In this detailed guide, we will cover
- What are HubSpot Custom Objects and Why Do We Need Them?
- Common Scenarios for Custom Objects in HubSpot
- How Does Custom Object Association Work?
- HubSpot Custom Objects in Workflows
- Custom Objects in Emails and Sequences
- How to Create a Custom Object and its Properties in HubSpot?
- Import and Export of Custom Objects in HubSpot
- HubSpot Custom Objects in Reporting
- Custom Objects Limitations
What Are HubSpot Custom Objects and Why Do We Need Them?
In the last 7 years, whenever we started the implementation of HubSpot for growing companies, we always bumped into the limitations concerning the HubSpot structure as HubSpot didn't have the much-needed option of custom objects in its CRM. Almost every other time, we used to hear: "Can you create a deal-like pipeline for projects?", "How can we save all payments related to a closed deal?", "Can we have a table for our invoices?" and so on...
Startups or small businesses are inclined towards molding their needs as per the systems e.g. creating a deal for every purchase, creating pipelines for account management or production, moving the deals within pipelines or cloning the deals, etc. But when it comes to fast-paced or established companies, especially the ones who are already using custom-made or enterprise-level CRMs, it sometimes becomes a deal-breaker. They don't want to compromise on the data structure and want data in a proper structure that can be used for management and reporting too.
Now, let's focus on the basic-and most important-question, "What is a custom object?". Generally speaking, objects are created in order to store the information you need for your business. More analytically, now, in HubSpot, like the standard objects of contacts, companies, deals, and tickets, you can create your own objects to represent and organize your data customized to fit your needs and associate them with standard objects.
Basically, it's a step to empower HubSpot, one of the best and most powerful marketing automation tools, so it can enhance its CRM capabilities and evolve as a powerful tool for both sales and marketing teams.
Common Scenarios for Custom Objects in HubSpot
Wondering the real-time cases when custom objects can be used?
Agency or Services Firm:
After closing a deal, if you have multiple invoices and payments per deal, you can create custom objects for both Invoices and Payments and associate them with the respective deals. You can also create objects for "Projects" or "Orders" and use them to track post-closing processes within HubSpot to align sales and Account Management teams. Some common examples are as follows:
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Projects or Orders: Manage projects within HubSpot UI by creating custom objects for projects and managing them in the pipeline.
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Payments or Invoices: Using HubSpot's Commerce Hub, users can now create invoices, payment links, and quotes directly within the platform. With HubSpot Payments, businesses can easily collect one-time or recurring payments but HubSpot Payment options have limitations.
For businesses not using HubSpot Payments, custom objects can be created to manage payments and invoices in HubSpot, enabling a tailored approach to tracking financial data within the platform.
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Onboarding: Ease up your client's onboarding by using a custom object for onboarding.
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On-going contracts: Multiple ongoing contracts related to one closed deal can be managed using custom objects.
Software-As-A-Service (SAAS):
Before having the custom object feature, most SAAS companies were using deals for both sales and directly-purchased subscriptions and it could cause a lot of mess in many cases. Now, we can use deals for the sales process and create a custom object for "Subscription" linked with our backend where we can update all subscription-related information. Here is the snapshot of custom objects for SAAS:
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Subscriptions or Memberships: Custom object options can be used conveniently for subscriptions and membership management for SAAS or membership businesses.
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Referrals: Now we can build a referral management system within the HubSpot interface using a custom object for a referral.
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Feedback: Customer feedback at various instances or lifecycles can be managed accurately using an object for feedback.
Law firms:
Like agencies, law firms are also troubled with using one module or object to manage the pre-closing and post-closing process. Now, they can use deals till closing and create a custom object for "Cases" to manage one or multiple cases associated with one closed deal.
Marketplace:
HubSpot's custom objects can be highly effective for marketplaces offering products, such as Artwork, Vehicles, Pets, etc.. Once a custom object is created, we can use association labels to associate contacts with the relevant record as "Seller" or "Buyer".
