In today’s world of digital transformation, customers have come to expect streamlined and easy processes for every interaction they have with a company – and are willing to go elsewhere when those needs aren’t met. This is a trend that’s long existed in the B2C world that has accelerated in B2B over the past 18 months.

Just like you might switch to another coffee shop after an unpleasant experience with a barista, you might also rethink the vendor you use after being mired in a painful buying process. The lines are increasingly blurring between B2B and B2C, which means that companies are having to adapt quickly to shifting buyer expectations.

We understand that can be especially painful for smaller businesses that want to create a great online buying experience, but simply don’t have the time and resources to make that happen. We’ve seen this trend play out in our research – according to a recent Forrester study that we co-commissioned with Stripe, over half of SMBs still rely on disparate solutions to manage payment data, averaging five tools per purchase transaction.

That said, 51% know there is a better way to approach the use of payment data as they work to improve their customer experience.* That struggle can be magnified by having to use a cobbled set of tools and systems that don’t talk to each other, ultimately making the employee and buyer experience lengthy and frustrating for both parties.

The good news is that there’s a way around this, and that’s making sure that you’re using systems that connect your back and front office data to create a more streamlined customer experience. While there are a lot of different options for where to start on that journey, an easy way to do this is by adopting a payments solution that is already a part of your other systems.

The bad news is that many of today’s SMBs aren’t using a payments solution – or frankly even leveraging online selling. In fact, 42% do not have payments data in their CRM, and 59% agree or strongly agree that they rely on multiple, disparate solutions to manage their payments data.* Because of this, you’re losing precious time and revenue to clunky processes that leave your teams and customers frustrated.

Even worse, this creates a disconnect between the front office and back office. When you’re dealing with paper checks and in-person sales processes, there are manual steps that a team has to take to keep their records up to date. Too often, that data becomes siloed, so your front office can’t act on insights from back office information.

This creates a painful experience for your customers, adding friction to their experience; we all know the pain of trying to purchase and pay for something through an antiquated system.

No one wants to receive an email asking them to fill out an NPS survey when they’re mired in a frustrating, never-ending process with your sales team. SMBs understand that – 31% admitted to wanting to be able to better deliver engagements in line with customer expectations over the next 12 months.*

That’s why HubSpot launched HubSpot Payments, a native payment solution built to enhance the customer experience through a streamlined, easy to use tool.

Built as part of the HubSpot CRM platform, HubSpot Payments enables companies to accept payments seamlessly in less time and with fewer tools. Replacing paper checks with digital payments enables companies to get paid faster and eliminate manual, error-prone processes.

This also creates a more streamlined, secure buying experience for your customers, allowing buyers to order and pay in just a few clicks using their preferred payment method. Whether the sale is touchless or rep-assisted, customers will have the same seamless experience that delivers natively through the company’s website, reporting, automation, and CRM.

Remember those data silos I mentioned before? Having a payment system that’s connected to your CRM takes care of that. Companies cite a few critical organization benefits when using a CRM with native payment function, including:

• easier cross-functional collaboration (77%);
• the ability to more easily craft a strategic roadmap around a tool with native payment functionality (73%);
• and increased effectiveness (e.g., lead quality) of customer engagement efforts (73%).

So, what does this mean for you? Well, you’re in luck – we’ve designed HubSpot Payments with SMBs in mind because we believe you, in particular, stand to gain the most from adopting a payments solution for a couple of reasons:

1. It can save you precious time and resources and set you apart from the competition. When evaluating different companies to do business with, something like a seamless checkout experience can make or break that sale for customers who are looking for ease and speed.
2. Having payments baked right into the CRM also means that you’re able to make that critical connection between front and back office data. Having that full view of the customer journey from quote to cash makes it easier for you to adapt your marketing and service practices to deliver a better experience. In fact, 76% of companies expect a more personalized experience when working with a company that has a CRM with native payment function.*
3. Already a HubSpot customer? Even better! For teams already using the HubSpot CRM, that also means one fewer system to have to learn, which is super important for smaller companies with limited time and resources moving away from a cobbled system. Our commitment to crafting a platform with a consistent UI across all of our tools means that adopting new features is quick and intuitive.

We want SMBs like yours to be able to get up and running quickly without worrying about upfront costs, so we’ve also introduced game-changing pricing for payment processing, allowing customers to accept up to $50,000 in ACH payments per month for free. HubSpot Payments also supports all major credit cards and ACH payments, ensuring that our customers can adopt the payment methods that work for them.

And payments is just one piece of the puzzle – this launch builds on the accounting extension we introduced at last year’s INBOUND and HubSpot’s other commerce offerings.

Adopting a payments solution is an easy first step when you’re looking to streamline your business processes, eliminate a cobbled approach to your tech, and ultimately remove friction from the customer experience.

NOTE: HubSpot Payments is currently in open beta. It’s limited to customers located in the U.S., with a U.S. bank account, subject to underwriting approval.

*Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of HubSpot/Stripe, September 2021