The 5 Distinct Stages of Any HubSpot Integration Project

Whether you're connecting HubSpot to a billing platform like Maxio or Stripe, syncing customer data from legacy CRMs, or building a unified view of your business operations through Operations Hub, system integrations follow a predictable pattern. Yet many organisations dive straight into the technical build, only to discover critical gaps in their understanding weeks or months later.

This framework breaks down any HubSpot integration project into five distinct stages. Following this structure ensures you ask the right questions upfront, avoid costly rework, and deliver integrations that actually serve your business needs.

Stage 1: Discovery

Before configuring a single workflow or writing any code, you need to understand the landscape. Discovery is about mapping out the technical and business context of your integration.

Key questions to answer:

• What are the exact data flows? Is HubSpot the source of truth, or is another system? Which objects need to sync—Contacts, Companies, Deals, Custom Objects, and when?

• Does a native HubSpot integration already exist in the App Marketplace? If so, does it meet your requirements or will you need a custom solution?

• What APIs are available? HubSpot's REST API is well-documented, but what about the external system—is it REST, SOAP, GraphQL, or proprietary? No API?

• How will you authenticate? HubSpot supports OAuth and private app tokens. What does the external system require?

• Will you use middleware (Operations Hub, Make.com, Zapier, or custom code via AWS/Azure), or build direct API connections?

• What triggers the sync? HubSpot workflows, webhooks, scheduled automations, or user-initiated actions?

Discovery often reveals constraints, but also opportunities (!), you didn't know existed. Better to find these now than during testing.

Stage 2: Environment Setup

With a clear understanding of what you're building, you can now prepare your technical infrastructure. This stage is about creating the foundation that will support your integration. Typical activities include:

• Setting up a HubSpot sandbox environment to test without affecting production data

• Creating a Private App in HubSpot with the minimum required scopes for your integration

• Configuring accounts on middleware platforms if using Operations Hub custom code, Make.com, or AWS

• Setting up secure storage for API keys and tokens (never hardcode credentials)

• Documenting access requirements and getting necessary permissions approved across both systems

HubSpot's sandbox is invaluable here. It mirrors your production portal structure and lets you test integrations, workflows, and data imports without risk. If your HubSpot tier doesn't include sandbox access, consider using a developer test account for initial development.

Stage 3: Data Mapping

This is where the intellectual heavy lifting happens. Data mapping answers the fundamental question: where does each piece of information live in each system, and how do we translate between them? A comprehensive data map addresses:

• Object mapping: How do objects in the external system correspond to HubSpot's Contacts, Companies, Deals, Tickets, or Custom Objects?

• Property mapping: Which fields sync to which HubSpot properties? Do you need to create custom properties? What field types and validation rules apply?

• Identifier strategy: How do you link the same entity across systems? HubSpot record IDs, email addresses for Contacts, domain for Companies, or a custom external ID property?

• Association mapping: How do relationships between records (Contact to Company, Deal to Contact) translate between systems?

• Sync direction: Is it one-way into HubSpot, one-way out, or bidirectional? Who owns each property?

• Conflict resolution: When data differs between HubSpot and the external system, which version wins?

The output of this stage is typically a spreadsheet mapping external system fields to HubSpot properties, including any transformations needed. This document becomes your single source of truth during build and testing, and proves invaluable when debugging issues months later.

Stage 4: Build

With discovery complete, environment ready, and data mapping documented, the actual build becomes surprisingly straightforward. You're no longer making architectural decisions. You're implementing a well-defined specification. Build phase best practices:

• Start with the simplest data flow (perhaps syncing a single Contact) and prove it works end-to-end before adding complexity

• Build error handling from the start. What happens when the HubSpot API returns a 429 rate limit error? Implement retry logic with exponential backoff

• Log extensively during development using HubSpot's activity timeline or external logging—you can dial back verbosity for production

• Use HubSpot's batch APIs where possible to stay within rate limits when processing large volumes

• Keep the data mapping document updated as you encounter edge cases and HubSpot-specific behaviours

The build phase is often faster than teams expect, precisely because the earlier stages have eliminated ambiguity and decision-making from the implementation process.