Email dilemma:
We recently got into a unique case with a client who was using the phone number as a unique identifier for leads in CRM but in HubSpot, we couldn't replicate that option. Now, using custom object options, we can create a custom object for "People"(even for the cases of multiple people with the same email) and associate contacts with people where needed. It's a complicated configuration but can be helpful.
Manufacturing:
Companies from the manufacturing sector, when trying to leverage HubSpot as their core system for the organization for sales and support, used to face multiple limitations with customization concerning objects. Now, they can manage plenty of their needs within HubSpot. Common use cases for the manufacturing sector are provided below:
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Contracts: Manufacturing contacts can be handled and tracked within HubSpot UI using custom objects.
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Payments: Payment collection can be streamlined with its object.
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Order Management: Production or manufacturing orders can be tracked using a custom object of “Orders”.
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Warranties: Warranties can be managed for each deal or customer using custom objects.
Educational Institutes:
Many educational institutes are using HubSpot but they faced many limitations in the past, due to custom object issues.
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Courses: Students’ enrollment in courses can be managed efficiently using a custom object for courses.
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Education Records: Educational records like certifications, semesters, grades, etc. can be handled now using their custom objects.
How does HubSpot Custom Object Association Work?
Custom objects can be associated with all or specific standard objects. For example, a custom object “Design Project” can be associated with contacts, companies, and deals, or it can be configured to only associate with deals.
Moreover, HubSpot now offers the option of association labels. These labels can be used to define the relationship between two records. For instance, two contacts associated with a custom object of “Vehicle” can be labeled as “Buyer” and “Seller” to clarify their roles. In the case of an institution, a teacher (Contact Object) and a student (Contact Object) can be associated with a Custom Object “Course” using association labels of “Teacher” and “Student” respectively.
Furthermore, two custom objects can be associated with each other. For example, if an agency manages various programs and multiple events within each program, two custom objects of “Programs” and “Events” can be created and associated with each other.
Custom Objects in Workflows
Object-based workflows: We can use custom object-based workflows in workflow tools like deals and companies.
Triggers in workflows
We can create workflows using the custom object properties as triggers in new object-based workflows. We can also use standard associated objects in triggers. E.g. in the case of the custom object "Project," we can use deal-based or contact-based properties as triggers if they are associated with a custom object.
Actions Available
We can create custom object entries via workflows or copy or enter data into custom object entries like the standard objects of contacts or deals.
Custom Objects in Emails and Sequences
Like standard object properties in HubSpot, automated emails have the option to use custom object properties as tokens. E.g. if you have a custom object for "Lawyer", you can send an email with the tokens of "Lawyer".
Unfortunately, at the moment, we don't have the option to use custom object tokens in sales templates and consequently, those tokens can't be used in HubSpot sequences. As a workaround, you can create some custom properties at the contact level and save selected data into contacts from a custom object using workflows. It’s not an ideal case but can be used in most cases.
HubSpot also introduced an option to create programmable emails. It’s in beta and will be rolled out in the future for all customers. It will be a game-changer for clients looking for advanced configurations in email capability. Within programmable emails, you can use tokens from custom objects like HuBL and can send a dynamic email. E.g. landlords can get the status of all of their properties in an email every Monday.
How to Create a Custom Object and Its Custom Properties in HubSpot
Before creating any object, you need to make a detailed schema structure to identify which objects you need and what type of associations those objects need to have based on your business requirements. If you are unsure how the objects should relate, our HubSpot consultants can map the schema with you before anything is built.
The custom object option is a two-edged sword. We can leverage that to create a powerful system or we can over-complicate the situation and make a mess in HubSpot, a tool that is preferred over others mainly because of its ease of use.
Once you define your business requirements, data structure, and object schema, your next step will be the creation of objects in HubSpot.
