Supercharge Your HubSpot: A Real Look at App Cards

Struggling to get all your business tools to play nicely together? You’re not alone. Many businesses wrestle with data silos and the constant “tab-hopping” that comes with using multiple software platforms. That’s where HubSpot app cards step in, offering a clever way to bring all your crucial information right into your HubSpot CRM. These aren’t just fancy visual elements. they’re powerful, customizable snippets that pull data and functionality from your favorite apps and custom tools, making your daily workflow smoother and much more efficient. Think of them as mini-dashboards or action panels, specifically designed to cut down on context switching and give you a unified view of your customer journey.

At its core, HubSpot is about centralizing your customer data, but let’s be honest, no single platform does everything. That’s why integrations are so important. HubSpot app cards take those integrations a step further, making the external data and actions visible and usable directly within your HubSpot records. They were first announced at HubSpot’s INBOUND 2024 conference as a significant upgrade, replacing the “classic CRM cards” with a more flexible and robust framework built on UI extensions. This means a richer, more dynamic experience where you can see, interact with, and act on information from other tools without ever leaving HubSpot. Whether you’re managing sales pipelines, tracking marketing campaigns, or handling customer service requests, app cards promise to streamline your operations, enhance productivity, and give your teams a clearer, more complete picture of every customer interaction.

What Exactly Are HubSpot App Cards?

Imagine you’re looking at a customer’s contact record in HubSpot. Wouldn’t it be great if, right there, you could instantly see their latest purchase history from your e-commerce platform, the status of an ongoing support ticket from your help desk software, or even a summary of their activity in an external project management tool? That’s exactly what HubSpot app cards do.

Essentially, app cards are customizable display widgets that live within your HubSpot account. They’re built using HubSpot’s UI extensions, a flexible framework that lets developers create dynamic and interactive elements. These cards are designed to surface actionable data from external applications or even custom tools that your team uses internally. Instead of being just static displays, they can be interactive, allowing you to perform actions, view real-time updates, and engage with external systems without ever leaving your HubSpot screen.

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You’ll typically find these app cards in various places across your HubSpot portal, making information readily accessible wherever you need it most. This includes:

• CRM Record Pages: This is often their most impactful location. When you open a contact, company, deal, or ticket record, app cards can appear in the middle column or on the right sidebar, showing context-specific information.
• Record Preview Sidebars: Get a quick glance at essential external data without even opening the full record.
• Help Desk Ticket Sidebar: For customer service teams, seeing relevant details from other systems directly on a ticket can drastically speed up resolution times.
• Sales Workspace: Sales teams can access crucial deal-related information instantly.

The big idea here is to eliminate what folks often call “tab-hopping” or “context switching.” If your sales rep is talking to a client, they don’t want to jump between HubSpot, an invoicing app, and a project management tool to get a full picture. App cards put that information directly in front of them, ensuring they have all the context they need to have a productive conversation and make informed decisions.

App Cards vs. Classic CRM Cards: What’s the Difference?

You might have heard of “CRM cards” before, especially if you’ve been using HubSpot for a while. The new “app cards” are essentially a more advanced, more powerful evolution of these. Announced at INBOUND 2024, app cards are designed to provide “richer app experiences” and greater flexibility. Is VPN Safe for Ayman? Unpacking Online Security

While classic CRM cards also displayed external data, app cards, powered by UI extensions, offer a more modern and dynamic framework. This means developers can build more complex, interactive, and visually appealing cards that are seamlessly integrated into the HubSpot interface, making it harder to tell where HubSpot ends and the integrated app begins. They give you more control over what data is displayed, how it’s presented, and what actions users can take directly from the card.

Why You’ll Love HubSpot App Cards: Key Benefits

If you’re wondering why app cards are such a big deal, let’s break down the advantages they bring to the table. These benefits aren’t just theoretical. they translate into real improvements in how your teams work and how effectively you manage customer relationships.

