What are HubSpot Sandboxes?
A sandbox is a separate virtual environment that mimics your main HubSpot account. It is designed to allow users to try out new features or implementations without the risk of damaging or interfering with day-to-day operations. In other words, a sandbox is a HubSpot strategy that allows you to safely test new ideas, changes, and workflows while keeping your production account intact.
Main Functions of a Sandbox
- Integration Testing: You can test integrations with other applications or tools, ensuring they work properly before applying them to your main account.
- Development and Staging: An ideal environment for developers and administrators working on redesigns, new pipelines, or other complex configurations.
- Change Simulation: Users can create sets of changes, such as templates and redesigned pages, and evaluate their impact without affecting your current website or marketing strategy.
- Advanced Testing and QA: Sandboxes enable a QA (Quality Assurance) process for changes before they are implemented.
Benefits of Using a Sandbox
HubSpot sandboxes offer many benefits, especially for companies that want to take an experimental approach to their CRM strategy. Here are some of the key benefits:
- Security: Changes made in the sandbox do not impact the main account, providing a safe environment for bugs and fixes.
- Beta Feature Testing: If you’re working on new HubSpot beta features or testing software updates, the sandbox is the perfect place to be.
- Team Collaboration: HubSpot team members, including marketing, development, and sales, can work together in the sandbox, ensuring a synergistic and risk-free workflow.
- Integration Auditing: Test how new integrations impact your HubSpot processes and data without impacting your live workflow.
What Are Sandboxes For in HubSpot?
Sandboxes are designed to help teams test new features, integrations, and marketing campaigns before they go live. Here are some scenarios where using a sandbox can be especially helpful:
- Develop and Test New Campaigns: If you're planning a new marketing campaign, you can use the sandbox to experiment with different strategies, test emails, verify automated workflows, and optimize landing pages before the official launch.
- Integrations with Other Tools: Are you about to sync HubSpot with another platform or CRM? In the sandbox, you can verify that integrations are working correctly, test translations into Italian or other languages, and ensure that all data is properly aligned.
- Advanced Development: Developers and development teams can use the staging environment to test new features and account customizations, including advanced pipelines and workflows, without risking compromising the HubSpot portal.
HubSpot Sandbox Usage Examples
- One-to-one testing: Before launching a new feature on your website, you can run one-to-one tests in the sandbox to assess any critical issues or room for improvement.
- Custom integration development: Your development team can use the sandbox to verify that new integrations work properly and that data in HubSpot is updated in real time.
How Do HubSpot Sandboxes Work?
Using a sandbox on HubSpot is simple and intuitive, but there are some specific procedures to follow to ensure maximum results.
Steps to Create and Use a Sandbox
- Create a sandbox account: To get started, log in to your HubSpot portal toolkit and click on the main menu. From there, you can create a new sandbox using the option in the drop-down menu.
- Set up your sandbox: After you create your sandbox account, you’ll need to configure the main settings, such as importing the necessary hubspot data and syncing custom objects to your main account.
- Test your apps and workflows: Now you can start testing your apps, workflows, and integrations. You can use the sandbox to test specific features without risk to your live website.
- Review your results and make changes: After you’ve completed your tests, you can review the results and make any changes before rolling everything out to your main account.
Important Notes to Consider
- Data Sync: Not all data and configurations can be synced directly between the sandbox and production accounts. For example, some features like marketing campaigns may require additional configuration.
- Migration Limits: While HubSpot allows some information to be migrated from the sandbox to the production account, there are limitations on the number of changes that can be automatically migrated.
Who Are HubSpot Sandbox Environments For?
HubSpot sandboxes are primarily intended for:
- Developers: Those building new integrations, applications, or complex pipelines will find sandboxes essential for a secure testing environment.
- Marketing teams: Sandboxes allow marketers to test marketing campaigns, emails, landing pages, and automations without disrupting business operations.
- Growing businesses: Whether your business is planning a site redesign or expanding your CRM operations, sandboxes allow you to experiment without disruption.
- Those working with multiple HubSpot portals: Users who manage multiple portals can benefit from sandboxes to experiment and test new configurations without impacting other HubSpot portals.
This feature is only accessible to those with the HubSpot Enterprise plan, for modules such as Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, and Service Hub.
Conclusions
HubSpot sandboxes are incredibly useful tools for companies looking to experiment, develop, and test new strategies and integrations in a safe environment. With these features, companies can optimize their CRM, test new marketing campaigns, and improve existing pipelines without impacting real-time data.
Whether you’re looking for a way to create change sets and test new strategies, or want to better understand how a sandbox can improve your business operations, learn how to create and use a HubSpot sandbox today.
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