Glossary
It's important to familiarize yourself with certain terms and concepts, before creating a custom object
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Object name: This refers to the title of your custom object. You'll need to specify both a plural name and a singular name. For instance, "Vehicles" is a plural object name, while "Vehicle" represents the singular form of the object.
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Primary display property: This property names a record within your object. By default, it appears as the first column on the object index page and in the top left of each record. For example, the Vehicle Name/Registration No. would be the primary display property for the vehicle custom object. The primary display property can’t be changed after setup.
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Secondary properties: additional identifying properties for an object. These properties are displayed on the profile card of a record under the primary display property. Custom objects, also serve as additional quick filters on the index page. For example, the secondary properties for vehicles are price and mileage. These properties can be changed or set up even after creating the object.
Creating a Custom Object
If you are a super admin, you can create a custom object within your HubSpot settings or via API. Because the primary display property cannot be changed later, HubSpot implementation services normally define the full object schema before creation. Here's how you can do it:
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Log in to your HubSpot account and click on the settings icon located in the top navigation bar.
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In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Objects > Custom Objects.
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If you're creating your first custom object, click on "Create a custom object" in the center of the page. For additional custom objects, click on "Create custom object" in the top right corner.
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In the right panel, configure your custom object settings.
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Provide a name for your custom object:
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Singular Object Name: Enter the singular title for your custom object (e.g., Subscription).
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Plural Object Name: Enter the plural title for your custom object (e.g., Subscriptions).
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Optionally, add a description of the object to explain its purpose and usage to users within your account.
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Define the primary display property for the object:
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Primary Display Property: Specify a label for the property that will be used to name records within your object (e.g., Pet name for Pets). This property is essential for creating a custom object record.
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Property Type: Choose the type of your primary display property from options such as Single-line text or Number.
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Edit the internal name of the property by clicking on the edit pencil below the label, then click "Save" to confirm. Note that the internal name is used by integrations or APIs and cannot be modified after the object creation.
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Enable the checkbox to require unique values for the primary display property. When activated, users won't be able to input the same value for multiple records (e.g., The "Vehicle" object's primary property, "Registration No", must have unique values.).
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Once you define your custom object, the next step is to define your custom object properties in HubSpot, you can create properties for custom objects using HubSpot UI as you do for Contacts, Deals, and Companies.
Import and export of custom objects in HubSpot
In the case of import, HubSpot treats custom objects like the standard ones and allows the import of custom object data like other standard objects. In the case of the custom object, internal IDs are used to work as unique identifiers just like deals, and for the association of data with standard objects, we can use those IDs. We can now create additional properties as unique identifiers in the data.
Similarly, all data or view-specific data related to any custom object can be downloaded via the general export option.
Other Cools Stuff about Custom Objects
That's not all; some other cool stuff related to custom objects:
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Custom objects can be used in reporting and we can define both single-object standard reports and multiple-object custom reports using the reporting tools.
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Now, you can create Kanban or Board or Pipeline View in HubSpot custom objects just like you can for deals or tickets. You can also customize the stages as per your business needs.
- Smart Lists can use custom object filters which can help us have smart content in emails and landing pages, based on custom objects.
HubSpot Custom Objects Limitations
We discussed all the great stuff about the custom objects. Now, let's discuss the limitations we have at the moment with custom objects.-
Many tools in the marketplace are still not compatible with custom objects and are mostly dependent on standard ones so we need to keep this in consideration while choosing the right tool.
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Custom object tokens are not available in templates and consequently can't be used in sequence tools in HubSpot.
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The score property cannot be used on custom objects. It is only available for contacts, companies, and deals objects.
- In the board view of deal pipelines, deal cards display important information such as the last activity date and scheduled tasks. However, this functionality is not available for custom objects.
- Funnel reports cannot be created for custom object pipelines. This feature is only available for contact, lead, company, and deal objects.
We have tried to cover all the aspects of HubSpot objects based on their current status but the features are evolving. If there is a query or suggestion, please do let us know and our consultants will respond asap.