM adoption depends on the ability of teams to use it effectively. A transition without adequate training is likely to result in a drop in productivity and poor use of data.
- Create an in-house training program using the resources of HubSpot Academy, which offers certifications and interactive guides.
- Organize hands-on sessions to enable teams to familiarize themselves with new functionalities and adapt their use of CRM.
- Monitor adoption via specific KPIs, such as pipeline usage rates, contact record updates or automation adoption.
3.3. Ensure ongoing data management
Once data has been migrated, its quality and consistency must be maintained to avoid any gradual degradation of the CRM system. A poorly managed database quickly leads to segmentation errors, duplication and reduced relevance of marketing and sales actions.
It is essential to set up a process for monitoring and regularly updating customer data, assigning precise responsibilities to each team. This means defining clear roles: the sales team can be responsible for enriching customer files, marketing for monitoring interactions, and IT for managing integrations and synchronizations between tools.
To avoid the reappearance of duplicates and segmentation errors, HubSpot offers native features for merging duplicate contacts and companies. However, a proactive approach is needed to anticipate these problems. Automated workflows can detect duplicates based on criteria such as e-mail address, telephone number or company domain. These workflows can also send notifications to teams in the event of inconsistencies, or apply validation rules before a new record is created.
Finally, it is important tooptimize synchronization between HubSpot and other tools, such as ERP, billing platforms or customer support tools. HubSpot Operations Hub can manage these integrations with advanced workflows and data transformation rules. Where third-party integrations are used, it is advisable to set up regular checks to avoid data discrepancies between different systems, and to guarantee perfect consistency of customer information.
4. Checklist for a successful Salesforce to HubSpot migration
- Define business objectives and team expectations
- Clean up and qualify Salesforce data before migration
- Map objects and fields between Salesforce and HubSpot
- Choose the best migration method (native integration, CSV, API)
- Test migration on a restricted environment prior to deployment
- Train teams and monitor adoption of HubSpot CRM
- Optimize processes after migration (automation, reporting, etc.)
Conclusion: Towards a more agile, high-performance CRM with HubSpot
Migrating from Salesforce to HubSpot is much more than a change of tool. It's an opportunity to rethink your CRM, optimize processes and improve collaboration between teams.
A well-prepared migration guarantees a smooth transition and a rapid return on investment. By avoiding common mistakes and implementing a structured plan, HubSpot becomes a lever for growth and productivity.
Need customized support to make your migration a success?
if/else Agency HubSpot guides you every step of the way to a smooth, secure and efficient transition to HubSpot CRM. Contact us to find out more.
Banner : Photo of Creatvise on Unsplash