HubSpot Setup Checklist for the First Month
By CodexierPublished 4 min read
HubSpot lets you create a free account and start adding contacts within minutes, which is exactly why many accounts become messy: duplicate properties, pipelines nobody follows, forms without consent and emails landing in spam. The first month decides whether the CRM becomes the team's single source of truth or another abandoned tool. This checklist covers what to set up, in roughly the order to do it, for a Swedish small or mid-sized company.
Account, users and permissions
- Set company name, time zone, currency in SEK and date format under account defaults.
- Make the company, not an individual, the owner of the account: use a shared admin address and at least two super admins.
- Create users with permission sets based on roles, such as sales, marketing and view-only, rather than giving everyone admin.
- Turn on two-factor authentication for all users.
- Set up teams if you have more than one sales unit, so records and reports can be filtered.
Properties and pipelines
Properties are the fields on contacts, companies and deals. HubSpot comes with many; resist the urge to create your own until you know you need them. Check the default properties first, and document every custom property with a description of what it is for and who fills it in.
| Object | Set up in month one | Wait with |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | Lifecycle stage, lead source, owner | Detailed scoring models |
| Companies | Organisation number, industry, size | Complex parent-child hierarchies |
| Deals | One pipeline, amount in SEK, close date, stage | Multiple pipelines until you know you need them |
Define each deal stage by what must be true to enter it, such as quote sent, not by how the salesperson feels about the deal.
Forms, tracking code and consent
Install the HubSpot tracking code on your website and connect it to your cookie consent solution, so tracking starts only after the visitor accepts. Under Swedish rules, non-necessary cookies require consent. Then build forms or connect your existing website forms so leads land in HubSpot with the right source.
- Keep forms short and map every field to an existing property.
- Add a separate, unticked checkbox for marketing consent, and store it in HubSpot's subscription types.
- Link to your privacy policy from every form.
- Test each form end to end: submit, check the contact record, the owner assignment and the notification.
If your forms live on a website not built in HubSpot, our guide to getting website leads into your CRM covers the options.
Email domain authentication
Before you send a single marketing email or sequence, connect your email sending domain in HubSpot. That means adding the DKIM records HubSpot provides to your DNS and making sure your SPF and DMARC records allow HubSpot to send on your behalf. Without this, emails are more likely to land in spam, and since 2024 the large inbox providers have tightened their requirements for bulk senders. Our guide to SPF, DKIM and DMARC explains each record.
Integrations and reports
- Connect each user's inbox and calendar, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, so emails and meetings are logged automatically.
- Set up the meetings tool if customers book calls with you.
- Connect accounting, such as Fortnox or Visma, if you want invoice status visible in HubSpot. Decide which system owns customer data.
- Build three reports: new leads by source, deals by stage, and closed revenue by month.
- Schedule a short weekly review of the pipeline in the team meeting, using those reports.
Adoption matters more than configuration. Read getting the team to use the CRM before rollout. Our CRM implementation covers the full month-one setup, data import and training; prices are on the pricing page. When not to buy from us: if you are a team of one or two with simple needs, HubSpot's free tier and this checklist are enough to do it yourself. For a second opinion, book a free call.
Frequently asked questions
Can we set up HubSpot ourselves?
Yes, for a small team with simple needs. This checklist covers the essentials. Outside help pays off when you import messy data, need integrations or want pipelines and automation designed around your sales process.
Should we import all our old contacts?
Not blindly. Clean the list first, remove duplicates and contacts with no legal basis for processing, and import in batches with the source recorded. A clean start is worth more than a big number.
Is HubSpot GDPR compliant?
HubSpot offers the tools, including a data processing agreement, EU data hosting options and consent features, but compliance depends on how you use them: lawful basis, consent records and deletion routines are your responsibility.
When do we need a paid HubSpot plan?
When you need features such as automated sequences, custom reporting, more pipelines or removal of HubSpot branding. Our guide to the free CRM's limits explains where the line usually falls.
Starting with HubSpot and want it right from day one?
Tell us your team size, where your leads come from and which systems you use. In fifteen minutes we can outline the month-one setup and whether you need help or can do it yourselves.
Book a free 15-minute call