Boosted Productivity and Efficiency

One of the biggest headaches in business operations is wasted time. Think about it: how often do your team members switch between applications just to gather information or complete a task? A sales rep might check HubSpot for contact details, then open a separate project management tool for a client’s project status, then switch to an invoicing system for payment history. This constant back and forth, often called “context switching,” is a huge drain on productivity.

App cards tackle this head-on. By surfacing crucial data and actions directly within HubSpot, they significantly reduce the need for your team to navigate away from their primary workspace. This means: Is Using a VPN Legal in the Cayman Islands?

• Less “Tab-Hopping”: No more opening five different tabs just to get a complete picture of a deal or a customer.
• Faster Access to Information: Key data is right where your team needs it, leading to quicker decision-making and more efficient workflows.
• Streamlined Processes: Tasks that once required multiple steps across different platforms can now be initiated or completed within HubSpot itself.

Imagine a support agent solving a customer issue. With an app card, they could see the customer’s recent product usage, subscription details, and previous support interactions, all without leaving the ticket page. This efficiency means more issues resolved, faster, and with less frustration for both the agent and the customer.

Centralized, Actionable Insights

Data is powerful, but only when it’s accessible and understandable. If your customer data is scattered across various tools, it creates silos, making it hard to get a holistic view. App cards act as a bridge, pulling insights from different systems into one central location within HubSpot.

• Holistic Customer View: Get a 360-degree understanding of your customers by seeing their interactions across marketing, sales, and service, enriched with data from third-party tools. This unified view helps your team truly understand customer needs and preferences, leading to more personalized interactions.
• Contextual Data: The information displayed on app cards is always relevant to the specific record you’re viewing e.g., a contact, company, or deal. This means the data is not just present, but also meaningful in that particular context.
• Actionable Information: It’s not just about seeing data. it’s about acting on it. Many app cards allow for direct actions, like updating a status in an external system, sending a message, or even generating a document, all from within HubSpot. This means your team can move from insight to action seamlessly.

Enhanced Customization

Every business is unique, and so are its workflows. Generic software solutions often fall short because they can’t adapt to specific operational needs. App cards, especially custom ones, offer a high degree of customization, allowing you to tailor your HubSpot experience precisely to your business requirements.

• Tailor to Specific Needs: You can choose what data to display, how it’s formatted, and where it appears on your HubSpot records. This flexibility ensures that the information is presented in a way that makes the most sense for your team.
• Brand Alignment: Custom app cards can be designed to match your brand’s look and feel, creating a cohesive user experience that feels like a natural extension of your HubSpot portal.
• Unique Business Logic: For businesses with highly specialized processes, custom app cards can be built to integrate with proprietary systems or automate unique internal workflows, truly making HubSpot work your way.

Seamless Integration with Your Tech Stack

HubSpot is known for its extensive App Marketplace, boasting over 1,700 integrations. App cards make these integrations even more powerful by bringing the functionality of those connected apps directly into your HubSpot interface.

• Leverage Existing Investments: You’ve invested in various tools for e-commerce, project management, communication, etc. App cards help you get more value out of these investments by making their data accessible and actionable within HubSpot.
• Reduced Data Silos: Instead of data living in isolated systems, app cards help break down those barriers, ensuring that information flows more freely across your tech stack.
• Consolidated Workflows: Connect tools like DocuSign for contract management, Shopify for e-commerce, or Microsoft Dynamics 365 for ERP, and see their relevant data displayed right in HubSpot, streamlining operations across marketing, sales, and service teams.

Improved Data Accuracy

Manual data entry is prone to errors, and outdated information can lead to poor decisions. App cards can improve data accuracy by displaying real-time information directly from its source. Is VPN Safe for Azure VM? Your Ultimate Guide to Secure Connections

• Real-time Updates: When integrated correctly, app cards pull the most current data from external systems, ensuring your team always has up-to-date information at their fingertips. This is especially critical for fast-moving sales pipelines or dynamic customer service environments.
• Reduced Manual Entry: By automatically displaying data, app cards minimize the need for team members to manually input or copy-paste information, which in turn reduces the likelihood of typos or inconsistencies.
• Consistent Information: With data flowing directly from integrated apps, everyone on your team sees the same, consistent information, leading to better alignment and decision-making.

