QuickBooks Customer Hub is a built-in CRM that helps businesses strengthen customer relationships and drive growth. It streamlines feedback collection, lead management, and communication all within QuickBooks Online.

Key Customer Hub features include:

• Automated feedback collection: Sends customizable post-invoice surveys to gather insights and highlight improvement areas.
• Referral generation: Prompts satisfied customers to provide referrals, which are tracked as new leads.
• Lead and opportunity management: Track prospects from first contact to close with real-time status updates.
• Communication tools: Manage contracts (with e-signatures) and email conversations.
• Task and organization tools: Assign tasks, monitor progress, and store notes for each customer or lead.
• AI-powered features: Leverage AI for lead management and prioritization, email management, and more.

Yes. You gain access to different features of Customer Hub with each QuickBooks Online plan.

Customer AI is currently available for QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced users with Gmail or Outlook accounts. Once you complete the Gmail or Outlook integration in Customer Hub, Customer AI will scan your email to identify and surface hot and warm leads for you in QuickBooks Online.

From the Leads tab in Customer Hub, you can view, track, and follow up with each lead individually.

QuickBooks Online Essentials users and above can automatically collect testimonials after a customer completes a QuickBooks pay-enabled invoice or by sending a direct link for feedback from Customer Hub. When feedback is provided for your business in Customer Hub, you can copy and paste the testimonial onto your website or Google Business Profile.

No. Only a QuickBooks Online plan at any level is required to use Customer Hub.

Leads are generated through different marketing activities designed to attract potential customers and prompt them to share their contact details. In Customer Hub, leads come from two sources—Customer AI and referrals:

• Customer AI: After completing the Gmail integration in Customer Hub, Customer AI scans your email to identify and surface hot and warm leads.
• Referrals: Referrals are collected through an automated survey after a customer completes a QuickBooks Online invoice with payments enabled, or by sending a direct link for referral from Customer Hub.

Yes. You can access different features of Customer Hub with different QuickBooks Online plans. With QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced plans, you gain access to contracts and e-signatures, as well as Customer AI.

CRM (customer relationship management) software is designed to help businesses manage customer data, track interactions, and streamline processes to strengthen relationships and boost sales. It typically includes tools for lead management, communication, and task organization, all aimed at improving the customer experience and driving sales growth.

Lead management is the process of attracting potential customers, tracking their interactions, and guiding them through the sales funnel until they become paying customers. It helps businesses stay organized, nurture relationships, and maximize revenue opportunities.

• With QuickBooks Customer Hub, you can manage every step in one place:
• Track leads and their progress in the sales cycle.
• Turn satisfied customers into referrals.
• Showcase testimonials on key review sites to build trust.
• Speed up deal closures by sending, signing, and storing contracts directly within QuickBooks Online.

• Traditional CRM: Focuses on storing and organizing customer information, tracking sales activities, and keeping a record of interactions. It helps teams manage relationships by centralizing data, but it often relies on manual updates and user-driven insights. Automation is typically limited to simple tasks like reminders or follow-up alerts.
• AI CRM: Goes further by using artificial intelligence to automate repetitive work, streamline lead management, and surface opportunities more efficiently. It can help generate and prioritize leads, manage email and communication tasks, and suggest timely actions to keep relationships moving forward. By making customer management more proactive and less manual, AI CRM helps businesses strengthen connections and drive growth with less effort.

Yes. QuickBooks Online includes Customer Hub, a built-in CRM designed for small and growing Canadian businesses. Unlike standalone CRM tools that require a separate subscription and manual data syncing, Customer Hub lives directly inside QuickBooks Online, where your invoicing, payments, and customer records already are.

With Customer Hub, you can manage leads, collect feedback and referrals, send contracts with e-signatures, and use AI to surface your best opportunities.

CRM tools generally fall into three categories:

• Operational CRM: Focuses on streamlining day-to-day sales, marketing, and service tasks. Automates follow-ups, tracks deals, and manages customer communications.
• Analytical CRM: Uses data analysis to uncover customer behaviour patterns, monitor pipeline performance, and guide business decisions.
• Collaborative CRM: Connects different teams (sales, service, support) around a shared view of the customer to improve coordination.

Most small business CRM tools—including QuickBooks Online Customer Hub—are primarily operational, focusing on contact management, lead tracking, and communication tools that help you close deals and retain customers.

Yes. QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced subscribers can send, sign, and store contracts directly within Customer Hub. You don't need a separate e-signature service. Contracts can be sent from within a lead or contact record, and once signed, they're stored inside QuickBooks Online for easy reference.

This makes it straightforward to move from proposal to signed agreement without leaving your accounting software. Compare QuickBooks Online plans to see which tier includes contracts and e-signatures.

Customer Hub is available on all QuickBooks Online plans, no extra setup fee required. To access it, sign in to QuickBooks Online and go to Customer Hub from the main menu.

From there, you can:

• Import your existing customer contacts.
• Connect Gmail or Outlook to enable Customer AI lead detection.
• Set up automated post-invoice feedback surveys.
• Start tracking and managing leads from the Leads tab.

If you're new to QuickBooks Online, the QuickBooks Online accounting software page is a good place to see how all the tools fit together.

Customer Hub uses Customer AI to surface your most promising leads automatically. Once you connect your Gmail or Outlook account, Customer AI scans your email to identify hot and warm leads, and surfaces them in the Leads tab.

From there, you can view each lead's status, set follow-up tasks, and track their progress through the sales cycle. This means less time sorting through your inbox and more time focused on the opportunities most likely to close.

QuickBooks Online is built to support Canadian businesses in meeting their data privacy obligations, including PIPEDA.

Customer data stored in QuickBooks Online is protected by Intuit's security infrastructure, which includes:

• Encryption
• Access controls
• Ongoing security monitoring

When using Customer Hub to collect testimonials, referrals, or feedback, you remain responsible for obtaining proper customer consent in line with PIPEDA requirements. For specific compliance questions, consult your legal or privacy advisor.

Yes. QuickBooks Online connects with hundreds of business apps, so the customer and financial data in Customer Hub can work alongside the tools you already use. Common integrations include:

• Payment processors
• E-commerce platforms
• Project management tools
• Marketing software

For email-based lead management, Customer Hub integrates directly with Gmail and Outlook to power Customer AI. You can browse available integrations from the QuickBooks App Store inside QuickBooks Online.

Standalone CRM platforms require a separate subscription, manual data syncing between your accounting and sales tools, and often ongoing admin work to keep everything aligned. For small businesses, this usually means customer data scattered across multiple platforms.

QuickBooks Online Customer Hub is built directly into your accounting software, so your CRM and financial data live in the same place. When a customer pays an invoice, it can automatically trigger a feedback request. When a referral is collected, it's added as a new lead. Everything connects automatically—no imports, no third-party integrations, and no extra tools to manage.

A sales funnel describes the stages a potential customer moves through, from first contact to closed deal. The typical stages are awareness, interest, consideration, and decision.

Customer Hub gives you a structured way to manage this journey inside QuickBooks Online. You can:

• Collect leads from email activity or referrals.
• Track where each prospect sits in the sales cycle.
• Assign follow-up tasks.
• Send contracts when a deal is ready to close.
• Store all of it in one place.

Instead of managing opportunities in spreadsheets or your inbox, you get a clear view of every active lead and what action to take next.