You can connect your Higher Logic Vanilla (Vanilla) community to your HubSpot account via our HubSpot integration. When they are connected, you can sync user records/data and user activity between Vanilla and HubSpot.
The integration streamlines tracking interactions and personalizing communications in order to build stronger connections with your community members. This, in turn, helps to boost engagement and ensure member retention.
This article guides you through the steps to set up the integration. Note that some of the steps have to be done in your HubSpot account, and others in your Vanilla account.
Prerequisites
In order to set up this integration, in HubSpot you must:
- have a developer account and
- create an app that defines which user data and activities are synced between Vanilla and HubSpot.
📝 NOTE: If you do not have a HubSpot developer account, go to https://developers.hubspot.com/get-started and click Create App Developer account.
✔️ TIP: How do I create an app in HubSpot? has instructions on how to create a developer account and how to create an app.
Create an app in HubSpot
1. Sign in to your HubSpot developer account.
2. On the Home page, choose Manage Apps.
3. On the Build a public app page, click Create app.
4. On the Build your first app page, click Create app in the upper right.
5. On the App Info tab, specify a name (required) and, optionally, add a logo and/or description.
6. Click the Auth tab and, in the banner at the bottom of the page, click Redirect URL.
7. In the Redirect URLs section, provide a redirect URL.
📝 NOTE: This is: i) where you’ll be redirected to after granting access to your Vanilla community from HubSpot and ii) how HubSpot knows which community to connect to.
This URL must be:
- {your-domain}.com/settings/hubspot/oauth-callback
If you are using subcommunities, create additional redirects and specify the names of the subcommunities:
- {your-domain}.com/{subcommunity_01}/settings/hubspot/oauth-callback
- {your-domain}.com/{subcommunity_02}/settings/hubspot/oauth-callback
8. Click Create app in the bottom left; you're returned to the App Info tab.
9. Click the Auth tab. Scroll down to the Scopes section and click + Add new scope.
10. Check the boxes to set the following CRM permission scopes as Required for your app.
- crm.objects.contacts
- crm.objects.custom
- crm.schemas.custom
11. At the bottom of the page, click Update.
12. Then click Save changes in the lower left; you're returned to the App Info tab.
13. Click the Auth tab, copy the following "App credentials" values, and paste/save them in a text editor.
- App ID
- Client ID
- Client secret
Set HubSpot credentials in Vanilla
This section describes the steps that you have to perform in your Vanilla account.
1. Log in to Vanilla, access the Dashboard, and navigate to the HubSpot Settings page, Settings > Connections > HubSpot (settings/hubspot).
2. Click Edit credentials.
3. Copy the "App credentials" values that you have in a text editor and paste them into the corresponding fields on the Editing HubSpot Credentials dialog.
4. Click Connect.
You're automatically taken to the HubSpot "connect" page.
Connect Vanilla and HubSpot
1. On the HubSpot "connect" page, select your non-developer account and click Choose Account.
2. On the "app is requesting access" page, click Connect App.
You're automatically taken back to the HubSpot Settings page in Vanilla which confirms the connection. (This is the result of the redirect URL you'd specified.)
Map HubSpot fields to Vanilla fields
Now you have to map the HubSpot contact fields that you want to sync to the Vanilla profile fields.
✔️ TIP: Information about HubSpot Contacts is available in the Developer documentation at: https://developers.HubSpot.com/docs/api/crm/contacts.
📝 NOTE: In this example, we'll sync the Company and Title fields.
1. On the HubSpot Settings page, click Edit Contact Mapping.
2. On the "editing" dialog, we specify the Vanilla field-name equivalent values for the Company and Title fields ("company" and "jobtitle," respectively).
⚠️ IMPORTANT: Only those Vanilla community users who have completed these fields in their profiles will be synced to HubSpot.
3. Click Save.
4. Toggle ON the Activity sync setting.
Activity Sync
When you enable Activity Sync, user activities in your Vanilla community are written to the users' individual records in your synced HubSpot account. Recorded activities include:
- Posting discussions and comments
- Submitting and voting on ideas
- Asking and answering questions
- Joining a group
- RSVPing for an event
User activity displays in HubSpot
In your HubSpot account, user activities in your synced Vanilla community display on the Activities > Activity tab of the contact description.