By harnessing these benefits, businesses can transform their HubSpot CRM from a data repository into a dynamic, central command center that powers all customer-facing operations.

Real-World Scenarios: How Businesses Use App Cards

The true power of HubSpot app cards shines through in the countless ways businesses use them to solve real-world problems and streamline their operations. They act as versatile windows into your entire tech stack, giving specific teams the exact information and actions they need, right where they need them.

Sales & CRM: Closing Deals Faster

For sales teams, every second counts. App cards can be a must for moving deals forward and providing reps with critical context.

• External Sales Data at a Glance: Imagine a sales rep working on a deal. Instead of logging into a separate proposal or contract management system, an app card on the deal record can display the current status of a proposal, whether it’s been viewed, signed, or is still awaiting approval. Similarly, if you use an external system for tracking product demos or service bookings, that scheduling information can appear directly on the deal.
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator Insights: Many sales professionals rely heavily on LinkedIn. With an app card for LinkedIn Sales Navigator, your reps can see a prospect’s job title, time in role, shared connections, and other vital professional details right within the HubSpot contact record. This means more personalized outreach and a deeper understanding of the decision-makers. You can even launch InMails or save leads to Sales Navigator without leaving HubSpot.
• Payment Status from Invoicing Tools: For businesses that handle recurring payments or complex invoicing, an app card can show payment history or the status of outstanding invoices directly on a company or contact record. This helps sales and finance teams stay aligned without needing to constantly check a separate accounting platform. The focus here is on the status of business transactions within a compliant system, not personal credit card management.

Marketing: Personalized Campaigns and Deeper Insights

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• E-commerce Purchase History: For online businesses using platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce, an app card can display a customer’s entire purchase history, including past orders, average order value, and even product recommendations, directly on their contact record. This allows marketing teams to segment audiences more accurately and create highly targeted email campaigns or promotions.
• Survey Results and Feedback: Integrating with survey tools like SurveyMonkey allows app cards to show a contact’s responses to recent surveys, their NPS Net Promoter Score, or specific feedback they’ve provided. This data can be invaluable for understanding customer sentiment and tailoring follow-up communications.
• Website Activity and Engagement: While HubSpot tracks a lot, app cards could integrate with specialized analytics tools to show specific website heatmaps, session recordings, or deeper behavioral insights directly related to a contact, enriching their profile.

Customer Service: Faster Resolutions and Better Support

Support teams benefit immensely from having all the necessary context at their fingertips when addressing customer issues.

• Support Ticket Status from External Systems: If your engineering team uses a different tool like Jira or GitHub to track bugs and development progress, an app card can display the real-time status of a customer’s reported issue directly on their HubSpot ticket. This empowers support agents to provide accurate updates without having to switch systems or constantly bother the engineering team.
• Customer Health Scores: For SaaS businesses, an app card might show a customer’s “health score” from a customer success platform, indicating their engagement level, potential churn risk, or overall satisfaction. This helps support teams prioritize and proactively engage with at-risk customers.
• Patient Appointment Histories General Example: In specific regulated industries like healthcare, an app card could display a patient’s appointment history or key intake details from an external patient management system, helping care providers streamline their administrative tasks and ensure they have all relevant information during interactions. This focuses on operational data within a business context.

Operations & Custom Workflows: Tailoring HubSpot to Your Business

App cards aren’t just for common integrations. they’re incredibly powerful for custom applications and unique operational needs.

• Project Management Tasks/Progress: For client-facing projects, an app card on a company or deal record could show the progress of an ongoing project, key milestones, and even allow team members to update statuses or assign tasks in an external project management tool like Arrows. This keeps everyone aligned on project delivery.
• Inventory Levels: Businesses managing physical goods could use an app card to display real-time inventory levels for specific products, drawing data from an external inventory management system. This helps sales teams avoid selling out-of-stock items and improves order fulfillment accuracy.
• Creating Custom Outputs: App cards can even enable complex actions, like generating a custom quote based on a series of inputs CPQ – Configure, Price, Quote or creating multiple associated records e.g., a ticket, a task, and an updated deal stage from a single interaction within HubSpot. This level of automation significantly reduces manual work and ensures data consistency.

