A Product Designer's Playbook for Working with Engineers
I’m a product designer. I spend my days working with a handful of product managers, a troop of engineers, a pack of other designers, and occasionally ...
Some of the best perspectives on HubSpot's product come from those who use it every day. In this interview series, we profile HubSpot partners, providers, and customers, and ask their thoughts on what our product team should keep in mind while solving for them, and where the future of the industry lies.
In this installment, we chat with Emily Ball, Senior Manager of Demand Generation at fintech company Circle.
How did you first come to work with HubSpot's products?
I started using HubSpot at my first employer right out of college. At first we were solely using HubSpot for marketing automation and after a few years, adoption of the system increased significantly company-wide, adding on Sales Hub, CMS, and Service Hub.
Circle "helps businesses and developers harness the power of stablecoins for payments and internet commerce worldwide." What inspired you to get into this business, and what have been some of the most interesting parts of being in this industry?
I was inspired to join Circle because of its mission and core values. Circle is backed by incredibly smart, passionate people who are committed to creating a more inclusive, efficient, and integrated world economy. What I’ve found most interesting and exciting about this industry so far is the sheer amount of use cases and benefits there are for businesses to adopt internet-native financial services.
What's the biggest challenge your team is facing right now?
Disparate systems. In particular, we have critical tools that do not integrate natively with HubSpot, which opens up the door to data discrepancies and overall lack of the business intelligence needed to advance our targeting strategies. To solve this, we’re in the process of implementing a tool that will connect HubSpot with those critical systems, allowing for a more seamless and automated flow of data.
As a member of HubSpot's Customer Advisory Board, what do you think is the most important thing for HubSpot's product team to keep in mind when solving for customers today?
As much as possible, maintain consistency of features and functionality across all Hubs and allow the Hubs to work together seamlessly. This would reduce silos within the system, create more alignment for teams and standardize processes across the system. Examples include:
- Tickets and conversation owners (allow workflows to copy over owners to these objects)
- Enhance template and sequence reporting similar to marketing campaigns reporting
- Line items: The ability to create calculated fields and adjust the view of line item properties, as you can with other objects
- Permissions on objects: For deals specifically, the ability for reps to move a deal into any pipeline
What's the most helpful feature of HubSpot's product for your team currently?
Workflows! We’re much more efficient when we use workflows to our advantage to automate campaigns, manage workarounds with data, and remove the need for manual tasks from our sales teams.
If you could add one feature to HubSpot's product right now, what would it be?
Similar to Salesforce’s campaign object, allow for tagging more elements to marketing campaigns (sales templates, forms, sequences) to give customers a more holistic view of campaign performance.
What's one prediction you have about the future of marketing?
The digital-first world is here to stay, making it essential for businesses to take a human-first approach. It’s no longer enough to count on the campaign checklist to guarantee desired results — I think the need for a solid ABM strategy is greater now than it ever has been. You have to meet your customers where they are and with a personalized approach to really stand out.
Interested in working with a product team that solves for marketers, salespeople, and developers alike? Check out our open positions and apply.