Introduction
This engagement supported a B2B video marketing and creative production agency looking to modernise its customer relationship management and marketing automation approach. The business wanted to move away from a HubSpot subscription that was expensive relative to usage, while maintaining the integrity of years of contact and activity history.
The objective was a cost-effective, customisable setup that reduced manual lead handling and enabled scalable email marketing follow-up.
Challenges: CRM cost and inefficient lead handling
The client had two clear problems: ongoing CRM costs that were not aligned to value received, and a lack of streamlined processes for capturing and managing inbound leads. Web form submissions required manual intervention, which increased the risk of delays, duplication, and inconsistent follow-up.
Solution overview: Capsule CRM deployment
SME Software Help migrated the agency from HubSpot to Capsule CRM, with a view to using Capsule’s Transpond platform for email marketing and lead capture automation. The migration preserved historic relationship data, ensuring continuity across customer and prospect records and retaining valuable insights from previous interactions.
What SME Software Help delivered
A structured CRM and marketing foundation designed to reduce cost, preserve data, and remove manual administration from lead capture and follow-up.
- Migration of historic HubSpot contacts and activity data into Capsule CRM, preserving relationship context.
- CRM customisation using tags and custom fields to segment by service interest, campaign, and engagement.
- Automated lead capture from website forms, creating contacts and applying an entry tag on submission.
- Transpond email campaigns and automations for nurture sequences and consistent follow-up at scale.
Implementation details
Data migration
Historic customer and prospect data was imported from HubSpot into Capsule with minimal disruption. Records were mapped so that relationships, notes, and relevant custom fields were retained, preserving institutional knowledge and reducing the risk of information loss during transition.
CRM customisation
Capsule’s tagging and custom fields were configured to mirror the agency’s lead categorisation and pipeline stages. Tags were used for high-level classification such as Client and Prospect, and for service interests such as Product Video and Social Video. This enabled more accurate segmentation and more relevant campaign targeting.
Web form integration and automation
A web form was embedded on the agency’s website so that new enquiries automatically created a contact record in Capsule and applied a Web Form Lead tag. This removed manual data entry and reduced the likelihood of duplicate records.
In other engagements, a similar approach can also create a sales opportunity when a form submission is received. Where multiple pipelines are available, a dedicated marketing-qualified leads (MQL) pipeline can support clearer reporting on lead volume and potential revenue.
Transpond email marketing
Transpond was connected to Capsule to automate marketing workflows. New leads were enrolled into nurture sequences, and existing contacts received targeted campaigns based on segmentation rules and tags. For example, contacts tagged Social Video were included in campaigns showcasing the agency’s social media production capabilities.
Results
Results and impact
- CRM subscription cost reduced by around 60% while retaining historic data and core functionality.
- Lead capture automated, reducing manual data entry and avoiding duplicated effort.
- Custom fields and tagging improved segmentation accuracy and campaign relevance.
- Transpond automations enabled consistent, scalable follow-up without increasing workload.
Key takeaways for similar businesses
Organisations facing high CRM costs and manual lead management typically benefit from a structured approach that prioritises data integrity and automation readiness.
- Migrate to a platform with strong data import capabilities to preserve relationship history and activity context.
- Use structured tags and custom fields to segment and qualify contacts consistently, then maintain that discipline.
- Automate contact creation from web forms to remove manual administration and speed up response times.
- Integrate marketing automation to nurture leads consistently, using segmentation to keep messaging relevant.
How similar results might be achieved on other platforms
The outcomes in this case study are not limited to a single toolset. With the right data model and processes, similar results can be delivered using other CRM and marketing automation platforms.
Zoho Bigin
A lightweight CRM suited to small businesses that need structured pipeline management, contact automation, and integrations without additional complexity. (Zoho Bigin)
Mailchimp
Primarily an email marketing platform with basic CRM-style audience management. Best for businesses focused on campaigns and segmentation rather than end-to-end sales pipeline management. (Mailchimp)
ActiveCampaign
Combines CRM functionality with advanced automation, supporting conditional workflows and behaviour-based targeting. Suitable for teams that want deeper automation without enterprise pricing. (ActiveCampaign)
Note: platform features vary by plan. The most reliable route is to define your segmentation and follow-up process first, then choose the toolset that supports it cleanly.
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