How to Use HubSpot to Capture and Qualify Website Leads

The short answer: install the HubSpot tracking code behind your cookie consent, build a HubSpot form with a hidden field that records the source, set a default lifecycle stage for new contacts, import the list you already have, qualify people with the Lead Status property, open a deal in the default pipeline when a lead is real, and let Claude log calls and move deal stages through the HubSpot connector while a person reviews each change.

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The job: a visitor fills in your contact form, and within a day the contact sits in the CRM with a source, a stage and a next step. HubSpot's free tools are enough for it. For hubs, editions and their prices, see the HubSpot glossary entry.

Before you start:

• Stay inside the free limits on purpose. The free tools cover up to 2 users, per the Sales Hub pricing page. For example, adding a third person to Starter at its current offer is 3 x $7 = $21 a month billed annually or 3 x $10 = $30 monthly, checked on 24 October 2026, so decide who needs a login before you invite anyone.
• Use the list and form you have. Your current form's questions become HubSpot form fields, and your current contact export becomes the first import.
• Choose two dates to read. HubSpot stamps Date entered for every lifecycle stage, per the lifecycle stages article, so the time from Lead to Sales Qualified Lead is measurable from day one.

What you need

• A HubSpot account. Forms, lifecycle stages, imports and the default deal pipeline are available on the free tools.
• Access to your site's code or the person who edits it.
• A cookie consent tool that can hold the tracking code until the visitor agrees.
• Edit forms permissions in HubSpot, per the forms article.

Step 1: Install the tracking code, behind consent

In settings, open Tracking Code (on free and Marketing Starter accounts), copy the code and paste it before the closing body tag on every page, per the tracking code article. On WordPress, the HubSpot plugin installs it for you; install it once only, because a second copy causes errors such as duplicate data.

The law decides the order here. Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive requires consent before a tool stores or reads information on a visitor's device, outside narrow exemptions, so the tracking code belongs behind your consent banner. HubSpot's tracking code article adds that it uses some tracking data to improve its products, including the Breeze Intelligence dataset, and that you can switch off that data sharing in your account settings.

Step 2: Build the form

Go to Marketing, Forms, Create form, choose the Form Editor and start from a template or a blank form, per the forms article. Drag in fields and connect each to a property; email is required by default. Add a hidden field connected to a source property, with a default value such as website-contact, so every submission arrives labelled. Under On submit, show a thank-you message or redirect to a meeting link. Multi-step forms need Starter or above.

Step 3: Set the lifecycle defaults

In settings, set a default lifecycle stage for newly created records, such as Lead, per the lifecycle stages article. HubSpot's default stages run from Subscriber through Lead, Marketing Qualified Lead, Sales Qualified Lead, Opportunity and Customer to Evangelist, and its own tools only move a contact forward through them.

Step 4: Import the contacts you already have

Go to Data Management, Data Integration, Import data, per the import article. Include a lifecycle stage column if your spreadsheet knows it. Marking imported contacts as marketing contacts needs Marketing Hub Starter or above, so on the free tools they arrive as ordinary contacts.

Step 5: Qualify with Lead Status

Lead Status holds the steps inside Sales Qualified Lead: New, Open, In Progress, Open Deal, Unqualified, Attempted to Contact, Connected and Bad Timing. Update it on the record, or in bulk from the contacts index, as the lifecycle stages article lists. Setting a property from a workflow needs Professional or Enterprise.

Step 6: Open a deal when the lead is real

Create a deal in the default deal pipeline and associate the contact. The pipelines article gives free accounts no custom pipelines, so keep one process; Starter allows 15. A contact associated with a deal counts as Opportunity in HubSpot's default stage definitions.

Step 7: Let Claude log the call

The HubSpot connector for Claude is free on every tier. After a call, tell Claude what happened in plain language and ask it to log the call, update the deal stage and create the follow-up task; HubSpot's page describes those actions being written back in real time. The human check: ask Claude to list the changes it intends before it writes them, then open the deal's property history to confirm. Underneath, the remote MCP server respects your user permissions and pipeline stage rules.

What HubSpot's articles warn about

• Two tracking codes on one page. Only the first to load fires.
• Pages HubSpot cannot see. AMP sites are not supported, and ad blockers can interfere.
• Moving a stage backwards. HubSpot tools only move lifecycle stages forward, so an earlier value has to be set by clearing the field first.
• Unsupported field types. Forms cannot use rich text, URL or calculation properties, among others.
• Sensitive Data. With it switched on, the MCP server cannot read activities or conversations.

The free CRM is built to be easy to start and easy to outgrow. The first workflow that sets a property is marked Professional or Enterprise in the knowledge base, so write down which automation you need before you look at upgrades.

FAQ

Do I need Marketing Hub to use HubSpot forms?

No. The forms article lists forms on all products and plans; multi-step forms and the progress bar need Starter, and conditional logic needs Professional.

Why did a contact skip a lifecycle stage?

Forms, imports and the API can set any later stage directly, and HubSpot's own tools never move one backwards, per the lifecycle stages article. The property history shows which tool made each change.

Can other AI assistants connect besides Claude?

Yes. The MCP documentation describes connecting any MCP client to the remote server through an MCP connector you create in your HubSpot account, with OAuth.