Microsoft ads in HubSpot: count the jobs you win

After you send the invoice for an electrical job in Avon, you still have one small task: update the customer record. Leave that customer under "new lead" in HubSpot and you'll have trouble checking which ads brought you work.

On September 30, 2026, Microsoft announced that its advertising integration is live in HubSpot. HubSpot is a customer record system. The connection lets existing users bring Microsoft campaigns into the same place they manage inquiries and deals.

My recommendation: check one inquiry through to a won job before increasing your ad budget. You can use the connection to investigate results, but you still need to record the work you win. The numbers below are examples, not results from a Luminest client.

Can you connect Microsoft ads on a free HubSpot plan?

HubSpot's connection guide, checked October 13, 2026, lists all products and plans. You need Publish access to HubSpot's ads tool and Super Admin access to the individual Microsoft Advertising account.

In HubSpot settings, go to Marketing > Ads > Connect account, then choose Microsoft Advertising. Have your account owner handle access if you can't see or authorize the connection. Microsoft says the integration is live; HubSpot's September 7 tracking guide still mentions a beta, so check availability in your account before making plans around it.

The reporting costs need a separate check. HubSpot's ads dashboard documentation puts additional metrics, including revenue, ROI and cost per deal, on Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise. A free connection doesn't include those reports.

If you already use both tools, test what your current plan provides. If you keep 15 monthly inquiries in a spreadsheet and can identify the jobs you won, I wouldn't buy another subscription for this connection alone.

How do you check the tracking before spending more?

Start with one active Search campaign. HubSpot's Microsoft tracking guide supports tracking for Search ads. It lists Audience campaigns as reporting-only, so seeing spend and clicks there doesn't prove you can trace a contact to an ad.

Ask whoever manages your website to check the landing page's HubSpot tracking code and form capture. They should check ad auto-tracking too. HubSpot adds identifying information to the ad's destination link; redirects must preserve it. Read the contact attribution requirements with them before changing a working form.

Tracking starts with future clicks. Free CRM and Marketing Hub Starter users have the Last ad interaction report, which requires the contact to enter HubSpot during the same session as the ad click. Someone who returns tomorrow could fall outside that report. Keep the customer's own answer to "How did you hear about us?" alongside the tracking.

For the Avon electrician, inspect a new estimate request from that Search campaign. Confirm the contact and campaign association, then check that the person responsible for estimates receives the request. After you win the work, associate the deal with that contact and update its amount and close date.

HubSpot's deal-based ROI settings require a Closed Won deal and an attributed contact in the default Customer lifecycle stage. Check the reporting date range too. Then compare the deal with your invoice records: you still have to collect the money.

If you need help connecting the website form to the records you use, our website and custom software services cover that work. Agree on the fields and the person who handles each inquiry before adding automation.

What did each won job cost?

Imagine that electrician spends $600 on a campaign and receives 20 inquiries. Two customers hire the company. The calculation takes less than a minute:

Measure	Calculation	Result
Ad cost per inquiry	$600 / 20 inquiries	$30
Ad cost per won job	$600 / 2 jobs	$300
Inquiry-to-job rate	2 jobs / 20 inquiries	10%

Suppose each job brings in $1,800. After direct labor and materials, the owner has $700 left per job. Across two jobs, that's $1,400 before ads and fixed overhead. Subtract the $600 ad spend and the owner has $800 left toward overhead and profit. Add agency fees or other acquisition costs before calling the campaign profitable.

A dog-grooming business in Broad Ripple has different math. Say it spends $150, wins 5 first-time appointments, and keeps $35 per appointment after direct costs. The owner has $175 before ads, then $25 after them, before overhead. Repeat bookings could improve the result, but count those appointments after customers return.

I wrote about checking what a marketing package buys because you deserve to connect an invoice to a business result. You can apply that same check to Microsoft ads. Use your own costs rather than somebody else's revenue screenshot.

Give customers enough time to decide, too. Our piece on judging ads across the customer's buying cycle covers that timing. Compare inquiries from the same period and follow their outcomes; a busy October inquiry list can include jobs you'll win in November.

Before you raise the ad budget, follow one inquiry through to a won job and check the payment in your accounts.

Pick a completed job this week. Open its customer record beside the invoice. Check the deal amount, Customer lifecycle stage and invoice payment while you still remember the conversation.

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Sources

#	Source	What it backed up
1	Microsoft Advertising: September 2026 updates	September 30 announcement that the HubSpot integration is live.
2	HubSpot: Connect Microsoft Advertising	Plan availability, account permissions and connection steps, checked October 13, 2026.
3	HubSpot: Analyze ad campaigns	Professional and Enterprise requirements for additional revenue and cost-per-deal metrics.
4	HubSpot: Track Microsoft Advertising ads	Supported campaign types, tracking parameters and the older beta note.
5	HubSpot: Ads attribution	Tracking prerequisites, future-click tracking and Free/Starter last-interaction limits.
6	HubSpot: Configure paid-ad ROI	Closed Won and contact requirements for deal-based revenue reporting.
7	Luminest: What a marketing package buys	Related guidance on checking marketing expenses against business outcomes.
8	Luminest: Stop killing your ads on day seven	Related guidance on allowing for the customer's decision time.