The HubSpot flywheel is the growth model behind HubSpot's inbound methodology, and "what is the flywheel?" is one of the core ideas tested in the HubSpot Inbound certification. It is also a useful lens for a B2B website, because it treats the experience you give existing customers and prospects as the thing that drives new growth, not just the top of a funnel. For how inbound plays out on a B2B website specifically, read inbound marketing for B2B.
Short answer: the flywheel is "a model adapted by HubSpot to explain the momentum you gain when you align your entire organization around delivering a remarkable customer experience." Its three phases are attract, engage and delight. Its speed depends on how fast it spins, how much friction it meets, and its size. Forces (programs that help customers) speed it up, friction (anything that slows customers down) slows it, and happy customers feed new growth through referrals and repeat sales. Source: HubSpot, The Flywheel Model.
The Three Phases
HubSpot describes each phase with examples of "forces" you can apply:
| Phase | What happens | Forces HubSpot lists |
|---|---|---|
| Attract | Earn attention with useful content and remove barriers to learning about you | Content marketing, SEO, social media, social selling, targeted paid advertising, conversion rate optimization |
| Engage | Make it easy to buy on the customer's timeline and channels | Website and email personalization, database segmentation, marketing automation, lead nurturing, multichannel communication, lead scoring |
| Delight | Help customers reach their goals after they buy | Self-service, proactive service, onboarding, feedback surveys, loyalty programs |
Two items on that list are worth pausing on for a website team: conversion rate optimization sits under attract, and website personalization sits under engage. HubSpot treats both as ways to add force, not as optional extras.
Force, Friction and Size
HubSpot uses the physical flywheel as the metaphor: the energy it stores depends on how fast it spins, how much friction it meets and how big it is. In business terms:
- Force: programs that move customers forward. HubSpot's examples include inbound marketing, a freemium model, frictionless selling, a referral program, paid advertising and customer service investment.
- Friction: anything that slows the wheel, such as poor internal processes, teams that do not talk to each other, confusing pricing, or forcing prospects through a fixed process.
- Size: the more promoters you create, the more of them push the wheel themselves.
HubSpot suggests finding friction by looking at "why customers are churning, and where prospects are getting stuck in the buyer's journey." On a website, that is a concrete exercise: where do visitors drop out, and what were they looking for?
Flywheel vs Funnel
HubSpot's argument against the funnel is that it "views customers as an afterthought, not a driving force": customers drop out of the bottom and the model stops. The flywheel loops delight back into attract. HubSpot does not say funnels disappear; it says a funnel chart can still describe one process, which is "one piece of a larger flywheel." Our guide to the B2B marketing funnel covers the stage metrics that still apply inside that larger loop.
What the Flywheel Means for a B2B Website
Most B2B sites are built for one moment: the first visit from a stranger. The flywheel asks you to design for every phase on the same site.
- Attract: remove friction for new visitors. Clear positioning, fast pages, content that answers the questions buyers search. CRO belongs here, starting with a CRO audit of the pages that get the most traffic.
- Engage: adapt to who is visiting. A returning evaluator from a target account should not see the same homepage as a first-time student. Showing the right proof and next step per segment is the "website personalization" force HubSpot lists. See what website personalization is.
- Delight: recognize existing customers. When a customer visits, show them help, new features or upgrade paths instead of a demo request. Our post on reducing churn with personalization covers the tactics.
Worked B2B Example (Illustrative)
Illustrative scenario: a B2B software company maps its site against the flywheel and finds three points of friction.
- Attract friction: the blog ranks for useful terms, but every article ends with a demo request. Change: end articles with a related guide or tool, keep the demo CTA for comparison and pricing pages.
- Engage friction: pricing visitors from enterprise accounts see self-serve plans first. Change: show enterprise-plan details and a sales contact to visitors identified as large companies, and track whether they reach the contact page more often.
- Delight friction: existing customers who visit the site land on the same homepage as prospects and have to hunt for the help center. Change: a customer-specific banner linking to the help center and the latest release notes.
Each change is small. Together they reduce friction in all three phases, which is the point of the model.
How to Measure Flywheel Health on the Website
- Attract: organic sessions and engagement rate on entry pages. Our explainer on GA4 engaged sessions and bounce rate covers the definitions.
- Engage: share of identified target accounts that reach pricing or comparison pages, and conversion rate by segment with audience segmentation.
- Delight: customer visits to help and product pages, and referral traffic from customer sources.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the HubSpot flywheel?
A model HubSpot adapted to explain the momentum a company gains by aligning around a remarkable customer experience. Customers move through attract, engage and delight, and delighted customers drive new growth through referrals and repeat sales.
What are the three phases of the flywheel?
Attract, engage and delight, the same three stages as HubSpot's inbound methodology.
What determines the speed of the flywheel?
HubSpot says the energy depends on how fast it spins, how much friction it encounters, and its size. Adding force where it has the most effect and removing friction both speed it up.
What is friction in the flywheel?
Anything that slows the flywheel down, such as poor internal processes, misaligned teams, confusing pricing or forcing prospects through a rigid sales process.
Does the flywheel replace the funnel?
HubSpot positions it as a better model for growth overall, but notes funnels still describe individual processes, each of which is one piece of the larger flywheel.