How to Build a CRM on Bubble.io: A Step-by-Step Guide
A custom CRM built on Bubble.io for a specific industry or sales process outperforms generic CRMs for the specific use case it is designed for. The data model, the core features, and the specific Bubble.io workflows that make a custom CRM work.
The Market Opportunity
A CRM built on Bubble.io for a specific vertical solves the core problem with generic CRMs: they are designed for the average sales process, which means they fit no specific sales process particularly well. A bespoke CRM for a specific vertical — dental practices managing patient referrals, law firms tracking matter pipelines, agencies managing client projects — can include the exact fields, stages, automations, and views that the specific workflow requires. SA has built CRMs for clients in professional services, healthcare, real estate, and agency verticals, and the pattern is consistent: the custom CRM is adopted by the team at a higher rate than the generic CRM it replaced because it fits the actual workflow.
The Four Essential Data Types
Contact (or Company + Contact)
Fields: name, email, phone, company, source, owner (relationship to User), tags (list of text), and created date. For B2B CRMs, add a Company data type as a parent record with multiple Contacts related to each Company.
Deal (or Opportunity)
Fields: title, value (number), stage (relationship to Stage), probability (number), expected close date, contact (relationship to Contact), owner (relationship to User), and status (Open, Won, Lost). The Deal is the primary pipeline tracking unit.
Stage
Fields: name (Prospect, Qualified, Proposal, Negotiation, Closed Won, Closed Lost), order (number for display sequence), and probability (the default win probability at this stage). Storing stages as a data type allows the pipeline stages to be customised per Account without rebuilding the application.
Activity
Fields: type (Call, Email, Meeting, Note, Task), date, duration, outcome text, contact (relationship to Contact), deal (relationship to Deal), and created_by (relationship to User). The activity log is the primary record of relationship history.
🔗 Related reading on sasolutionspk.com
How the CRM data model connects to the sales process framework — the pipeline stages and activity types that map to a structured B2B sales motion.
Bubble.io Database Design: The Complete Guide for Founders in 2026
The foundational data model principles for a Bubble.io CRM build.
What Makes a CRM Actually Used
Contact and company management
A searchable, filterable list of contacts with a contact detail page showing all related deals, activities, and notes. The contact detail page is the most-used page in any CRM; invest in making it comprehensive and fast to navigate.
Pipeline kanban board
A visual kanban board showing all open deals grouped by stage, with deal cards showing the deal value, contact name, and expected close date. The kanban board is the primary daily-use view for sales teams.
Activity logging and reminders
A one-click activity log from any contact or deal page, with a task creation option. A daily digest email showing all tasks due today is the CRM feature that drives daily active use more than any other.
Pipeline and revenue reporting
A dashboard showing: total pipeline value by stage; deals won and lost this month; conversion rate by stage; and average deal cycle time.
Email integration
Log emails sent to contacts directly in the CRM activity feed, using either a BCC address that pipes emails into the CRM or a native Gmail/Outlook integration via the API Connector.
Q: How much does it cost to build a custom CRM on Bubble.io?
A custom CRM with the five core features described in this post typically costs $10,000-18,000 with SA, depending on the complexity of the pipeline stages, reporting requirements, and integrations needed. All SA builds begin with a $345 Discovery Sprint that produces a fixed build quote.
Q: Should I build a custom CRM or customise an existing one like HubSpot?
Build custom when: your sales process has specific stages, fields, or automations that generic CRMs cannot support without significant workarounds; your team is small enough that licence costs for a generic CRM are not significantly less than a custom build; or you intend to sell the CRM as a product to other companies in your vertical.
Q: Can SA build the CRM as a SaaS product I can sell to other companies?
Yes — and this is one of SA’s most common CRM build types. A vertical-specific CRM built for one client becomes the foundation of a multi-client SaaS product with modifications for multi-tenancy, a self-serve sign-up flow, and subscription billing.
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