These examples illustrate how app cards transform HubSpot from a standard CRM into a truly customized and integrated business hub, where teams can access and act on information from across their entire tech stack, all from one place.

The HubSpot Business Card Scanner App: A Practical App Card Use

While we’ve been talking a lot about sophisticated integrations and custom developments, there’s a highly practical, ready-to-use “app card” feature that many businesses find incredibly useful: the HubSpot Business Card Scanner app. This isn’t just another integration. it’s a built-in feature of the HubSpot mobile app designed to solve a common, time-consuming problem. Is VPN Automatically On iPhone? Let’s Break It Down

Think about the last networking event or trade show you attended. Chances are, you came back with a stack of physical business cards. The challenge then becomes getting all that valuable contact information into your CRM without spending hours on manual data entry. That’s where the business card scanner shines.

What it Does

The HubSpot Business Card Scanner is a mobile app feature available for both iOS and Android that allows you to quickly capture contact details from physical business cards and automatically import them into your HubSpot CRM as new contacts. It’s designed to be incredibly simple and efficient, transforming those paper cards into digital records in just a few taps.

Key Benefits of the Business Card Scanner

• Efficiency and Time-Saving: This is the most obvious benefit. Instead of manually typing out names, titles, company names, email addresses, and phone numbers, you simply take a photo. This saves significant time, especially after events where you collect dozens or even hundreds of cards. One source suggests it can process up to 5 business cards per minute.
• Accuracy with Machine Learning: The app uses machine learning to “read” the information on the card. This technology gets smarter over time, improving its accuracy with every card you scan. This helps reduce the risk of human error, like typos, that can creep in with manual data entry.
• Direct CRM Integration: The scanned information isn’t just saved on your phone. it’s automatically mapped to the correct HubSpot properties and used to create a new contact record or update an existing one directly in your CRM. It can even enrich contact and company details instantly.
• Free to Use: One of the best parts? HubSpot’s business card scanner app is completely free to use, and there are no limits on the number of scans. You can use it even without other paid HubSpot CRM tools, but it becomes much more powerful when used in tandem.
• Immediate Follow-Up: Once the contact is in your CRM, you can instantly leverage all of HubSpot’s features. This means you can send tracked follow-up emails, set tasks, make calls, or enroll them in automated email sequences right from the app, ensuring leads never slip through the cracks.

How It Works

Using the scanner is straightforward:

1. Download the HubSpot App: If you don’t already have it, download the HubSpot mobile app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
2. Log In: Open the app and log into your HubSpot account.
3. Scan: Look for the “Create” option often a “+” icon and select “Scan Business Card.”
4. Take a Photo: Position the business card in front of your phone’s camera, ensuring it’s well-lit and in focus. The app will capture the image.
5. Review and Save: The app will then parse the data and display it for your review. You can make any necessary corrections or add additional information before saving the new contact to your CRM.

Limitations and Workarounds

While incredibly useful, it’s good to be aware of some limitations:

• Field Mapping Customization: Some users find the app’s field mapping to be somewhat limited in terms of what it can capture and how it maps to custom properties.
• Data Capture: Occasionally, very stylized or complex business card designs might be harder for the AI to parse perfectly, requiring manual adjustments.

One workaround for tracking contacts added this way is to create a specific list in HubSpot. You can set up a static list that filters for contacts where “Record Source” is “Mobile iOS” or “Mobile Android.” This helps you keep tabs on all contacts generated through the scanner. Is VPN Safe for Asia? A Traveler’s Guide to Staying Secure Online

The HubSpot Business Card Scanner is a prime example of how even a simple app card-like feature can significantly improve an everyday business process, making your lead capture more efficient and accurate.

