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.
Custom objects let you model unique business data that standard objects can't handle. Think about:
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.
1. Structural Differences Between Platforms
These platforms weren't built on the same foundation:
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:
Data Modeling Strategy
Before writing a single line of code or configuring any integration, you need to map out your data model:
Implementation Approaches
HubSpot's native Salesforce integration now supports custom objects, but with some key limitations:
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:
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:
The tradeoff? Higher development costs and ongoing maintenance responsibility.
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:
We tackled it with this approach:
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.
After implementing dozens of these integrations, here's what we've found works best:
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:
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.