How to connect your website to your CRM and accounts, and what it costs

What does connecting a website to a CRM actually involve?

It means an enquiry on the website becomes a record in the CRM without anybody typing it in. The contact is created or matched to an existing one, a deal or job is opened with the right owner, and the source is recorded so you know which page or campaign it came from. A confirmation goes back to the person who asked.

Connecting the accounts is the next link. When the deal is won, the invoice is raised in Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent from the deal itself, and when it is paid, the CRM shows it. Each step is small. Together they remove most of the retyping in a typical service business, and most of the mistakes that come with it.

What are the three ways to connect them?

The CRM's own form or plugin

This is the quickest route. Most CRMs offer an embeddable form, a WordPress plugin, or a script that captures submissions from the forms you already have. Read the requirements before you rely on one. HubSpot's tool for non-HubSpot forms needs its tracking code on the page, and the form must not sit in an iframe, contain hidden fields or run JavaScript on submit. HubSpot also says a submission is not collected if a visitor's browser extension blocks its scripts (HubSpot Knowledge Base). Plenty of modern website forms break at least one of those rules.

A connector tool

Zapier, Make and n8n sit between the two systems and move the data when something happens. They are quick to set up, cover thousands of apps, and are perfectly good at low volumes. The costs rise with use, because each one charges per task, credit or run, and a connection can stop quietly when a password changes. Our comparison of Zapier, Make and n8n sets out what each costs and where it keeps your data.

A direct connection

Here the website's form handler talks straight to the CRM's API, and the CRM talks to the accounts package the same way. It takes longer to build, but nothing sits in the middle, every failure can be logged and retried, and the data can be checked and reshaped on the way. APIs have limits too: Xero allows 60 calls a minute and 5,000 a day for each connected organisation (Xero Developer). A small business rarely gets near them, but a bulk import of old invoices can.

Which route should a small business choose?

Start with the CRM's own form if it meets the rules above and you only need contacts and deals created. Use a connector when two or three apps need joining, volumes are modest, and somebody will keep an eye on it. Build a direct connection when enquiries are frequent, money is involved, the data must be checked before it lands, or a silent failure would cost you a customer. Plenty of businesses use all three for different routes, and that is fine.

Which system should own each piece of information?

Decide this before anything is connected, or the systems will argue with each other. Each piece of information has one owner, and the other systems read a copy of it.

What usually goes wrong?

• Duplicates. The same person enquires twice from different email addresses, and the CRM now holds two of them. Match on email and phone, and decide which record wins.
• Silent failures. A connector stops when a login changes, and nobody notices for a month. Every route needs an alert that reaches a person when it fails.
• Spam in the CRM. Bots fill in website forms. Filter them out before they become contacts, or the pipeline fills with nonsense.
• Field drift. Someone adds a question to the website form, and the answer never reaches the CRM. Changes to the form and to the mapping have to happen together.
• Consent that was never recorded. Somebody adds every enquiry to the newsletter, which is the next question.

Can website enquiries go on your mailing list?

Not automatically. Replying to an enquiry is fine, because the person asked you to. Marketing to them afterwards is different, and the Information Commissioner's Office is plain about it: "You must not send marketing emails or texts to individuals without specific consent" (ICO). The ICO treats sole traders and some partnerships as individuals.

The exception is the soft opt-in. It covers people who bought, or negotiated to buy, a similar service from you, provided you gave them a simple way to opt out when you collected their details and in every message since. So the form needs an unticked box for marketing, and the CRM needs to store the answer with the date. This is general guidance, not legal advice.

What does it cost to connect a website to a CRM?

With us, one route built and documented, such as the website into the CRM, starts from £650. Two or three tools joined so the data moves on its own, with failure alerts and a handover document, starts from £1,950. Four or more systems, or data that has to be reconciled rather than copied, starts from £3,500. Monitoring and small changes afterwards run from £49 a month, and that is never a condition of the build. If a connector tool is used, its subscription is yours and is paid to the vendor.

Everything is fixed in writing before work starts, and our price list has the full set.

What might a first project look like? A hypothetical example

Take a five-person firm with a website, a free HubSpot account and Xero. Enquiries arrive by email and are copied into HubSpot when somebody remembers. Quotes go out from Word, and won jobs are invoiced from scratch in Xero. A first project would send the website form into HubSpot with the source and an owner, and raise the Xero invoice when a deal is marked as won. That is two routes, so a connected system from £1,950. Nothing about the team's day changes except the typing they no longer do.

When should you not connect them?

When there are only a handful of enquiries a month, copying them in by hand takes minutes, and a connection is money spent on very little. When nobody really uses the CRM, connecting the website just fills a database nobody opens. And when the process itself is the problem, a connection makes the wrong thing happen faster. Our guide to the jobs a small business should stop doing by hand helps you decide what is worth doing first.

Can the same firm build the website and the systems behind it?

Yes, and it is usually easier when one team does both, because the form is designed around the CRM's fields rather than bolted on afterwards. That is how we work: we build websites from £995 and the website and CRM integration behind them, and our business systems page shows the whole chain from enquiry to invoice. If you already have a website you are happy with, we connect that one instead.

Not sure what to connect first? Our systems audit, normally £495 and free for a limited time, maps where the retyping happens and gives you a written answer before anything is priced.

Questions about connecting a website to a CRM

Can I connect my website form to my CRM myself?

Often, yes. Most CRMs offer an embeddable form or a plugin, and a connector such as Zapier can join common tools in an afternoon. Check the CRM's requirements first, set up an alert for failures, and decide which system owns each field before you start.

Do I need Zapier to connect my website to my CRM?

No. The CRM's own form, a connector such as Zapier, Make or n8n, or a direct API connection will all work. Connectors suit low volumes and simple routes. A direct connection suits higher volumes, payments, or data that has to be checked before it lands.

How much does it cost to integrate a website with a CRM in the UK?

With Werehouse Media, one route such as the website into the CRM starts from £650, and a connected system of two or three tools starts from £1,950. A do-it-yourself connector costs its monthly subscription plus the time to set it up and watch it.

Can I add website enquiries to my mailing list?

Not automatically. The ICO says marketing emails to individuals need specific consent, unless the soft opt-in applies to existing customers. Add an unticked marketing box to the form and record the answer, with the date, in the CRM. This is general guidance, not legal advice.