Automate Company Record Creation in HubSpot CRM with VIES API and Make.com

Managing data for businesses operating within the European Union often involves the crucial step of verifying Value Added Tax (VAT) identification numbers. This process, while essential for compliance and accurate record-keeping, can be time-consuming and prone to manual errors. The VAT Information Exchange System (VIES) provides a vital service for this purpose, allowing businesses to confirm the validity of VAT numbers issued by EU member states for cross-border transactions. Integrating this verification process directly into your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can significantly streamline operations and enhance data integrity. This article will guide you through leveraging the power of Make.com, a no-code integration platform, to connect the VIES API with HubSpot CRM, enabling the automatic creation of company records upon successful VAT number verification.

Understanding the Key Components

To effectively implement this integration, it’s important to understand the role of each component involved: VIES, HubSpot CRM, and Make.com.

What is the VIES (VAT Information Exchange System)?

The VAT Information Exchange System (VIES) is an electronic network operated by the European Commission that facilitates the validation of VAT identification numbers for businesses registered within the European Union. Its primary purpose is to combat tax fraud, evasion, and avoidance by allowing traders within the EU to verify the VAT numbers of their customers residing in other member states. VIES acts as a search engine that queries the national VAT databases of EU member states in real-time to confirm if a given VAT number is valid for cross-border transactions. This validation is crucial for businesses engaged in intra-EU trade, as it helps determine the correct application of VAT, especially for zero-rated supplies. While VIES confirms the validity of a VAT number, the level of detail returned can vary depending on the data provided by each member state. Typically, the response includes a confirmation of the VAT number’s validity and may also provide the company name and address associated with it. The system’s reliance on individual national databases means that the accuracy and completeness of the information are subject to the data management practices of each EU member state.

Introduction to HubSpot CRM and Company Records

HubSpot CRM is a comprehensive business growth management platform that provides a suite of tools for managing customer and company interactions across marketing, sales, and customer service. At its core is a free CRM system that allows businesses to organize, track, and nurture leads and customers throughout their journey. Within HubSpot CRM, Company Records serve as a central repository for storing information about organizations that interact with your business. These records can store a variety of information through properties, such as the company’s name, domain, city, country, industry, and lifecycle stage. HubSpot’s flexibility extends to allowing users to create custom properties to capture additional relevant data specific to their business needs, such as a company’s VAT number. Company records in HubSpot can be created manually, imported from other systems, or automatically generated through integrations with other applications. The platform’s strength lies in its ability to centralize this information, providing a unified view of all interactions and relationships with an organization.

Overview of Make.com as an Integration Platform

Make.com is a powerful and user-friendly no-code integration platform designed to automate workflows by connecting various applications and services. It utilizes a visual, drag-and-drop interface that enables users to design and build complex automated processes, known as scenarios, without writing any code. Within these scenarios, modules represent individual applications or actions, and connections establish authorized links between different applications. Make.com offers a wide range of pre-built integrations, including the VIES API, which is available as a dedicated application (module) on the platform. This no-code approach makes integration accessible to a broader audience, empowering individuals without programming skills to automate crucial business tasks.

Connecting the Dots: VIES API and HubSpot CRM via Make.com

The power of Make.com lies in its ability to seamlessly connect different applications and automate the flow of data between them. In this case, we will use it to bridge the gap between the VIES API and HubSpot CRM.

Exploring the VIES API Module on Make.com

Make.com provides a dedicated VIES API application that offers specific modules to interact with the VIES system. The key module for our purpose is the Get VIES Data module. This function, equivalent to the getVIESData function in the VIES API, allows users to input an EU VAT number and receive a response confirming its validity. Importantly, it also returns additional information, such as the company name and address, if this data is available in the VIES database. This module supports the verification of VAT numbers issued by all EU member states. Another available module is Get Account Status, which provides basic information about your VIES API plan without counting towards your query limit. The availability of these specific modules within Make.com simplifies the process of interacting with the VIES API, as it abstracts away the complexities of the underlying API calls and provides pre-configured actions for common tasks.

Connecting Make.com to Your HubSpot CRM

Before you can start automating the creation of company records, you need to establish a connection between your Make.com account and your HubSpot CRM account. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Log in to your Make account.
2. Create a new scenario or open an existing one.
3. Click the + button to add a new module and search for HubSpot CRM. Select any of the HubSpot CRM modules.
4. Within the module’s settings, you will see an option to Create a connection. Click this button.
5. (Optional) In the Connection name field, you can enter a descriptive name for this connection to easily identify it later.
6. Click Save.
7. You will be redirected to HubSpot, where you will be prompted to log in to your HubSpot account and authorize Make.com to access it. Follow the on-screen instructions to grant the necessary permissions.

Once you have completed these steps, the connection between your Make.com and HubSpot CRM accounts will be successfully established, allowing you to proceed with configuring the automation workflow. Note that for certain advanced HubSpot CRM modules, you might need to establish a connection using advanced settings, which involves creating a custom application in HubSpot and obtaining API credentials. However, for the purpose of creating company records, a standard connection should suffice.

Step-by-Step Guide: Automating Company Record Creation

Now that you understand the key components and have connected Make.com to HubSpot CRM, let’s walk through the steps to automate the creation of company records based on VAT number verification.

