Deploying HubSpot for Marketing and Customer Service

Deploying HubSpot for Real Estate Companies

Avara is one of Finland's leading providers of rental housing and a residential real estate investment and asset management company. The company is responsible for managing, developing and increasing the value of residential real estate assets worth EUR 1.3 billion. WaveCrest was Avara's long-term marketing partner in bringing Finnish tenants and Avara homes together from 2015 to 2022.

Objectives

The objectives of introducing HubSpot centred on improving the customer experience and facilitating the work of customer service:

• Concentrating marketing activities in one system
• Measuring marketing and tracking the leasing pipeline more efficiently
• Improving the customer experience
• Increasing resident communication
• Facilitating the work of the customer service and rental team with modern tools

To achieve these goals, WaveCrest introduced HubSpot as a comprehensive marketing tool. In addition to the initial implementation, the parties agreed on continuous weekly collaboration, development and support.

From website redesign to integrations

At the beginning of the collaboration between Avara and WaveCrest, it was clear that marketing lacked a comprehensive tool for implementing and measuring marketing activities. One of the first projects was the redesign of Avara's website, which also marked the launch of HubSpot, as the new website was built with HubSpot's CMS. Once the website had moved to HubSpot, other HubSpot tools were also put to use, such as the blog platform, forms, mailing lists, the newsletter tool and social media publishing tools.

HubSpot also played a key role when Avara launched the development of its own home search service, OmaAvara. The integration between OmaAvara and HubSpot enabled a seamless flow of information on everyone from housing applicants to existing tenants, and thus more targeted marketing to each group. WaveCrest was responsible for defining and implementing the HubSpot integrations in the deployment project together with OmaAvara's development team.

Customer service and tickets running in HubSpot

The use of HubSpot expanded further when Avara brought its customer service in-house, which created a concrete need for a ticketing tool to support the team's daily work. The HubSpot project for the customer service team started with an initial survey and a kickoff, which together defined the scope of the implementation and the functions required. The scope was shaped by the features needed and the users' roles in the organisation.

Customer service automations built with HubSpot and paths designed for ticketing allow tickets to be distributed into dozens of different pipelines.

Next, WaveCrest carried out the necessary technical implementation work and prepared the content of the deployment training. Avara's staff were trained to use the new tools in joint workshops. Already at the kickoff, weekly HubSpot support and development meetings were scheduled to review the progress of the deployment, resolve challenges, and provide support and development suggestions.

Continuous improvement enhanced the use of HubSpot

After the implementation projects, development continued on a monthly basis for several years. The goal of the ongoing collaboration was to develop and streamline the use of HubSpot in the best possible way and to introduce the latest HubSpot tools when needed.

WaveCrest's role was to act as a HubSpot expert, bringing new development ideas and news about HubSpot's latest functionalities to development meetings. Avara's HubSpot has taken advantage of several of HubSpot's customisable functionalities, such as Custom Objects, which in Avara's case have enabled the integration and expansion of the flow of information between OmaAvara and HubSpot.

A comprehensive marketing and customer service tool

After the onboarding, HubSpot established its role as a comprehensive tool for Avara, used in the daily work of both marketing and customer service. HubSpot enabled Avara to centralise information and communication with applicants and residents in one place, which made daily work easier for everyone involved in customer service. HubSpot also played a significant role in marketing, from the website platform to social media publications and resident communications.