Delivering an integrated HubSpot solution to streamline communications

Partou, a leading childcare provider, wanted to transform the way they managed enquiries, nurtured prospects, and supported families throughout their entire lifecycle with the business. Their ambition was to replace fragmented, manual processes with a fully integrated CRM and marketing automation solution that could track, engage, and convert prospects more effectively — while also improving in-life engagement and retention.

Fireworx was appointed to design and deliver a CRM solution that would underpin a new, optimised customer journey, integrating with Partou’s Connect system, streamlining communication, and enabling modern booking processes for open days and nursery tours.

Partou’s existing prospect and customer journey was heavily reliant on manual intervention by the Family Care Team (FCT). This led to inconsistent communication, limited tracking, and missed opportunities to convert and retain customers. Enquiry follow-ups, visit bookings, and post-visit nurturing were all executed manually, with little automation or personalisation.

There was no single view of the customer, making it hard to measure effectiveness or identify drop-off points. Telephony, email, and in-person touchpoints weren’t tracked in one place, meaning there was little visibility into how prospects were progressing through the journey or why some were dropping out.

From a marketing perspective, there was no way to easily segment audiences, trigger communications based on behaviours, or re-engage “unconverted” leads. KPIs across the journey were not clearly defined or measured, making it difficult to monitor performance and act on insights.

In addition, open day bookings and nursery tours were handled via phone or manual scheduling — processes that were not only resource-intensive but also prone to errors and no-shows due to the lack of automated confirmations and reminders.
To succeed, Partou needed a system that could digitise and automate key customer journey touchpoints, integrate with existing platforms, and give them a real-time view of performance across acquisition, onboarding, and retention.

Fireworx delivered a complete HubSpot implementation, designed around the future-state “To Be” customer journey that we developed with Partou.

We began by running a full discovery phase, mapping the existing “As Is” journey and identifying pain points, including lack of automation, inconsistent communications, and premature lead closure. We then designed a future-state journey across the four key lifecycle stages — Prospect, Onboarding, In-Life, and Retention — with clear objectives and KPIs for each.

CRM & Data Foundation
We selected HubSpot as the CRM platform and configured it to consolidate customer data from multiple sources into a single, unified view. We designed a CRM data schema and dictionary to support consistent tracking, reporting, and scalability. Integration with the Connect system ensured operational and marketing data could work together to support the full journey.

Journey Automation
We automated key touchpoints across the prospect journey, from enquiry confirmation through to post-visit follow-up, using email and SMS. Automated visit reminders reduced no-shows, while rebooking and post-visit surveys improved conversion rates. “Unconverted” leads were placed into nurturing workflows rather than being closed prematurely.

Open Day & Tour Booking
We introduced online booking functionality for open days and nursery tours, fully integrated into HubSpot. This allowed parents to book slots directly on the website, triggering automated confirmations, reminders, and follow-up communications.

In-Life Engagement & Retention
We built automated communications for new customers to reaffirm their decision, deliver relevant content, and promote sibling discounts and “Recommend a Friend” offers. Quarterly satisfaction surveys, coupled with automated triggers for dissatisfaction follow-up, were implemented to support retention and advocacy.

Marketing Tools & Content
Fireworx developed creative email and SMS templates with personalisation built in, along with video content to support engagement. We also ran targeted paid social campaigns to drive traffic into the CRM, promoting open days and lead magnets such as the childcare calculator.

Performance Visibility
Custom HubSpot dashboards were configured to track KPIs at each stage of the journey, from enquiry-to-visit conversion through to retention rates. This real-time visibility allows the Partou team to make informed decisions and continuously optimise activity.

The new CRM and automated customer journey have transformed how Partou engages with families:

• Improved conversion rates from enquiry to visit, and visit to registration, through timely and consistent communications.
• Reduced no-shows for open days and tours via automated reminders and rebooking prompts.
• Increased retention by proactively engaging customers, addressing dissatisfaction early, and encouraging advocacy.
• Greater marketing efficiency with segmented, personalised email and SMS campaigns.
• Real-time insights via dashboards, enabling fast, data-led decision making.

The new customer journey is now fully aligned to Partou’s business objectives, delivering measurable improvements across acquisition, onboarding, and retention — with the flexibility to evolve as the organisation grows.

“Working with Fireworx has transformed how we manage our customer journey. They didn’t just implement HubSpot, they reimagined our entire process from first enquiry to long-term retention. The automation, integration, and reporting have not only improved conversion rates but also freed our team to focus on building relationships with families.”

Partou