How to integrate inbound marketing into sales and closed-loop reporting

Our client, Suksee Ltd, had a business idea to produce, market and sell online training courses by professional specialists and the materials related to those courses. Suksee’s sales were good, but they were struggling with managing their client data – particularly with integrating purchase information into an automated marketing system.

In the beginning, there was HubSpot. And a lot of leads

At the starting point, our client was using HubSpot enterprise, which made the simultaneous marketing of multiple different brands run smoothly. Inbound marketing was versatile – there were blogs, webinars, social media promotions, and various events. Suksee generated a lot of leads, and their email contact database was growing at a rapid rate.

Suksee was using both a separate learning management system (LMS) and an online store, where they sold online courses. However, they soon realized that in order to grow their business, the LMS and online store should also communicate with HubSpot.

Upon Suksee’s request, we began mapping out different options. The range of available LMS software, online stores, and payment systems was enormous. But none of them integrated into HubSpot in a way where the solution would also contain the different payment systems that apply within the markets of Finland.

The keys to success: collaboration and product development

After an intensive search, no existing software was found that was able to meet our demands. Our conclusion – and solution – was to build a HubSpot integration ourselves. The mission was to create an online store and an LMS from where the information of every purchase would transfer directly to HubSpot. This would enable us to combine the information from sales with the client data and use this information to better utilize automation.

For integration, we used Revenue Conduit and WooCommerce. Revenue Conduit gathered the client data from the purchase information and created a client profile directly to HubSpot. HubSpot’s reporting tool was used with the entire reporting. Sales and marketing became more transparent, and the marketing automation actions would start immediately after purchase.

The benefit of the integration is that our client can now monitor any purchase events in real-time. In addition, they can view any individual product sales via HubSpot Sales, and – based on the data – target more promotion, where necessary.

“Our goal was to create an online store where it is easy to purchase online courses. It was crucial to have sales information linked with marketing. By utilizing the LMS element and HubSpot, we can now handle a product’s marketing, promotion, sales, and the entire customership by using just one tool”, says Jussi Koivusaari from Suksee Ltd.

“We serve our potential clients with free, but also useful content, such as webinars and videos. We then offer them chargeable online courses that can help them solve their problem. “

Overcoming hurdles to reach a fantastic result

The idea of building an online store and a functioning learning environment initially felt like a massive challenge. Regardless, we wanted to help our clients solve their problem. Simultaneously, we deepened our customer relations, improved customer satisfaction and, naturally, gained more sales.

How did we achieve this and how does the integration work? We’ll let our customers tell.

“The collaboration functioned well, even though there were some schedule-related issues during the process. The end result, however, is wonderful and the integration works superbly. Now we also have the necessary tools to scale our operations.”

“Companies should seriously consider taking their businesses online. It is essential, since marketing automation used solely on creating leads does not suffice anymore. Online sales plays a particularly big role in B2B businesses and helps cut down sales expenditure.”

“We have the numbers to prove it: the conversion percentages on opt in pages are 30-40%. The conversion on sales pages has been up to 15% and email opening rates as high as 70%”, Jussi Koivusaari reveals.

The benefits of an innovative HubSpot integration:

• An integrated aggregate, where data starts flowing right from the moment of purchase.
• The ability to sell online courses so that the acquired data can be transferred into HubSpot.
• Full customer life cycle control: guiding an unknown lead through an online store and into a recommender.
• Combines an online store, LMS, and HubSpot with an integration where data flows between every platform.
• The client can utilize HubSpot reporting to learn the individual sales of a single product.
• The ability to monitor which marketing channel produces the highest amount of income.
• Enables using Finnish payment methods without losing sales.
• Utilizing 100% of HubSpot’s excellent marketing features for various brands simultaneously.
• Security: any sensitive data related to payment methods are never extracted out of the payment service provider.
• The possibility of additional sales or cross-selling: more sales or offering another brand, depending on the purchase.
• A Finnish UI.

The elements of our solution

HubSpot: All contact data, marketing, and promotion with focused reporting.

WooCommerce: An online store solution with an integrated Paytrail, including credit cards and Finnish payment methods.

LMS: learning management system. A WordPress-based LMS, a training platform including personally profiled pages.

Revenue Conduit: Utilizes the marketing automation of HubSpot, transfers client-based purchases to the HubSpot CRM (deals), and launches the automation.