The complete guide to calculating your HubSpot migration ROI

Your Dynamics 365 renewal is coming up. The licence fees keep climbing. Your team keeps complaining. And now someone's suggesting migrating to HubSpot. The features sound great, the team seems excited, but you need more than enthusiasm to justify a migration investment.

You need hard numbers. Real ROI. Concrete evidence that spending money on migration will deliver measurable returns.

This guide breaks down exactly how to calculate the true ROI of your HubSpot migration - not just the obvious licence savings, but the hidden costs and unexpected returns that make the difference between a good business decision and a great one.

The real cost of staying put

Before calculating migration ROI, let's establish your baseline: what's your current CRM actually costing you? Spoiler alert: it's more than your licence fees.

Direct costs you're tracking

These are the obvious ones, the line items in your budget:

• Dynamics 365 licence fees - For a 50-person sales and marketing team, you're likely spending £50,000-£75,000 annually
• Integration maintenance - Keeping Dynamics talking to your other systems: at least £10,000-£15,000 per year
• Support and consulting - Every configuration change needs a specialist: £20,000-£30,000 annually
• Training for new hires - Complex system means longer onboarding: £5,000-£8,000 per year

Total visible costs: £85,000-£128,000 annually

Hidden costs you're missing

But the real drain on your business happens below the surface:

Lost productivity from poor user experience. If your sales reps spend an extra 30 minutes daily fighting with Dynamics instead of selling, that's 125 hours per rep annually. For a 20-person sales team at £50/hour, that's £125,000 in lost productivity.

Missed opportunities from bad data. When marketing and sales aren't aligned because data doesn't sync properly, leads fall through cracks. If poor CRM adoption causes you to miss just 2% of opportunities, on a £10m pipeline, that's £200,000 in lost revenue.

Extended sales cycles from inefficiency. Without proper automation and workflows, deals move slowly. If your average deal takes 90 days instead of 75 because of CRM friction, that's a 20% increase in sales cycle - meaning 20% less revenue velocity.

IT overhead for maintenance. Your IT team spends 20% of their time on Dynamics issues. For a 5-person team, that's one full-time equivalent: £50,000-£60,000 annually.

Total hidden costs: £375,000-£435,000 annually

Suddenly, that "expensive" Dynamics licence is actually costing you £460,000-£563,000 per year when you factor in the complete picture.

Understanding migration investment

Now let's look at what migration actually costs - both the one-time investment and ongoing expenses.

SpotDev's transparent pricing model

Unlike consultancies that quote mysterious daily rates and then expand scope endlessly, we provide clear, fixed pricing based on your specific needs. Of course, the exact price will depend on your precise scope, but the following details should give you broadly indicative costs. 

Basic migration

• Simple data structures
• Standard objects only
• Suitable for straightforward transitions
• Investment: £5,000-£8,000

Standard migration

• Complex data relationships
• Multiple test migrations
• Data quality improvements
• Custom field mappings
• Investment: £10,000-£18,000

Enterprise migration

• Complex logic preservation
• Engagement data migration
• Custom object handling
• Advanced automation setup
• Investment: £15,000-£30,000

Factors affecting your investment

Your specific investment depends on:

• Current data volume - More records mean more processing
• Complexity of customisations - Custom objects and workflows need careful handling
• Data quality requirements - Cleanup and standardisation add value but require time
• Number of test migrations - More testing means more confidence but higher investment
• Training requirements - User adoption support ensures ROI realisation

The false economy of DIY migration

"Why not just do it ourselves?" It's a fair question. Here's why DIY migrations typically cost more:

Internal resource cost. A proper migration requires 200-400 hours of work. Using internal resources at £50-£75/hour means £10,000-£30,000 in opportunity cost - time they're not spending on revenue-generating activities.

Risk of failure. Industry data shows at least 60% of DIY migrations fail or require significant rework. If you have to hire consultants to fix a botched migration, costs typically triple.

Extended timeline. DIY migrations take 3-6 months longer than professional ones. That's another 3-6 months of hidden costs from your current system.

No expertise leverage. You're solving problems we've already solved hundreds of times. Why pay to reinvent the wheel?

