Transcript: Setting up Chatbots in HubSpot

Video 1: Is a chatbot right for my business strategy?

Hi there, it’s Adriti from HubSpot Academy. Today we’re talking chatbots.

A chatbot is a computer program designed to simulate conversation. So, instead of a human on live chat
answering customer or prospect messages, a computer program — a chatbot — answers those messages instead.
Chatbots on company websites are used for a variety of reasons: answering customer service issues, lead
generation, and other simple business tasks. In a world where 82% of consumers say quick response is important
when they have pertinent questions, employing a chatbot can give your end-users the satisfaction of a quick and
accurate answer, all while saving your company time and money. Bots never have sick days, and as an added
bonus, bots can handle multiple interactions simultaneously with ease. It’s no wonder people are scared of bots
taking over!

If adding a chatbot to your website isn’t on your radar already, it should be. Gartner estimates that by 2020, 85%
of online customer interactions will be executed through bots. But before we jump in and talk about creating
chatbots, let’s first make sure that putting a chatbot on your website aligns with your business strategy.

To assess if chatbots are right for you, ask yourself four questions:
1. Is human bandwidth a constraint? Chatbots take out the human component of a conversation
while still delivering results. If you’re low on headcount, you could be a good contender for using
chatbots.
2. Do I need to collect data or report on conversations? Collecting data such as name, email
addresses, etc. doesn’t necessarily require a human. Forms, and now chatbots, can do this easily.
If you’re looking to collect data, ask yourself whether or not humans are the best way to do so.
Keep in mind that you can have a chatbot start the conversation, and then transfer the
conversation to a human if needed.
3. Is the cost of making a mistake low? Chatbots are technology, and like all technology, there’s a
margin of error. Chatbots can make mistakes if end-users’ answers don’t add up right, or if there is
a mistake in configuring the bot, or even if there’s a bug in the system. By implementing a bot,
understand that there’s a risk that your bot makes a mistake. If you can’t afford to take the risk,
perhaps chatbots aren’t right for your business strategy.
4. Are there repetitive processes or standardized answers your customers need? Bots are great at
executing lower-level tasks. There’s no reason for a human to be answering, “What are your hours
of operation?” Bots are more than capable of spitting out standardized answers. So, if your
company gets a lot of messages that have standard answers, consider using a bot.

If you answered yes to all these questions, try adding a chatbot to your website strategy. If you answered no to
some, weigh the pros and cons of adding the chatbot to your website. Maybe try the chatbot for a few days or
weeks. Maybe put it on a site that’s less frequented to start. Keep in mind that if a chatbot isn’t right for you at this
moment, it doesn’t mean it always won’t be right. As your business needs evolve, your chatbot strategy will as
well.

If you’ve decided chatbots are the way to go, let’s talk specifically about HubSpot chatbots. HubSpot chatbots
are rule-based, meaning they’re powered through a series of defined rules. Rule-based chatbots can have very
simple or complicated rules; however, they can’t answer any questions outside of the defined rules. These
 Transcript: Setting up Chatbots in HubSpot

chatbots are only prepared for the scenarios that you program within them. For example, if an end-user says a
phrase your chatbot isn’t programmed to know, the chatbot will send an error message. For this reason, when
implementing rule-based chatbots, it’s important to have predefined answers your end-users can choose from,
rather than free response. Rule-based chatbots are different from artificial intelligence chatbots, as AI chatbots
use machine learning to understand the context and intent of a question before formulating a response.

HubSpot chatbots can implement the following actions:

Send simple message

Ask a question
Offer email subscription
Set contact property value
Set company property value
Add to static list (Marketing Hub Starter+)
Submit a ticket
Knowledge base lookup (Service Hub Pro+)
Send to a team member
Enroll in workflow
Trigger a webhook
Run a code snippet
Book a meeting
If/then branches

Now that you know the scope of a HubSpot chatbot, think through some scenarios you’d like to use your chatbot
for. Here are some common chatbot scenarios:

• Surface marketing collateral

• Capture leads
• Book meetings
• Create customer service tickets

As you think about what you need from a chatbot, also think through what website pages you’d like your chatbot
to live on. For instance, do you have a knowledge base you’d like to put a support chatbot on? Or perhaps you
should put a booking-meetings-bot on your sales page.

Now that we’ve talked through the benefits of chatbots and whether or not it’s right for your business, you’re off
to a great start in creating your very own chatbot strategy.