Stage 5: Testing

Testing validates that your integration works as designed and handles the unexpected gracefully. This stage is about building confidence before go-live. Essential testing scenarios:

• Happy path: Does the integration create, update, and associate HubSpot records correctly with clean, well-formed data?

• Edge cases: How does it handle missing required properties, special characters, or unexpected data formats? Does it respect HubSpot's unique email constraint for Contacts?

• Error handling: What happens when HubSpot's API is unavailable, returns a validation error, or hits rate limits?

• Volume testing: Does performance hold up with realistic data volumes? Test with hundreds or thousands of records, not just a handful

• Workflow impact: Do existing HubSpot workflows trigger correctly (or incorrectly) when records are created or updated via the integration?

• User acceptance: Does the business confirm the integration meets their actual needs? Can sales, marketing, and service teams find and use the data effectively?

Don't skip user acceptance testing. Technical correctness doesn't guarantee business value. You need stakeholders to confirm the integration solves the problem they actually have, and that the data appears where they expect it in HubSpot.

Putting It Into Practice

These five stages aren't purely sequential. You'll often loop back: testing might reveal gaps in your data mapping, or build challenges might send you back to discovery. That's normal and healthy.

The key insight is that every HubSpot integration, regardless of complexity, benefits from this structure. A simple Make.com scenario connecting a form tool to HubSpot still requires discovery (what triggers? which properties?), environment setup (which HubSpot portal? which Make.com account?), data mapping (which fields map to which properties?), build (configure the scenario), and testing (do contacts appear correctly?).

For complex enterprise integrations connecting HubSpot to ERP systems, billing platforms, or legacy CRMs with hundreds of thousands of records, this framework becomes essential. It transforms an overwhelming project into manageable phases, each with clear deliverables and exit criteria.

The next time you're scoping a HubSpot integration project, resist the urge to jump straight to the build. Invest the time in discovery, environment setup, and data mapping first. Your future self, debugging webhook failures at 11pm before a go-live, will thank you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why shouldn't I just start building my HubSpot integration right away?

Jumping straight into the build phase is one of the most common mistakes in integration projects. Without proper discovery, environment setup, and data mapping, you'll likely encounter critical gaps in understanding that require costly rework weeks or months later. Following our five-stage framework—Discovery, Environment Setup, Data Mapping, Build, and Testing—ensures you ask the right questions upfront. The build phase is actually faster when you've eliminated ambiguity through thorough preparation.

What is data mapping and why is it so important?

Data mapping is the "intellectual heavy lifting" of any integration project. It's a comprehensive document that defines how information translates between systems: which objects and fields correspond to HubSpot's Contacts, Companies, Deals, or Custom Objects; how records are uniquely identified and linked; sync direction and ownership; and conflict resolution rules. This becomes your single source of truth during build and testing, and proves invaluable when debugging issues months later. Without it, you're essentially building without a blueprint.

Do I need to follow all five stages for simple integrations?

Yes, though simple integrations move through the stages much faster. Even a basic Make.com scenario connecting a form tool to HubSpot requires discovery (what triggers the sync?), environment setup (which accounts?), data mapping (which fields map to which properties?), build (configure the scenario), and testing (do contacts appear correctly?). The framework scales to your project's complexity—you might spend 30 minutes on a simple integration or several weeks on an enterprise ERP connection, but the structure remains valuable.

Should I use HubSpot's native integrations or build a custom solution?

This is a key discovery question. Start by checking whether a native integration exists in HubSpot's App Marketplace and whether it meets your requirements. Native integrations are typically faster to implement and maintained by the provider. However, many projects require custom solutions due to unique business logic, specific data transformations, legacy systems without pre-built connectors, or the need for granular control over sync behaviour. The discovery stage helps you make this decision based on your actual requirements rather than assumptions.

Periti Digital is an Elite HubSpot Partner specialising in CRM implementation, data transformation, and system integration projects. Reach out to us today if you're interested in speaking with one of our HubSpot experts.