Hubspot and Motion AI: Chatbot-

Enabled CRM
 Hubspot

• An inbound marketing SAAS solution provider; assisted its B2B customers in planning and executing
marketing campaigns by assisting them in developing, hosting, disseminating, and analyzing digital
content.
• Three categories of product solution: Marketing Hub (for traffic growth and conversion of visitors to
customers); Sales Hub (for driving productivity and more deal closures with less effort); and Customer
Hub (connecting with customers on their terms and helping them succeed).
• In 2017, acquired Motion AI, a software platform to design and employ chatbots to interact with
customers.
• Following this, Hubspot started to look for ways to use chatbots for CRM.
• Hubspot required to evaluate the bot's ability to create, nurture, and manage relationships in comparison
to humans, as well as how human-like these bots should be.
• Hubspot prospective customers pass through various stages of the sales funnel.
• Depending upon the activities at these stages (ToFu, MoFu, BoFu), Hubspot had to decide where to use
chatbots and if they should use bots in the post-sales customer service process.
Q1. Should HubSpot replace its human chat representatives
with chatbots? Why or why not?

Chatbots have several merits and demerits. While it is not advisable to completely replace human
representatives with chatbots. HubSpot can use chatbots to complement human representatives and
provide a superior customer experience. Chatbot offers the below advantages that make them desirable
to be used alongside human representatives:
• Chatbots respond to clients' needs more quickly and practically immediately. This relieves them of the stress of
waiting in a large phone queue or phoning during work hours. They can get their queries answered whenever they
want.
• This saves time by reducing the amount of time spent on the phone with clients answering important questions.
Chatbots save time and effort, which can be used to provide more proactive customer care.
• Chatbots are also more cost-effective than employing more human chat delegates to provide balanced, tailored
responses for a large number of HubSpot clients with changing needs. This allows for customization at a large scale.
• Clients can also directly communicate with their possible concerns and complete their assignment without leaving
their preferred chat interface because chatbots have been integrated into messaging services like Facebook
Messenger, WhatsApp, and WeChat. There is no compelling incentive for them to go to the organization's website
or download another app to their phone. According to HubSpot's own research, 71% of respondents are pleased to
use messaging apps to receive a good customer support experience (Exhibit 4).
Q2. Which activities in HubSpot’s marketing and selling process would you turn over from humans to
Bots? Why? In which phases of the funnel (ToFu, MoFu, BoFu)would Bots do better(worse) than
humans?

• Customers' questions were answered more quickly by bots. During business hours, they did not have to wait in
huge lines to get answers to their questions. Customers no longer have to visit websites since chatbots have been
incorporated with messaging apps such as Whatsapp and Wechat.
• Chatbots can be used to take client enquiries early in the buying process, supporting people in obtaining
knowledge about the competitor and the customer during the sales process, as well as during post-sales care.
• Hubspot's marketing funnel began with a "stranger" who was attracted to the website through inbound marketing
content, was converted to a "visitor" who was educated and tracked and was then converted to a "lead" who was
identified and nurtured before being passed on to the sales team to close the deal.
• The chatbot can be used at every stage of the funnel, but Mofu will be particularly significant for the organisation.
Customers are learning about the company and comparing it to competitors at this point. Chat reps could handle
three conversations at once, however this resulted in a notable delay in response time, and each chat rep cost the
organisation over $60000 per year.
• The chatbot was available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and had a faster reaction time. Only when the
questions became more complicated did humans become necessary. Prospective consumers were assessed on a
scale of one to ten, with ratings close to real-time. HubSpot had a pool of 40% leads that required the attention of
chat reps before being passed on to the sales team. The company was able to save a significant amount of money
and time as a result of this.
 Q3. How might customer behaviour change if customer interacted with Bots versus humans? How
might this behavioural change affect the type of relationship formed with the company, the
trajectory of that relationship, and its inherent profitability?