Video 2: Building a chatbot strategy

If a chatbot is right for your website strategy, it’s time to start outlining your bot. In the resources section below,
you’ll find a workbook you can use to follow along and outline your own bot. Feel free to pause the video and
write in your answers as we go through it together.

HubSpot chatbots are rule-based bots that can only answer questions based on the scenarios you program, so
let’s take this time to make sure you’re outlining your bot efficiently and effectively. Outlining your bot before
 Transcript: Setting up Chatbots in HubSpot

building it will help you think through all possible outcomes your bot can lead to. This way, you don’t overlook
anything, and you make sure your bot helps end-users to the best of its ability.

To ensure your bot is efficient and effective, keep in mind these best practices:

• Don’t pretend to be human. A bot that pretends to be human is illegal in certain states.
• Create an error message. If you don’t program something just right, or if there’s a bug in the system, your
end-user can get frustrated communicating with your bot. If this happens, make sure you have an error
message that tells your end-user other options: For instance, they can contact you via email or phone.
• Add value before you extract value. Many chatbots first ask for the end-user’s email before trying to help.
This might discourage folks from talking to your bot. Instead, ask them how you can help, and once the
bot knows whether or not it can help, have it ask for the appropriate information.
• Economize your branches when you can. Make sure you’re only asking for exactly what you need;
otherwise, your end-users might feel as if talking to your bot is a chore.

Let’s look at the different types of HubSpot chatbots:

1. Book meetings bot
2. Lead generation bot
3. Service bot

Within these bots, there are actions you can take, such as:
• Send simple message
• Ask a question
• Offer email subscription
• Set contact property value
• Set company property value
• Add to static list (marketing hub starter and above only)
• Submit a ticket
• Knowledge base lookup (service hub professional and up)
• Send to a team member
• Enroll in workflow
• Trigger a webhook
• Run a code snippet
• Book a meeting
• If/then branches

The very first thing you need to do is ask yourself “what’s the goal of my chatbot?” You can go simple here—if you
just want your bot to be a support bot to look up knowledge base articles and submit tickets, that’s great. You
can also get more complex if you’d like.

Next, ask yourself what webpage(s) should the bot live on. Your answer should change based on the type of bot
you’re creating: a bot to generate marketing content could be on a homepage; a sales bot meant to book
meetings could be on a pricing page; and a support bot for folks to create tickets could be on a knowledge
base, for example.
 Transcript: Setting up Chatbots in HubSpot

Finally, ask yourself who should see this bot. Is it meant for everyone who visits your site? Just customers? Just
folks part of a certain list? Should you hide this chatbot from anyone? For example, if you want a bot to book
meetings with sales reps, perhaps this bot should be hidden from current customers to avoid confusion.
Now, let’s get to the fun part: flowcharts. When outlining your bot, remember that every interaction leads to a
certain bot behavior. This can get very complicated very fast, so it helps to see it all on paper before building the
bot in HubSpot.

Let’s map out a chatbot together. We’ll use the fictional company HubTub. HubTub sells and installs bathtubs.

HubTub’s goal is to execute a knowledge base lookup, submit a ticket if needed, and surface upsell
opportunities. The bot will live on the customer resources home page, and we will only surface the bot to current
customers.

Now let’s get to flowcharting.

First, as most bots will, mine starts with a welcome message: “Hi there! How can I help?”

Then, based on my chatbot goal, I’ll write out the options I want my bot to surface. The end-user will be able to
click into one of these options:

• Something’s wrong with my tub.

• Check what’s new.
• Place a new order.

Right after they choose, my bot will ask them to confirm their email address so that we can save the conversation
to the right person.

If someone selects “Something’s wrong with my tub,” I want my bot to ask what the problem is so that my bot can
do a quick knowledge base search. Therefore, when my end-user selects “Something’s wrong with my tub,” the
bot will respond with “Sorry to hear that! In a few words, please tell me what’s wrong.” On the backend, I will ask
my bot to do a knowledge base lookup. If my bot finds something compelling, it will surface that knowledge
base article, along with the question, “Was this helpful?” If the knowledge base article was helpful, the bot has
successfully completed its task and will move on to ask if there’s anything else it can help with—placing a new
order or seeing what’s new. If this is the case, the bot will follow the same steps I implement for the other
branches. If the knowledge base article wasn’t helpful, or if the initial response yielded no knowledge base
results, the bot will ask them if they want to create a ticket. If yes, the bot will ask for a few words describing the
ticket. The bot will then thank them, and reassure them that they will get a human response within 24 hours.
Once they’ve submitted their ticket, the bot will ask if there’s anything else it can help out with—if the end user
wants to place a new order or check what’s new. If the end-user doesn’t want to create a ticket, the bot will tell
them their options: email or call.

