Custom Objects in HubSpot and Salesforce: Integration Challenges and Solutions

You've got HubSpot and Salesforce talking to each other. Great! Your contacts, companies, deals, and activities are flowing between systems. But here's where things get tricky – what about all that specialized business data that doesn't fit into those standard buckets?

This is where custom objects enter the picture, representing both the most powerful capability in both platforms and the most complex aspect of HubSpot Salesforce integration. I've helped dozens of companies navigate these waters, and I'm breaking down everything you need to know about making custom objects work across your tech stack.

What Are Custom Objects and Why Do They Matter?

Custom objects let you model unique business data that standard objects can't handle. Think about:

• Product catalogs with specific attributes and configurations
• Projects with phases, milestones, and team assignments
• Events with registrations, sessions, and attendees
• Equipment or assets with maintenance histories
• Industry-specific data like policies, claims, or prescriptions

Without proper integration, these custom objects quickly become data silos – and that's exactly what your RevOps strategy is designed to eliminate. When your sales team can see equipment service history in Salesforce that your marketing team can't access in HubSpot, you've got a disconnect that leads to poor customer experience.

The Top 3 Challenges of Custom Object Integration

1. Structural Differences Between Platforms

These platforms weren't built on the same foundation:

• Salesforce has mature custom object capabilities with complex relationship types (master-detail, lookup), formulas, roll-up summaries, and validation rules that can make your head spin.
• HubSpot's custom object implementation is newer, with more straightforward relationship models and fewer advanced features, but a cleaner user experience.

These architectural differences mean you can't always create perfect one-to-one mappings. What works elegantly in one system might require workarounds in the other.

2. Relationship Mapping Complexities

Standard objects have well-established relationships – contacts belong to companies, deals are associated with contacts. But custom objects introduce new relationship patterns that must be carefully mapped.

Take a "Project" object in Salesforce with master-detail relationships to multiple contacts – how does that hierarchical relationship transfer to HubSpot's more association-based model? These questions require thoughtful design decisions.

3. Bi-directional Sync Considerations

When custom objects need to be created or updated in both systems, you've got to manage:

• Which system "owns" which fields as the source of truth
• How to handle conflicting updates when both sides change the same record
• Sync timing, frequency, and API limitations
• Error handling when one system rejects data that's valid in the other

Real-World Solutions: How to Make It Work

Data Modeling Strategy

Before writing a single line of code or configuring any integration, you need to map out your data model:

1. Identify essential custom objects that truly need to sync between systems – not everything has to go both ways
2. Simplify wherever possible – just because you track 75 fields in Salesforce doesn't mean marketing needs all of them
3. Document your field-level mappings with data types, validation rules, and transformation logic
4. Establish clear ownership – decide which system is authoritative for each object and field
   

Implementation Approaches

1. Native Integration with Custom Object Syncing

HubSpot's native Salesforce integration now supports custom objects, but with some key limitations:

• One-way synchronization (Salesforce to HubSpot only)
• Basic relationship mapping capabilities
• Higher API consumption that can impact performance or hit limits

For simpler scenarios, this can be enough to get the job done without additional tools.

2. Middleware Integration Solutions

When you need more flexibility, middleware tools like Workato, Tray.io, or Zapier offer significant advantages:

• Customizable field mapping and transformation logic
• Better handling of complex relationships
• More robust error management
• Bidirectional sync capabilities

We've found this approach offers the best balance of flexibility and maintenance overhead for most clients.

3. Custom API Integration

For organizations with highly specialized requirements, custom-built integration using the HubSpot and Salesforce APIs gives you maximum control:

• Tailor the integration precisely to your business processes
• Implement sophisticated data transformation rules
• Optimize API usage to avoid rate limits
• Build exactly the error handling and logging you need

The tradeoff? Higher development costs and ongoing maintenance responsibility.

Case Study: Product Catalog Integration

One of our manufacturing clients came to us with a challenge: they needed their extensive product catalog (a custom object in Salesforce) available in HubSpot for marketing campaigns. Their situation included:

• Complex product hierarchies with parent-child relationships three levels deep
• Technical specifications with over 50 attributes per product
• Region-specific pricing tiers that varied by customer segment

We tackled it with this approach:

1. Created a streamlined product custom object in HubSpot that included only the marketing-relevant attributes
2. Built a middleware integration that synced products daily and on-demand when critical changes occurred
3. Designed custom transformations to flatten the complex hierarchy for marketing purposes
4. Implemented association rules to connect products with contacts based on past interest and purchase history

The result? Marketing finally had access to accurate product data in HubSpot without needing to maintain duplicate information. They launched targeted campaigns based on product ownership and interest, while sales continued working with the full product complexity in Salesforce.

Best Practices for Custom Object Integration

After implementing dozens of these integrations, here's what we've found works best:

• Start small – begin with one critical custom object rather than trying to sync everything at once
• Create a detailed data dictionary that clearly defines each field, its purpose, and transformation rules
• Test exhaustively in a sandbox environment before touching production
• Monitor your API usage closely – custom object syncing can consume API calls rapidly
• Document sync schedules and error handling for your operations team
• Review and refine quarterly – both business needs and platform capabilities evolve constantly

Next Steps for Your Integration Strategy

If you're grappling with custom object integration between HubSpot and Salesforce, you're tackling one of the most technically challenging aspects of building a unified RevOps architecture – but the payoff in aligned marketing and sales operations is worth it.

Ask yourself:

1. Which custom objects truly need to sync between systems to drive revenue outcomes?
2. What specific customer experiences are suffering from your current data silos?
3. Do you have the internal technical expertise to implement and maintain a custom object integration?

The right approach depends on your specific business processes, technical resources, and budget constraints. Focus on building an integration strategy that supports your revenue operations goals rather than pursuing technical complexity for its own sake.