Why make this change?
HubSpot’s mission is to help millions of organizations grow better. As part of the mission, we want the agency directory to help power millions of organizations to find and connect with service providers that can help them grow. In order to do that, we need to expand the directory's footprint. This change signals a change in strategy from focusing on connecting HubSpot prospects and customers with HubSpot partners, to focusing on the larger pool of any business looking for help growing their business. We want the HubSpot Agency Directory to act as the place for businesses to find the right service provider that can help with their needs.How will you ensure that non-HubSpot partner agencies are qualified?
This is something we will closely monitor. To start, no provider will be able to list their services in the directory without first completing the Inbound certification. The certification has over 2 hours of educational content, as well as a test that’s needed before you can take a profile live. We believe that completing that certification will allow us to ensure the quality of new providers. After that, we will continue to rely on third-party reviews to help us verify which providers deliver high-quality work.Will the way you rank partners change?
No, we will continue to rank partners by their tier status and then by their reviews (both the quantity and quality of their reviews). We rank Diamond partners first, followed by Platinum, Gold and then Silver. We will include these non-HubSpot partners in the group of non-tiered HubSpot partners (they will rank below Silver partners).Will this change benefit my agency?
We do not anticipate that you will see any immediate effect on your profile, positive or negative, as a result of this change. But, in the long-term, this change is intended to have a positive effect on all agencies, especially HubSpot partners. Since phase 1 of re-launching the directory in February, traffic has increased by 68%, and most importantly we have doubled the number of times a business has contacted a partner for their services (last month nearly 500 visitors contacted a partner through their directory profile). We’re excited to continue investing in the directory until it becomes the destination for business to find and hire service providers. As we expand by adding additional profiles for non-partner agencies, we can become the source of truth on the internet for who to hire for marketing services. This will be great for our top partners, who will always be featured prominently.
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