Unlocking More: Building Your Own Custom App Cards

For businesses with highly specific needs, unique internal systems, or a desire for functionality not available through existing integrations, HubSpot offers the power to build your own custom app cards. This is where you can truly tailor your CRM experience to match your exact operational requirements.

You don’t always need to be a seasoned developer to grasp the concept and value of custom app cards. While building them does require some technical know-how, understanding what’s possible can help you identify opportunities to supercharge your HubSpot portal.

Why Go Custom?

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• Proprietary Systems: Many businesses use in-house tools or databases that aren’t available on the App Marketplace. Custom app cards allow you to pull data from these unique systems directly into HubSpot.
• Niche Workflows: You might have a very specific workflow that no off-the-shelf integration addresses perfectly. A custom app card can be designed to support this exact process, streamlining it within your CRM.
• Unique Data Visualization: You might need to display data in a particular chart, graph, or layout that provides specific insights for your team. Custom cards offer the flexibility to design these unique visualizations.
• Automating Complex Actions: Beyond just displaying data, custom app cards can be programmed to trigger multi-step actions in external systems or even within HubSpot itself, based on user input or specific criteria.

The Developer’s Toolkit: How It’s Done

Building a custom app card involves a few key components and concepts, primarily leveraging HubSpot’s developer tools:

1. HubSpot Developer Portal: This is your starting point. You’ll create and manage your app within this portal, defining its settings and capabilities.
2. UI Extensions: This is the underlying framework that powers app cards. It allows developers to extend HubSpot’s user interface with custom components.
3. APIs Application Programming Interfaces: Custom app cards communicate with external systems using APIs. This is how data is fetched from your proprietary database or another third-party tool and displayed in HubSpot. HubSpot also provides its own APIs for interacting with CRM data.
4. JSON JavaScript Object Notation: You’ll define the structure and behavior of your custom card using JSON configuration within the Developer Portal. This tells HubSpot what data to fetch and how to display it.
5. Front-End Development e.g., React: For more interactive and dynamic cards, developers often use JavaScript libraries like React. This allows for rich user interfaces and complex interactions directly within the card.
6. Serverless Functions: Sometimes, custom cards need to perform calculations or process data before displaying it, or interact with an external API in a secure way. Serverless functions often hosted on platforms like AWS Lambda or Google Cloud Functions can handle this logic without requiring you to manage a full server.
7. Local Development Tools: Tools like Ngrok are often used during development to expose a local development server to the internet, allowing HubSpot to communicate with the app card while it’s being built and tested on a developer’s machine.

For example, a business that uses a unique internal system for managing customer onboarding could build a custom app card. This card would pull live progress bars and task lists from their internal system, displaying them on the HubSpot deal or company record. It could even allow HubSpot users to upload files or update task statuses directly from the card, which then syncs back to the internal system.

The beauty of custom app cards is that they allow you to extend HubSpot’s functionality far beyond what’s available out-of-the-box, ensuring your CRM truly adapts to your business’s most intricate needs. It’s about building a HubSpot experience that feels native and perfectly tailored to your unique operations, eliminating friction and maximizing efficiency.

The Wider World of HubSpot Integrations and the App Marketplace

While custom app cards offer incredible flexibility, it’s important to remember that they are part of a much larger ecosystem: the HubSpot App Marketplace. This marketplace is a treasure trove of third-party integrations, designed to extend HubSpot’s capabilities across virtually every business function. In fact, HubSpot boasts over 1,700 integrations, making it one of the most adaptable CRM platforms out there. Which is the Safest VPN App?

The App Marketplace isn’t just a list of connections. it’s a central hub where businesses can find and integrate tools that enhance their marketing, sales, customer service, and operational workflows. HubSpot organizes these apps into helpful categories, making it easier to find what you need:

• Marketing: Find tools for advertising Meta Ads, Google Ads, email marketing Mailchimp, content creation Canva, SEO Google Search Console, and more to amplify your campaigns.
• Sales: Discover integrations for calling, sales engagement Outreach, Salesloft, scheduling Chili Piper, Calendly, e-signature DocuSign, and advanced prospecting LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo to power your sales team.
• Customer Service: Connect with help desk software Zendesk, communication tools Slack, and survey platforms SurveyMonkey to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
• Productivity: Boost team efficiency with integrations for project management, internal communication, and automation Zapier.
• Finance: Streamline billing, payments, and accounting processes, connecting tools like QuickBooks or specialized payment processing apps. It is important to note that these are for business operations and do not pertain to personal credit card tracking or interest-based financial services.