Setting up a New Scenario in Make.com

1. Log in to your Make.com account and navigate to your dashboard.
2. Click on the Create a new scenario button.
3. You will be presented with a blank canvas where you can start building your automation workflow. The first step is to define the trigger, which is the event that will initiate the scenario. This could be a variety of events depending on your specific needs, such as a new form submission on your website containing a VAT number, a new contact being created in another system with a VAT number, or even a scheduled process to verify a list of VAT numbers. For this guide, we will assume a scenario where a new form submission containing a VAT number acts as the trigger.

Using the VIES API Module to Verify VAT Numbers

1. Once you have set up your trigger module (e.g., a Webhook module that listens for new form submissions), click the + button next to it to add the next module.
2. Search for VIES API and select the application.
3. From the list of available actions, choose Get VIES Data.
4. In the module’s settings, you will need to specify the EU VAT Number to be verified. Click into this field, and you will see the output from your trigger module. Map the data point from your trigger that contains the VAT number to this field. This dynamic mapping ensures that the scenario will automatically verify the VAT number provided in the trigger event.

Configuring the HubSpot CRM Module to Create Company Records

1. After the VIES API module, click the + button again to add the next module.
2. Search for HubSpot CRM and select the application.
3. From the list of available actions, choose Create a Company.
4. In the Create a Company module’s settings, ensure that the correct HubSpot CRM connection you established earlier is selected.
5. You will now see a section where you can define the properties of the new company record in HubSpot. Click the Add item button to add fields. You will need to map the data returned by the Get VIES Data module to the corresponding fields in your HubSpot CRM company record.

Mapping Data Fields: Linking VIES API Output to HubSpot CRM

This is a critical step to ensure that the information obtained from the VIES API is correctly populated in your HubSpot CRM. Here’s a typical mapping of relevant fields:

VIES API Output Field	HubSpot CRM Company Record Field	Notes
name	name	Company name from VIES will be used as the company name in HubSpot.
address	address (or split fields)	The address might need to be split into separate fields like city, country, zip in HubSpot. You might need to use additional Make.com modules for this.
vatNumber	vat_number (Custom Property)	It is recommended to create a custom property in HubSpot CRM to store the VAT number.

To configure this mapping in Make.com, click into the value field for each HubSpot property and select the corresponding output from the Get VIES Data module. For instance, for the Company Name field in HubSpot, you would select the name output from the VIES API module. Similarly, map the vatNumber to your custom VAT number property in HubSpot. If the address is returned as a single string and you need to populate separate address fields in HubSpot, you might need to use Make.com’s Text Parser module or other string manipulation tools to split the address into its components before mapping them to the respective HubSpot fields. 

If you have purchased an individual plan on viesapi.eu, you can also use the dedicated function Get VIES Data Parsed, which automatically parses data received from VIES into appropriate attributes.

Testing and Troubleshooting Your Integration

Once you have configured all the modules and the data mapping, it’s crucial to test your scenario to ensure it functions as expected. Use a valid EU VAT number that you know exists in the VIES database to trigger the scenario. Monitor the scenario execution in Make.com to see if it runs without errors and check your HubSpot CRM to verify if a new company record has been created with the correct information from the VIES API. If you encounter any issues, double-check your connections, the configuration of each module, and the accuracy of your data mapping. Make.com provides detailed logs that can help you identify and resolve any errors in your workflow.

Best Practices and Considerations

To ensure the smooth operation and effectiveness of your integration, consider the following best practices and potential scenarios:

Handling Invalid VAT Numbers

It’s important to plan for cases where the VIES API might return an invalid VAT number. The Get VIES Data module will provide a status indicating the validity of the number. You can use Make.com’s Filter module to check this status. If the VAT number is invalid, you can configure different actions to take, such as sending a notification email to an administrator, creating a contact record in HubSpot instead of a company record with a note about the invalid VAT number, or simply stopping the workflow for manual review. Implementing such conditional logic ensures that your HubSpot CRM remains clean and accurate.

Managing API Usage and Limits

Be aware that the VIES API might have usage limits depending on your subscription plan 7. Exceeding these limits could lead to temporary service disruptions or additional charges. Make.com’s VIES API application includes a Get Account Status module that you can use to monitor your current plan and potentially your usage. Regularly checking this status can help you avoid any unexpected issues with your automation workflow.

Ensuring Data Accuracy and Consistency

While the VIES API provides a reliable way to verify VAT numbers, the accuracy and completeness of the returned company name and address depend on the data held by the respective EU member states. Therefore, it’s essential to periodically review the data in your HubSpot CRM and potentially enrich it with additional information from other sources if needed. Additionally, stay informed about any potential changes to the VIES API or the HubSpot CRM API that might require adjustments to your Make.com scenario to ensure continued functionality.

Conclusion: Streamline Your Business Operations with Automated VAT Verification and CRM

Integrating the VIES API with HubSpot CRM using Make.com offers a powerful way to automate the crucial process of VAT number verification and company record creation. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can significantly streamline your business operations, improve the accuracy of your CRM data, enhance compliance with EU VAT regulations, and save valuable time by eliminating manual data entry. Embrace the power of automation and unlock new levels of efficiency in managing your EU-based business relationships.

VIES API Team