For those first stepping into the HubSpot ecosystem, your onboarding journey isn't just about learning a new platform—it's about building the foundation for your team's future success. But like any sophisticated system, how you set it up determines how effectively it serves you and your business goals.
Keep reading to understand what the different onboarding options are, and how to choose the right package for you.
Guided vs. Objective-based Onboarding
When you purchase a HubSpot hub, onboarding is mandatory for Pro+. This ensures you and your team understand the platform's capabilities and can leverage them properly. Both paths lead to the same destination, but the journey—and what you learn along the way—differs significantly.
- Guided Onboarding: This standardised approach provides a general overview of HubSpot's features and functionalities. It follows a predefined path, offering limited customisation to your specific objectives. Pricing starts at £350.
- Objective-Based Onboarding: This personalised approach focuses on your specific goals and challenges. It provides tailored training and support to help you achieve your desired outcomes with HubSpot. Pricing generally ranges from £1310 to £6000 depending on Hub and Subscription Level.
HubSpot vs. Partner Onboarding
Once you’ve decided which type of onboarding you’d like, the next debate is whether you go through HubSpot directly or through a partner.
Pricing shouldn’t be a consideration here, with a partner like BabelQuest, we match HubSpot’s pricing so you’re paying the same. What it usually comes down to is the following:
- How quickly do you want to be onboarded? With a partner, you have the flexibility to increase or decrease the onboarding period to suit you. With HubSpot, it tends to be a set timeframe.
- How complex is your HubSpot set up? A complex implementation is best suited to be onboarded through a partner who not only has more experts on hand to help you, but tend to have more experience with best practice.
- How much capacity do you have to do the technical set up? What we find is a lot of times people need support to do some of the more technical work which is something that a partner can help with for additional costs.
5 Benefits of Partner-Led Objective-Based Onboarding
1. Alignment with Business Objectives
We don't start with features—we start with your goals. Whether you're tracking deal velocity or measuring customer satisfaction, every session is built around your specific objectives.
2. Flexible Implementation Timeline
Unlike the one-size-fits-all approach, we recognise that every organisation moves to its own beat. Our flexible objective-based onboarding includes:
- Sessions that align with your team's bandwidth
- Breathing room for complex feature adoption
- Fast-track options for time-sensitive priorities
3. Access to HubSpot Experts
You'll have access to a whole team of HubSpot-certified experts who possess experience across various industries. We’ll provide you with best practices, tips, and support throughout the onboarding journey.
4. Increased Time-to-Value
We're not here to teach theory—we're here to generate results. By focusing on your specific objectives, we help you activate the features that matter most to your business, creating immediate impact where it counts.
5. Extra Support
We also provide dedicated technical sessions for portal setup, customised learning pathways, and strategic guidance that goes well beyond standard onboarding.
Objective-based Onboarding Examples
Whether you're in marketing, sales, or service, your objectives shape our approach. If you’re struggling for inspiration, here are some common objectives we see in HubSpot onboarding:
Marketing Hub Objectives:
- Setting up email automation for lead nurturing
- Build event follow-up systems that convert attendees
- Lead scoring implementation to track MQLs to SQLs
- Campaign attribution to prove ROI
Sales Hub Objectives:
- Automate more of the sales process
- Report on deal performance to identify where sales drop off
- Add in more AI for prospecting
- Revenue forecasting setup
Service Hub Objectives:
- Implement a help desk function
- Self-service knowledge base creation
- Ticket pipeline optimisation
- Service level agreement tracking
HubSpot Onboarding Considerations
While guided onboarding offers a basic introduction to the platform, it may not be sufficient for those with specific goals and limited time. Partner-led objective-based onboarding provides a more tailored and efficient approach, ensuring you extract maximum value from your HubSpot investment.
One of the most significant differentiators in partner onboarding, and often the most overlooked, is the ability to purchase implementation support points. This hybrid approach allows you to:
- Delegate complex technical tasks to experts
- Focus your team's energy on strategic elements
- Accelerate implementation of complex features
- Maintain flexibility in resource allocation
The result? Faster campaign launches, fewer setup headaches, and a team that's building genuine platform expertise—not just following a manual.
Your Next Move
Remember: the question isn't whether you need onboarding—it's whether you want a standard tour or a strategic partnership designed to transform your HubSpot investment.
