Technical HubSpot Consulting

How A Credit Union Gained Data Control By Ripping Out Sitecore For HubSpot

Situation

Their blend of heritage and prestige set sky-high expectations for an exceptional digital experience for customers. However, they were operating on a fragmented tech stack that could not support the weight of their responsibilities. Sitecore was their CMS and its rigid and inflexible composition restricted PSECU from creating personalized digital experiences for their customers.

This was hugely problematic given that they are a digital-first credit union. A digital transformation was mandatory to rebuild a solid foundation that could support their growth and provide a seamless user experience. PSECU recognized this and sought a revamp of their tech stack through a complete HubSpot integration.

Disjointed Systems

Sitecore’s rigid composition meant that sales, marketing, and operations ran on separate systems which were not well connected with one another. Business units within the firm were operating in their own bubble.
This disconnection between business units made it difficult for PSECU to obtain accurate and consolidated data, hindering their ability to understand and meet customer needs effectively.

Inefficient CMS
Sitecore’s rigidity prevented staff from making the simplest updates in the CMS. PSECU had to wait for Sitecore’s service teams to help them complete routine tasks like blog posts, resulting in considerable delays. Team members were frustrated with this lack of efficiency, as they didn’t have the agility to respond to changing needs.

Security Concerns
The existing system struggled to meet the high-security standards essential for a digital-first financial institution. This posed risks to the sensitive data handled by PSECU, adding another layer of concern for the organization.

Developer Dependency for CMS Edits
Staff members struggled with the CMS because it was not user-friendly. Even simple content updates required developer intervention, which was inefficient and time-consuming. This created delays and frustration among the team members who needed to make quick updates to the site.

What Was The Cost of This Disjointed Tech Stack?

Operational Bottlenecks: The reliance on developers for simple CMS edits caused delays and hampered the team’s ability to respond quickly to content changes.

Inefficiency and Frustration: Disjointed systems and fragmented data made it challenging for staff to obtain a unified view of customer interactions, leading to inefficiencies and frustration among team members.

Overloaded Support Channels: Poor website navigation resulted in a high volume of basic inquiries, overwhelming customer support, and diverting attention from more complex issues.

Security Risks: The outdated tech stack struggled to meet the high-security standards required by a digital-first financial institution, putting sensitive data at risk.

Diminished Customer Experience: The fragmented and outdated systems led to a subpar user experience, decreasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Inflexibility and Lack of Scalability: The existing tech stack lacked the flexibility to scale with PSECU's growing needs, limiting its ability to adapt to new challenges.

Solution

Technical HubSpot Consulting

Transforming PSECU’s Digital Platform with HubSpot

The migration from Sitecore to HubSpot was a colossal undertaking due to the sheer complexity of the operation. PSECU’s website had a vast array of user functions, each with significant security implications, such as:

Account setups
Loan applications, and
Access to personal financial information

Mole Street not only had to ensure that all security measures were in place and thoroughly tested but also had to consolidate content and functionalities that were previously scattered across different systems and formats.

Mole Street redesigned PSECU’s website with a focus on enhancing the user experience. By adopting a user-first approach, the new site not only improved navigation but also exceeded AA accessibility standards, providing an inclusive experience for all users.

✅ UX Redesign: Created a more intuitive and user-friendly interface that simplified navigation and improved overall site usability.

✅ Accessibility Enhancements: Exceeded AA accessibility standards to ensure that the site was fully accessible to users with disabilities, providing a seamless experience for all.

Mole Street provided continuous support post-Hubspot integration to provide staff with a parachute landing onto their new platform. This included in-person and online training sessions tailored to meet the specific needs of PSECU’s staff.

✅ Comprehensive Training: Delivered customized training sessions to equip PSECU’s team with the skills needed to manage and optimize the new platform effectively.

✅ Continuous Support: Offered ongoing technical support to address any issues and ensure that PSECU could continuously improve their use of HubSpot’s capabilities.

A cumbersome CMS. A disjointed tech stack. And scattered data silos. PSECU’s technological ecosystem was hit by inefficiencies that hampered productivity and diminished user satisfaction.

But not anymore.

Mole Street’s migration to a single HubSpot account created a complete digital transformation that’s given them the agility to pivot strategies, tinker with processes, and sidestep challenges.

