Does it ever feel like no combination of custom properties, lists, and workflows can solve a particularly important reporting or automation challenge?
Many organizations find themselves in a position where they need to store a significant amount of data unique to their organization and their industry, which cannot be easily managed using custom properties alone.
The solution? Custom objects! These can be created in your HubSpot enterprise portal and can be associated with existing contacts, companies, deals, tickets, and even other custom objects!
Again, you should ONLY use a custom object when it is absolutely necessary.
Still, there will be times when sets of custom properties just aren't flexible nor powerful enough to provide the dimensions you need to segment your reports and manage automation. A custom object is helpful when:
Set your strategy for CRM object relationships and data properties in HubSpot.
So, what does this actually look like in a HubSpot portal? Below are some real examples of custom objects that we have helped organizations create and utilize.
Storing member information requires a complex data structure to take full advantage of automation and reporting in HubSpot.
Many organizations sell with partners or have referral programs, and utilizing a custom object for this data allows you to track revenue by partner and keep partners updated on deal progress.
Using a custom object for teams that is associated with your contacts lets you group contacts together for sending communications, reporting, and tracking engagement.
Manage sales and relationships with franchisees and franchisors using two or more custom objects that work together to associate related records.
Manage distributor relationships with custom objects, optionally handling end customer data with contacts as well.
Organizations looking for advanced campaign tracking and attribution can use custom objects to create a campaign structure and then utilizing workflows to associate contacts and update statuses. This data can be augmented using UTM parameters in HubSpot or HubSpot custom event tracking.
HubSpot provides an easy tool to define and create new custom objects in your portal - with no coding required!
Jump into your HubSpot portal and navigate to your settings. You’ll do this by clicking the cog wheel in the top right hand corner of your screen, right next to your profile.
Once in your settings, skim the left hand navigation bar for “Objects” and click the dropdown arrow. From here, you’ll see “Custom Objects” as the last option in the list. Go ahead and click it.
You’ll be presented with a screen that includes linked text to “create a custom object”. Upon clicking this link, you’ll be brought to a HubSpot Developer’s API doc [link to: https://developers.hubspot.com/docs/api/crm/crm-custom-objects] .
From here, click over to the “Object Definition” tab and click on the dropdown immediately below. Choose the option to “create a new schema”.
Using this “create a new schema” option is how you’ll create your custom object.
Scroll down and begin inputting the labels for your new object into the fields below.
Thankfully, HubSpot offers some helpful context around each label, like where it will be used or how it will be displayed.
Though, you’ll want to be certain you’ve input text across the following labels, as they’re required:
1. Singular--The word for one object.
2. Plural--The word for multiple objects.
3. Required properties--The names of properties that should be required when creating an object of this type.
4. Primary Display Property--The name of the primary property for this object. This will be displayed as primary on the HubSpot record page for this object type.
5. The object Name and Label.
6. Choose objects you’d like to associate with your new object, like Contacts, Company, and Deals.
7. And the internal name for the object.
IMPORTANT: If you don’t see all of these parameters available from the get-go, be sure you’ve clicked the button “See all params” towards the bottom of the label fields.
Scroll back up towards the top of the page, and click the button on the far right to run a “Test call”. Add in your API key, send the request, and then finally confirm POST request.
Jumping back into your HubSpot portal, you can now search for your new custom object across your associated objects.
So, let’s take a peek at our Contacts dashboard. If we click the dropdown, we can see that “Members” is now available.
And, from the Members view, we can now create new members!
If we jump back to our Settings, and head back to our Custom Objects tab, we can now see that we’re able to create and manage accompanying properties, set required fields for creating a new member, and make further edits to the object’s associations.
After you've created a custom object, you can add a visual pipeline, to clearly show your process in a deal board like view. This can be helpful as you incorporate your custom object into your automation blueprint and determine how it influences HubSpot Lifecycle Stages and intersects with your sales and customer success processes.
It’s as easy as that! Feel free to leave any questions or thoughts in the comments below.