Next, let’s branch out “Place a new order.” When placing a new order, especially something as expensive as a
fancy tub, folks most likely will want to talk to a human. For this reason, we keep the bot conversation short: The
bot will ask what product they’re interested in, and then save their response as a contact property. Next, the bot
will pass the conversation on to a human to close the deal.

Next, let’s branch out “Check what’s new.”

 Transcript: Setting up Chatbots in HubSpot

Since HubTub already has a webpage documenting their new appliances, the bot will simply pull up that
webpage as a link. Most likely, the end-user will go to the webpage right away. If the end-user chooses to come
back to the bot, they’ll see the bot has asked a simple question: “Would you like to place an order?” Followed by
the options “yes” or “no thanks, I’m all set.” If the person would like to place an order, the bot will follow the same
steps as for the “Place a new order” branch.

Once you’ve outlined your chatbot goals, answered the “what” and “who” questions, and built out a flowchart,
you officially have a chatbot strategy, and you’re ready to build your chatbot out in HubSpot.

Video 3: Building a chatbot in HubSpot

To build a chatbot in HubSpot, in the top navigation, click “Conversations” and “Chatflows.” In the top-right, click
“Create chatflow.” In the left sidebar, select a bot template: qualify leads bot, book meetings bot, or support bot.
Keep in mind these are just templates, so if you want to combine book meetings bot and support bot, for
example, click into either one, and you’ll be able to add additional actions.

Also, please keep in mind that you need Service Hub Admin access to create support bots.

For this example, we’ll choose “Qualify leads bot.”

In the upper-right, click the pencil icon and select a language from the dropdown menu.

Click “Next.”

In the dialog box, click the dropdown menu and select a shared inbox where your bots messages will live. Click
“Create.”

In the build tab, customize the bot template and create a welcome message that will greet your visitors. To edit
the welcome message content, click the “Welcome message” step in the bot template. In the welcome message
panel that opens, enter a welcome message. In the “Display options” section, customize the bot widget’s
behavior on desktops or mobile screens.

If you would like the bot to pop open as soon as someone visits the site, check the box.

Click “Save.”

To modify a bot message or action, click the action in the bot template. In the right panel, edit the bot action.
Keep in mind you can add in predefined answers for your end-users to choose from where it says “Quick replies.”
If you don’t want your end-users to input free responses, check “disable free text input.” You can also save their
responses to a HubSpot property if you’d like. Once you’re done editing the action’s settings, click “Save” or
click the“If/then branches” tab to set up the flow of your conversation.

Within “if/then branches,” click the plus icon “Add if/then branch.” Here, use the flowchart you created earlier to
build out your conversation flow.

To add another question or action, click the plus icon.

 Transcript: Setting up Chatbots in HubSpot

Once you’re done editing the bot’s action, in the top-right, click “Preview” to see what your bot will look like on
your website.

When you’re ready, click the “Who” tab on the left sidebar.

Here, select the audience for your bot. You can also hide your bot from certain folks. Once you’re ready, click
“Save.”

Next, click into the “When” tab. Specify when the chat widgets should appear on your website.

Click into the “Options” tab. Here, you’ll customize your bot’s display options.

Enter a display name in the “Chat heading” field.

To edit your avatar’s photo, hover over the avatar and click “Change photo.”

To customize the amount of time after inactivity before the chat session is reset, click the “Session timeout”
dropdown menu and select an option.

To set a delay between each message that is sent to visitors, click “Typing delay between messages.”

Under “Session timeout,” select the amount of time after inactivity before the chat session is reset.

To customize the response visitors see when a request fails, enter error messaging in the “Error response” field.

To change the bot’s display language, select the “Select a language” dropdown menu.

To decide if the chatflow should appear based on the team’s availability you set at the inbox level, click the
“Availability” dropdown menu and select an option.

Now that you’re done editing the bot, in the top-right, click to toggle the switch on to add it to your website
pages. You now have a working bot on your website.