All Your Sales Operations Under One Roof with HubSpot CRM Commerce Hub

Billing and payment management has previously only been possible in separate softwares outside of HubSpot. In the best-case scenario, the billing system could be integrated, often from the ground up, with HubSpot, but most of the time HubSpot and the billing system have remained separate. This is now changing!

HubSpot wants its platform to function as a comprehensive business system where teams can seamlessly work using the same tools and features without jumping between different software. Therefore, HubSpot announced at the 2023 Inbound event that it would launch a completely new hub alongside its existing ones: Commerce Hub.

What on earth is HubSpot CRM Commerce Hub?

Commerce Hub is intended to enable payment processing and billing directly within HubSpot. This means that billing becomes a natural part of the sales process built into HubSpot, and handling payment transactions can be done on the same platform as other sales activities. In addition to leveraging HubSpot more comprehensively, Commerce Hub eliminates the need to build complex integrations between separate billing software and HubSpot. This centralises data management in one place.

The release of Commerce Hub for all accounts is planned for the end of the first quarter of 2024. Let's go through what new features Commerce Hub brings! If you would like to schedule a more detailed presentation and explore how Commerce Hub could be implemented for you, please leave your contact information in the form on the right, and let's discuss it together.

What are the tools of Commerce Hub?

With Commerce Hub, HubSpot aims to offer an overarching set of tools that are brought under the same roof in order for everything to happen seamlessly and in a straight line. It must also be mentioned that there is no monthly SaaS subscription fee for using Commerce Hub features. Commerce Hub operates as a pay-as-you-go pricing model; you will only be charged a fee on transactions you collect through the Commerce Hub features. It is crucial to understand that the features presented below are interconnected and they can belong to the same procedure or one can be a part of another. These are the main division that form Commerce Hub:

Quotes and Invoices

Quotes are a feature that already existed in HubSpot before the Commerce Hub was introduced. We all know that buyers value speed and efficiency in the sales process and the Quotes tool will allow you to generate branded sales quotes in seconds and collect payments and electronic signatures within your quote. Furthermore, say bye to typing customer information manually or copying it from your CRM into yet another tool. HubSpot's quotes tool will automatically pull in all information tied to the deal record, including contact and product information, so you can send over sales quotes in an instant.

But of course, the aim for sending a quote is to be able to invoice your clients afterwards. Historically invoicing has happened outside the CRM, but now you can create and send professional invoices from HubSpot’s customer platform, and track which customers still owe you and use automation to follow up on overdue payments. And there is no need to create your invoice separately from your quotation. Commerce Hub enables you to turn your quotes into invoices with just one click. 

Payment Links and Payments

Once the invoices have been sent, it's time to pay or get paid.  HubSpot's Payment Links allows you to create and share secure one-time or recurring payment links to your customers for them to quickly and seamlessly pay for your services. HubSpot's Payment Links also have a high level of customisation giving you the possibility to add discounts or discount codes and full branding, in addition to enabling device preview. Payment Links can be created inside any contact, company or deal record, and included anywhere you want, such as your invoices, emails, your website forms or meetings. 

With the introduction of Commerce Hub, HubSpot also enables you to collect and manage payments. In Europe, collecting payments is possible through HubSpotäs official partner Stripe. HubSpot Payments is currently available only for businesses and organisations that are located in and operating in the US. European users can collect payments with an integrated Stripe account and using a Credit / Debit card payment method. Stripe offers a variety of features and capabilities to facilitate the payment process such as accepting multiple currencies, integrating with various payment methods popular in Europe, managing subscription billing, and providing secure payment processing compliant with European regulations such as the Payment Services Directive (PSD2).

With these payment tools conveniently built into HubSpot's Smart CRM, you will no longer have to switch between multiple tabs, tools, and systems. Keep your commerce and customer data in one unified solution for a seamless and efficient workflow.

Subscriptions

We mentioned recurring payments in the beginning of the previous section. When configuring a payment link or a quote to collect recurring payments, HubSpot creates a Subscription record inside the CRM to track them. When a subscription is in place, HubSpot automatically charges the client at the specified frequency, which means that you don't need to create multiple payment links to charge a buyer for products or services that renew regularly.

You can set up fixed numbers of payment as well as "renewable until cancelled" payment subscriptions, and keep track payment statuses, new payments due dates, edit or cancel these subscriptions, and set up payment reminders. 

What are the top 6 advantages of having Commerce Hub as a part of HubSpot CRM?

1. Seamless Customer Data Management: Having Commerce Hub in HubSpot CRM allows for seamless management of customer data. Sales, billing, and customer interaction data can be centralised within the CRM, providing a comprehensive view of customer interactions and transactions.
   
   
2. Improved Customer Insights: With free-flowing data from Commerce Hub and HubSpot CRM, businesses can gain deeper insights into customer behaviour, preferences, and purchase history. This enables more personalised marketing, sales, and support interactions, leading to better customer satisfaction and retention.
   
   
3. Streamlined Sales Processes: Sales teams can access real-time information about customer orders, payments, and account status directly within the CRM interface. This allows to automate and streamline the sales process, reducing manual data entry, and improving the sales team's efficiency. Commercial process does not get fragmented among many different tools and softwares that may or may not be compatible with each other, but instead, everything happens in a straight line and under the same roof, so that you can better keep track of your sales, get paid faster, and increase your revenue.
   
   
4. Enhanced Cross-Selling and Upselling Opportunities: By combining customer data from Commerce Hub and CRM, businesses can identify cross-selling and upselling opportunities more effectively. Insights into customer purchase patterns and preferences enable targeted marketing and sales campaigns to promote related products or upgrades.
   
   
5. Unified Reporting and Analytics: Having Commerce Hub inside HubSpot facilitates unified reporting and analytics across sales, invoicing, and customer service functions. Stop chasing down numbers from different systems just to do your revenue reporting. With invoices and payments working directly with your CRM, you’ll get a complete picture of your revenue alongside your customer and deal data. Businesses can generate comprehensive reports that provide insights into sales performance, customer acquisition costs, lifetime value, and more. This enables data-driven decision-making and optimisation of business strategies. 
   
   
6. Improved Customer Experience: The incorporation ensures a consistent and seamless customer experience across all touch-points. Whether a customer interacts with the sales team, makes a purchase, or seeks support, their information and history are readily available, enabling personalised and efficient service delivery.
   
   

Commerce Hub is not just an update of HubSpot, it's an entirely new world built into it. Overall, having Commerce Hub as an integral part of HubSpot CRM enables you to leverage customer data more effectively, streamline processes, and deliver superior customer experiences, ultimately driving growth and profitability. Combine your tools on HubSpot's customer platform and run your entire commerce process with HubSpot .We at Hubit, offer state-of-the-art consultative expertise services on how you could take full advantage of the new Commerce Hub in order for you to get paid faster and for your business to grow better.