Calculating your return

Now for the exciting part - quantifying your returns. Based on real client data, here's what you can expect:

Year 1 returns: immediate impact

Licence cost reduction

• HubSpot Professional: £40,000 (vs £75,000 for Dynamics)
• Annual savings: £35,000

Productivity improvements

• 30 minutes saved daily per user x 50 users
• 6,250 hours annually at £50/hour
• Productivity gain: £312,500

Faster sales velocity

• 15% reduction in sales cycle with HubSpot automation
• On £10M annual pipeline, that's equivalent to £1.5m in accelerated revenue

Reduced IT overhead

• 80% reduction in CRM-related IT tickets
• Saves 0.8 FTE: £40,000

Improved conversion rates

• Better marketing-sales alignment improves conversion by 5%
• On £10m pipeline: £500,000 in additional revenue

Total Year 1 returns: £2,387,500

Years 2-3: compound benefits

The returns accelerate in subsequent years:

Enhanced data quality drives better decisions

• Clean data improves forecasting accuracy by 25%
• Better resource allocation increases efficiency by 10%
• Estimated impact: £250,000 annually

Improved customer retention

• Better customer data and automation improve retention by 5%
• On £8m recurring revenue base: £400,000 annually

Reduced training costs

• HubSpot's intuitive interface cuts training time by 70%
• Saves £5,000-£7,000 annually in onboarding costs

Eliminated integration maintenance

• HubSpot's native integrations eliminate custom development
• Saves £10,000-£15,000 annually

Your migration ROI calculator

Here's a simple framework to calculate your specific ROI:

Step 1: Calculate current total cost

• Direct costs (licences, support, training)
  • Hidden costs (productivity, missed opportunities, IT overhead)
• = Total current annual cost

Step 2: Estimate HubSpot costs

• HubSpot licences (typically 40-50% less than Dynamics)
  • Migration investment (one-time)
  • Year 1 training and optimisation
• = Total Year 1 HubSpot cost

Step 3: Quantify improvements

• Productivity gains (hours saved x hourly rate)
  • Revenue velocity improvements (faster sales cycles)
  • Conversion rate improvements (better alignment)
  • IT overhead reduction
• = Total annual improvements

Step 4: Calculate ROI

• (Total improvements - Total HubSpot costs) / Migration investment
• = ROI percentage

For most organisations, the ROI ranges from 500% to 1,500% in Year 1, with returns accelerating in subsequent years.

Making the business case

When presenting the migration business case to stakeholders, focus on:

Risk mitigation

• Professional migration reduces failure risk from 60% to near zero
• Multiple test migrations ensure no surprises
• Fixed pricing eliminates budget overruns
• Proven methodology based on hundreds of successful migrations

Quick payback period

• Most clients see positive ROI within 3-6 months
• Licence savings alone often cover migration costs within the first year
• Productivity gains provide immediate impact

Strategic advantages

• Better customer insights drive competitive advantage
• Improved agility for market changes
• Foundation for future growth without system constraints
• Reduced technical debt

Measurable success metrics

• User adoption rates (target: >90%)
• Sales cycle reduction (target: 15-20%)
• Productivity improvement (target: 30 minutes/day/user)
• Data quality scores (target: >95% accuracy)

The cost of waiting

Every month you delay migration costs money:

• Continued hidden costs: £31,000-£36,000 monthly
• Delayed productivity gains: £26,000 monthly
• Competitive disadvantage as rivals modernise
• Accumulated technical debt making future migration harder

Waiting six months to decide costs approximately £350,000 in foregone benefits.

Investment protection strategies

Concerned about protecting your migration investment? Here's how we ensure success:

Phased approach reduces risk

• Test migrations validate approach before production
• Issues identified and resolved early
• Ability to adjust course if needed

Fixed pricing protects budget

• No hourly billing surprises
• Scope clearly defined upfront
• Change management process for any additions

Success guarantees provide confidence

• Data integrity validation at every stage
• User acceptance testing before go-live
• Post-migration support included

Knowledge transfer ensures independence

• Your team trained on the new system
• Documentation provided for all processes
• No vendor lock-in

Making the decision

The numbers are clear: migrating from Dynamics 365 to HubSpot delivers exceptional ROI. But beyond the financials, consider:

• Your team's frustration with the current system
• The opportunity cost of maintaining status quo
• The competitive advantage of modern, integrated systems
• The strategic value of better customer insights

Migration isn't just a cost-saving exercise - it's a revenue acceleration opportunity.

Ready to calculate your specific ROI?

Every business is unique, and your ROI will depend on your specific situation. We'll help you build a detailed business case with:

• Analysis of your current costs (visible and hidden)
• Projected savings and improvements
• Risk assessment and mitigation strategies
• Detailed migration timeline and investment
• Success metrics and measurement plan

Book a migration ROI assessment with our team. We'll review your current setup, identify improvement opportunities, and provide a detailed ROI projection for your HubSpot migration.

Stop losing money to an inefficient CRM. Start capturing the returns your business deserves.