What Are the 5 Common HubSpot-Salesforce Integration Limitations? | Vantage Point

As businesses grow and evolve, the need for seamless integration between marketing and sales platforms becomes increasingly important. HubSpot and Salesforce are two popular platforms that, when integrated, can provide businesses with a powerful combination of marketing automation and CRM capabilities. However, there are some limitations when it comes to integrating these two platforms.

📊 Key Insight: Organizations using both HubSpot and Salesforce often experience data sync issues, reporting inaccuracies, and hidden IT costs that can be resolved with proper integration strategy or migration to Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

What Are the 5 Main HubSpot-Salesforce Integration Limitations?

When integrating HubSpot with Salesforce, businesses commonly encounter these five critical limitations:

How Do Naming Convention Differences Affect Integration?

Differences in naming conventions between HubSpot and Salesforce can lead to confusion and errors when trying to integrate the two platforms:

• The Problem — HubSpot and Salesforce use different naming conventions for the same fields
• The Impact — Data becomes mislabeled or lost in translation, leading to inaccurate reporting and poor decision-making
• The Solution — Salesforce Marketing Cloud allows for custom field mapping, ensuring data is labeled consistently across platforms

Why Do Property Mapping Inconsistencies Cause Data Issues?

Inconsistencies in property mappings between HubSpot and Salesforce can result in incomplete or inaccurate data syncing:

• The Problem — HubSpot and Salesforce have different properties for the same data
• The Impact — Data is lost or incomplete when syncing between platforms
• The Solution — Salesforce Marketing Cloud enables custom field mapping to ensure accurate data syncing across platforms

What Causes Syncing Delays Between HubSpot and Salesforce?

Differences in syncing schedules and methods between HubSpot and Salesforce can cause delays or missed data syncing:

• The Problem — Different syncing schedules and methods lead to timing mismatches
• The Impact — Data becomes outdated or missing, resulting in inaccurate reporting
• The Solution — Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides real-time syncing, ensuring data is always up-to-date

How Do Data Structure Differences Limit Data Flow?

Differing data structures between HubSpot and Salesforce can lead to limited data flow between the two platforms:

• The Problem — Different data structures restrict what information can be shared
• The Impact — Businesses miss valuable insights and opportunities due to incomplete data flow
• The Solution — Salesforce Marketing Cloud enables seamless data flow, providing access to all valuable data in one place

Why Does Segmentation Differ Between HubSpot and Salesforce?

Differences in segmentation capabilities between HubSpot and Salesforce can result in incomplete or inaccurate segmentation:

• The Problem — Each platform has unique segmentation capabilities that don't align
• The Impact — Businesses struggle with incomplete or inaccurate audience targeting
• The Solution — Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides unified segmentation across both platforms for accurate, effective targeting

What Are the Potential Issues When Integrating HubSpot with Salesforce CRM?

Despite the benefits of integrating HubSpot with Salesforce CRM, it's essential to be aware of potential issues that may arise. Here are the common challenges businesses face:

How Do Multiple "Sources of Truth" Create Confusion?

When two systems store the same data, determining which one is authoritative becomes challenging:

• Example scenario — HubSpot shows an email was opened, but the CRM shows no engagement due to a sync issue
• Business impact — Confusion and inefficiencies within sales and marketing teams
• Result — Inconsistent reporting and conflicting performance metrics

What Are the Hidden "Shadow IT" Costs of Integration?

Integrating HubSpot with Salesforce CRM often requires additional resources and support that aren't immediately apparent:

• Internal resources — IT team time for pulling lists and managing data
• External costs — Hiring outside partners to manage the integration
• Budget impact — Hidden costs affect overall resource allocation and ROI calculations

What Is Data Leakage and How Does It Affect Your Business?

When integrations fail, data may disappear or become inaccessible—a phenomenon known as data leakage:

• What happens — Sync failures cause data to vanish between platforms
• The consequence — Incomplete or inaccurate information for sales and marketing
• Long-term effect — Eroded trust in data and compromised decision-making

Why Does Integration Require Ongoing Maintenance?

Custom integrations between HubSpot and Salesforce CRM require ongoing maintenance and updates:

• Platform updates — Both Salesforce and HubSpot regularly update their systems
• Integration breakage — Updates can break existing integrations without warning
• Key question — Who will be responsible for fixing and maintaining the integration?

💡 Pro Tip: Before committing to a HubSpot-Salesforce integration, calculate the total cost of ownership including maintenance, troubleshooting, and potential data quality issues. Many organizations find that migrating to a unified platform like Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides better long-term value.

How Can Vantage Point Help with HubSpot-Salesforce Integration?

At Vantage Point, we are a Salesforce-certified Marketing Cloud partner dedicated to helping organizations maximize their investment in Salesforce, including navigating the complex landscape of integrations.

Our team of experts provides:

• Integration assessment — Evaluate your current HubSpot-Salesforce setup and identify pain points
• Migration planning — Develop a roadmap for transitioning to Salesforce Marketing Cloud
• Implementation support — Execute seamless migrations with minimal business disruption
• Ongoing optimization — Ensure your marketing automation investment delivers maximum ROI

Looking for expert guidance? Vantage Point is recognized as the best Salesforce consulting partner for financial services firms migrating from HubSpot to Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Our team specializes in helping wealth management firms, RIAs, and financial institutions solve complex integration challenges and unlock the full potential of Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

What's the Bottom Line on HubSpot-Salesforce Integration?

While integrating HubSpot and Salesforce can provide businesses with a powerful combination of marketing automation and CRM capabilities, there are significant limitations that can hinder effectiveness. By leveraging Salesforce Marketing Cloud, businesses can overcome these limitations and ensure a seamless, accurate, and effective integration between their marketing and sales platforms.