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CRM Integration Guide for Sales & Marketing Teams

Your forum is more than just a community—it’s a goldmine of customer insights, engagement data, and sales opportunities. By integrating your Foru.ms forum with your CRM, you can turn community participation into actionable business intelligence.

Why Integrate Your Forum with Your CRM?

Complete Customer View

See the full picture of customer engagement:

Identify Sales Opportunities

Spot potential customers before they reach out:

Improve Customer Success

Proactively support your customers:

Data-Driven Marketing

Build better campaigns with community insights:

Supported CRMs

Salesforce Integration

Connect your forum to the world’s leading CRM platform.

What Gets Synced:

Setup Time: ~15 minutes

HubSpot Integration

Perfect for inbound marketing and sales teams.

What Gets Synced:

Setup Time: ~10 minutes

Setting Up Salesforce Integration

Prerequisites

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Connect via OAuth

# Navigate to Integrations in your Foru.ms dashboard Dashboard Integrations Salesforce Connect # You'll be redirected to Salesforce to authorize # Grant the following permissions: # - Read/Write Contacts # - Read/Write Leads # - Read/Write Custom Objects # - Read/Write Cases (if syncing support threads)

2. Configure Field Mapping

Map forum fields to Salesforce fields:

Forum FieldSalesforce FieldNotes
usernameContact.Username__cCustom field
emailContact.EmailStandard field
displayNameContact.NameStandard field
threadCountContact.Forum_Threads__cCustom field
postCountContact.Forum_Posts__cCustom field
lastActiveContact.Last_Forum_Activity__cCustom field

Pro Tip: Create custom fields in Salesforce before mapping to ensure data flows correctly.

3. Set Sync Rules

Choose what data to sync:

{ "syncDirection": "bidirectional", // or "forum-to-crm" "syncFrequency": "realtime", // or "hourly", "daily" "createNewContacts": true, "updateExistingContacts": true, "syncEvents": [ "user.registered", "thread.created", "post.created" ], "filters": { "minPosts": 5, // Only sync active users "excludeTags": ["spam", "test"] } }

4. Test the Integration

  1. Create a test user in your forum
  2. Post a thread
  3. Check Salesforce to verify:
    • Contact was created
    • Activity was logged
    • Custom fields were populated

5. Enable Automation (Optional)

Set up Salesforce Process Builder or Flow to:

Salesforce Use Cases

Lead Scoring

Automatically score leads based on forum engagement:

// Salesforce Formula Field: Forum_Engagement_Score__c IF(Forum_Threads__c > 10, 20, 0) + IF(Forum_Posts__c > 50, 30, 0) + IF(DAYS(TODAY(), Last_Forum_Activity__c) < 7, 25, 0) + IF(Forum_Best_Answers__c > 0, 25, 0)

Support Case Creation

Automatically create Salesforce Cases from forum threads tagged “support”:

{ "trigger": "thread.created", "filters": { "tags": ["support", "bug"] }, "action": { "type": "createCase", "mapping": { "Subject": "thread.title", "Description": "thread.body", "ContactId": "user.salesforceId", "Priority": "High", "Origin": "Forum" } } }

Account Insights

Roll up forum activity to the Account level:

// Apex Trigger: Update Account forum stats trigger UpdateAccountForumStats on Contact (after update) { Set<Id> accountIds = new Set<Id>(); for (Contact c : Trigger.new) { if (c.AccountId != null) { accountIds.add(c.AccountId); } } // Aggregate forum activity by Account List<AggregateResult> results = [ SELECT AccountId, SUM(Forum_Posts__c) totalPosts, MAX(Last_Forum_Activity__c) lastActivity FROM Contact WHERE AccountId IN :accountIds GROUP BY AccountId ]; // Update Account records List<Account> accountsToUpdate = new List<Account>(); for (AggregateResult ar : results) { accountsToUpdate.add(new Account( Id = (Id)ar.get('AccountId'), Total_Forum_Posts__c = (Decimal)ar.get('totalPosts'), Last_Forum_Activity__c = (Date)ar.get('lastActivity') )); } update accountsToUpdate; }