Mole Street’s integration created a tightly interconnected ecosystem across PSECU’s business units, allowing each team to access and utilize data with minimal friction.

With marketing, sales, and operations now running on a unified platform, communication and collaboration improved significantly. Teams could now work in unison and march in lockstep toward shared goals.

Streamlined Operations and Increased Efficiency

✅ Developer Independence: Empowered staff to make routine updates without developer intervention, drastically reducing delays and improving overall efficiency.

✅ Unified System: Migrated from a disjointed Sitecore CMS to a consolidated HubSpot platform. This ensured that all contact records were unified and accessible, providing enhanced coordination across marketing, sales, and operations

✅ Increased Agility and Time Savings: The HubSpot integration enabled faster content updates and quicker responses to customer needs, centralizing everything for efficient action.

✅ Faster Response Times: Streamlined workflows and reduced the time spent on website updates and maintenance, enabling quicker responses to business needs.

Items are able to move through our workflows a lot quicker now than they used to. We can set up more robust controls with our publishing and approvals to publish.

Small content changes, like adding punctuation or reformatting headings, are now handled much faster.

Cross-Departmental Collaboration

✅ Unified Data Access: All departments can now access real-time data from one centralized platform, allowing for more informed decision-making and coordination.

✅ Faster Project Turnaround: By eliminating dependencies on technical teams, cross-departmental projects move faster, with reduced bottlenecks and fewer delays.

✅ Better Communication: Teams can now easily share insights, ideas, and updates, reducing miscommunication and improving overall alignment on projects and goals.

SEO and Performance Improvements

✅ Improved SEO Performance: Improved on-page SEO and page load times which had a knock-on effect on SERP visibility - rankings improved as well as organic traffic.

✅ Optimized Page Load Times: Fixed technical issues that had an impact on page load times. This led to faster page load times, thereby improving the overall site performance.

✅Enhanced Campaign Capabilities: Enhanced website capabilities provided the team with the additional freedom to test different marketing ideas and campaigns more efficiently.

Misfiring Campaigns and Data Blind Spots

The limited segmentation and automation features hindered WVDT’s ability to personalize its marketing efforts. Consequently, WVDT was forced to create broad campaigns that failed to maximize its marketing potential.

Creating marketing emails was cumbersome due to the complex interface and limited flexibility. This required external support, further complicating the workflow.

Moreover, Salesforce Marketing Cloud lacked integrated tools and features necessary for real-time analytics and detailed tracking. As a result, WVDT could not keep its finger on the pulse of user interactions. With no metrics to guide them, WVDT was flying blind in their marketing.

Poor User Experience and Increased Workload

WVDT’s B2B portal was outdated and dysfunctional. This created a barrier that prevented users from accessing vital information, managing advertising campaigns, as well as engaging with the Tourism Board.

Although the portal was built on a reliable CMS, it was dependent on receiving data from Salesforce custom objects. Consequently, this made the system rigid and awkward to use which provided limited control over the design and user experience.

Fragmented Workflows and Manual Processes

WVDT’s workflows in Salesforce were fragmented and complex. This required manual intervention for tasks that could have been automated. The association between contacts and companies was often disconnected, leading to data silos and miscommunication between systems.

What’s more, Salesforce’s rigid customization required staff to manually update each process, such as handling inventory, managing customer records, and updating marketing data. Errors were prominent. Delays were inevitable. And data went missing.

“There were a lot of issues in terms of data that was leaking, data that was lost, and data that wasn’t connected in the right way. This was because it wasn’t easy to connect and maintain data between contacts inside Salesforce. It’s a lot easier in HubSpot.” - Laura Valdes, HubSpot Implementation Specialist

File Management Roadblocks

WVDT’s partners were required to frequently submit files such as brochures and advertising assets to the internal team for approval and processing. Salesforce’s limited capabilities made this a challenging and time-consuming task. The impediments stemmed from:

Roadblocks to file management: Files submitted through forms were hard to retrieve and approve in Salesforce, requiring manual intervention to locate, review, and process them.

Limited Portal Integration: Salesforce could not easily be integrated with the B2B portal, making it difficult to track file statuses in real time or display them efficiently.
No Built-In File Approval Workflows: Salesforce didn’t support automated workflows for file approvals, forcing WVDT to continue to travail through manual processes.