App Cards: Bringing Integrations to Life

Many of the apps found in the HubSpot App Marketplace leverage app cards to display their data or offer actions directly within your HubSpot CRM. This is where the power of integration truly becomes tangible. Instead of just syncing data in the background, app cards put that data front and center, in context.

For example:

• DocuSign: An app card could show the real-time status of a contract sent, viewed, signed, completed on a deal record, eliminating the need to log into DocuSign separately.
• Shopify: For e-commerce businesses, a Shopify app card might display a customer’s total spending, last purchase date, or loyalty status directly on their contact record, informing sales and marketing efforts.
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 or Oracle NetSuite: These larger ERP or CRM systems can use app cards to surface critical business data like order fulfillment status or customer account health within HubSpot, providing a consolidated view for different teams.
• Slack: While not a traditional “card,” integrations with tools like Slack allow for real-time notifications about HubSpot deals or customer activities, keeping teams updated without leaving their communication platform.

HubSpot’s commitment to a connected ecosystem means that more and more apps are being developed or updated to utilize app cards and UI extensions. This means businesses can increasingly access “instant” contextual insights from their connected apps directly within HubSpot, without constant switching between platforms. This seamless flow of information and functionality truly elevates the HubSpot platform, turning it into a dynamic, responsive hub for all your customer-related activities.

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Future of App Cards

HubSpot is constantly , and its focus on UI extensions and app cards signals a clear direction: more flexible, dynamic, and customized user experiences. The platform’s goal is to keep refining these capabilities, empowering businesses to get even more out of their tech stack and reduce friction in their daily operations. Expect to see continued advancements in how apps can integrate and display information, making HubSpot an even more adaptable and powerful tool for growth. This ongoing development means that app cards will only become more intuitive and essential for businesses looking to centralize their data and streamline workflows.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between CRM cards and App cards?

“CRM cards” was the term for the older way to display external data within HubSpot records. “App cards” are the next generation, powered by HubSpot’s UI extensions. App cards offer richer app experiences, greater flexibility, and more dynamic customization options, allowing for more interactive elements and seamless integration into the HubSpot interface.

Do I need to be a developer to use app cards?

Not necessarily! Many app cards are part of pre-built integrations available in the HubSpot App Marketplace. You can install and use these without any coding. However, if you want to create highly customized app cards for unique internal systems or very specific workflows, then some developer expertise using APIs, JSON, and possibly front-end frameworks like React would be required. Is vpn safe for allowed in fortnite

Where can app cards appear in HubSpot?

App cards can be configured to appear in several key locations across your HubSpot portal. This includes CRM record pages like contacts, companies, deals, and tickets, record preview sidebars, the help desk ticket sidebar, and the sales workspace. The goal is to surface relevant information exactly where your teams need it most.

Is the HubSpot business card scanner free?

Yes, the HubSpot business card scanner app is completely free to use and is available on both iOS and Android mobile devices. You can use it to scan an unlimited number of business cards, and it automatically integrates the contact information into your HubSpot CRM.

Can app cards integrate with any external system?

App cards can integrate with a wide range of external systems. For applications listed in the HubSpot App Marketplace, the integration is typically straightforward. For proprietary or highly specialized external systems, you can build custom app cards using HubSpot’s developer tools and APIs, allowing you to pull data from virtually any system that has an accessible API.

How do app cards improve productivity?

App cards significantly improve productivity by reducing “tab-hopping” and “context switching.” By centralizing actionable data and functionality from various tools directly within HubSpot records, teams spend less time navigating between different applications to find information or complete tasks. This streamlined workflow leads to faster decision-making, more efficient processes, and a more holistic view of customer interactions.

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