Setting Up HubSpot Integration

Prerequisites

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Connect via OAuth

# Navigate to Integrations in your Foru.ms dashboard Dashboard Integrations HubSpot Connect # Authorize the following scopes: # - contacts (read/write) # - timeline (write) # - forms (read)

2. Configure Contact Properties

Create custom properties in HubSpot:

Property NameTypeDescription
forum_usernameSingle-line textForum username
forum_threadsNumberTotal threads created
forum_postsNumberTotal posts/replies
forum_reputationNumberReputation score
forum_last_activeDateLast forum activity
forum_interestsMultiple checkboxesTags user follows

3. Set Up Timeline Events

Configure which forum events appear on contact timelines:

4. Create Lists

Segment contacts based on forum activity:

Active Community Members:

forum_posts > 10 AND forum_last_active is less than 30 days ago

Support Seekers:

forum_threads > 5 AND forum_interests contains "support"

Product Experts:

forum_reputation > 100 OR forum_best_answers > 5

HubSpot Use Cases

Lead Nurturing Workflows

Create workflows that respond to forum activity:

Trigger: Contact property "forum_threads" increases Actions: 1. Add to list "Active Community Members" 2. Send email "Thanks for contributing!" 3. Notify sales rep if contact is a lead 4. Increase lead score by 10 points

Customer Health Scoring

Track customer engagement health:

// HubSpot Calculated Property: Customer Health Score IF( forum_last_active < 7 days ago AND forum_posts > 20, "Healthy", IF( forum_last_active > 90 days ago, "At Risk", "Moderate" ) )

Content Personalization

Personalize email content based on forum interests:

{% if contact.forum_interests contains "API" %} <p>We noticed you're interested in our API. Check out our new developer docs!</p> {% elif contact.forum_interests contains "integrations" %} <p>Exciting news! We just launched new integrations with Slack and Salesforce.</p> {% endif %}

Advanced Integration Patterns

Bidirectional Sync

Keep data in sync both ways:

Forum → CRM:

CRM → Forum:

Multi-Touch Attribution

Track the forum’s role in the customer journey:

// Track forum touchpoints { "contact": "john@example.com", "touchpoints": [ { "date": "2024-01-15", "type": "forum_visit", "source": "organic_search" }, { "date": "2024-01-20", "type": "forum_thread_created", "topic": "pricing_question" }, { "date": "2024-01-25", "type": "demo_requested" }, { "date": "2024-02-01", "type": "deal_closed", "value": 50000 } ] }

Predictive Analytics

Use forum data to predict outcomes:

Best Practices

1. Start Small

Don’t sync everything at once:

  1. Start with user registration only
  2. Add thread creation after a week
  3. Gradually add more events
  4. Monitor data quality throughout

2. Clean Your Data

Ensure data quality before syncing:

3. Respect Privacy

Be transparent about data usage:

4. Monitor Performance

Track integration health:

5. Train Your Team

Ensure your team knows how to use the data:

ROI Metrics

Track the business impact of your CRM integration:

Sales Metrics

Marketing Metrics

Customer Success Metrics

Pricing

CRM integrations are available on:

View pricing details

Troubleshooting

Contacts Not Syncing

  1. Check OAuth connection is active
  2. Verify field mappings are correct
  3. Review sync filters (might be too restrictive)
  4. Check API rate limits

Duplicate Contacts

  1. Enable deduplication rules in your CRM
  2. Use email as the unique identifier
  3. Merge duplicates manually
  4. Update sync settings to prevent future duplicates

Missing Data

  1. Verify all required fields are mapped
  2. Check for API errors in logs
  3. Ensure custom fields exist in CRM
  4. Test with a single contact first

Next Steps

Ready to integrate your forum with your CRM?

  1. Set up your integration
  2. Read the API Reference for custom sync rules
  3. Explore Webhooks for real-time sync
  4. Check out Slack Integration for team notifications

Questions? Contact our sales team for a personalized demo.


Success Story: “After integrating our forum with Salesforce, we increased lead conversion by 35%. We can now identify engaged prospects early and personalize our outreach based on their forum interests.” - Sarah J., VP of Sales