The behavioural change that occurs while interacting with bot vs humans are :-
• Bots responded quickly to a customer's questions or demands without requiring them to wait in a call or a queue, hence improving service quality. This
was a speedier and more efficient means of reacting to clients than contacting or emailing them in a humanistic manner.
• Relationships with B2B customers were more nuanced and relational than transactional. Furthermore, such customers were demanding, necessitating
the hiring of a competent salesperson to service them. As a result, B2B clients would be significantly more wary of bots for business purposes than
people.
• In the example of live chat, where purchasers could get real-time answers to their inquiries from a real person, the concept did not prove to be a long-
term success. Consumers had to wait for a long period as a result of increased traffic and internet penetration. Trying to keep up with such customer
enquiries was difficult for the chat responders, and as a result, customers had to wait for a long time. This, in turn, could be viewed as a complete
contradiction on the side of the corporation in naming it a live chat, resulting in customer irritation.
• According to Exhibit 4, 71% of consumers are inclined to employ bots for customer service, although the majority of those who do so do so solely
because such issues are resolved promptly and correctly. We can assume that bots were useful in simple customer service situations, but not in more
complicated ones.
• "Some situations not just require human understanding and problem-solving but a level of compassion and empathy". This assertion is exemplified by
the fact that many of the bots with which customers interacted were occasionally frustrating.
Some effects due to such behavioural changes are :-
• Lack of Trust & Credibility – The bots service is efficient but not in all industries such as for healthcare it cannot be trusted and inefficiency of
few % could lead to credibility loss among customer and bad word of mouth.
• Transparent information – B2B companies might not be sure if they are interacting with bots or humans and this might hamper the
transparency and information flow for both the parties.
• Empathetic behavior – Humanistic interaction should be more empathetic but not on the expense of main motive i.e. to solve the issue. The
absence of such behavior might lead to loss of customers.
 Q4. As it develops best practices to share with its customers, what should HubSpot recommend
regarding.
a) How “human” chatbots should be

• Today’s chatbots come with a range of personality options to choose from. Chatbots can range from bots that answer
questions with nothing but facts and data to a machine that imitates human sympathy, humor, and gratitude. Businesses
need to use chatbots carefully to give them a sense of humanity without leaving their customers to feel hoodwinked.

• While basic chatbots seem too robotic to engage with, a human-like chatbot might make customers feel uncomfortable.
There is also a risk of chatbots giving silly or inappropriate answers while trying to be like a human, which might adversely
affect customer experience. Hence, chatbots should be designed such that it falls between being a robot and a human.
Chatbots should show some degree of humanness but should not dwell too deep into emotions, sympathy, etc.

• In the current scenario where the technology behind a chatbot is still evolving, the best chatbot is the one that provides
accurate facts and data with a medium degree of human touch. Such chatbots should be capable of understanding
complex human interactions and language intricacies but should provide responses that are mainly based on facts and
data with a slight human touch. If a conversation requires a higher degree of human interaction, it should be transferred
to a human representative.
 Q4. As it develops best practices to share with its customers, what should HubSpot
recommend regarding.
b) Whether and /or when/how to disclose to a customer that they are chatting with a bot rather
than a human

• HubSpot should disclose to the customers that they are chatting with a bot right at the beginning of the conversation.
This is important because It’s incredibly frustrating for today’s consumers to spend the majority of a conversation online
thinking that they’re talking to a human, only to discover later on that they’ve been talking to a bot. People tend to be
more forgiving of bots that aren’t as in-tune with human nuance than they are of bots that attempt to replicate human
language poorly.

• Disclosing to the customer that they are chatting with a bot rather than a human will set the right expectation and will
also improve the company’s brand value. By making use of chatbots, a business can present itself as an entity that cares
about being innovative and original.

• A transfer to a human representative would be easier during the chat if the customer already knows that he is conversing
with a bot (and not a human). However, the overall customer experience would be terribly affected if the customer was
not informed that he was chatting with a bot, and later a human representative takes over when the bot is not able to
handle the customer’s concerns.
 Q4. As it develops best practices to share with its customers, what should HubSpot
recommend regarding.
c) Whether the bot should always speak in the voice of the brand or adjust its relational style
based on cues it receives from an individual consumer? why?

• It will make more sense if the bot is able to adjust its relational style based on cues it receives from an individual
customer instead of always speaking in the voice of the brand.

• Adjusting its relational style for each individual customer will help provide a personalized experience. This personalization
will help improve the overall customer experience. Customer are able to remember the product/service when they are
provided with a personalized experience as opposed to a transactional experience and this will help the business improve
customer satisfaction and sales. However, there is a flip side to this. Most of the bots are in their nascent state and hence
are prone to making errors. Any unintended response/error during an interaction with the customer can negatively
impact the customer experience.
Q5. Was HubSpot’s acquisition of Motion AI a smart move for the company?
How might it affect its relationships with its own customers?

Yes, the acquisition of Motion AI was a smart move for the company as it is a software platform that would allow
HubSpot to quickly build and deploy chatbots to communicate with their customers and provide better customer
relationship management.
Below are a few pointers that show how it might affect its relationship with its own customers:
a. Chatbots stimulated human conversational partners so well that it was difficult to identify when one was
talking with a computer.
b. Chatbots will help HubSpot to deliver one-on-one customized customer relationships efficiently.
c. It will help in reducing the time of standing in a call queue or giving prompt answers to customer’s needs.
d. Chatbots were fast and less expensive. They are programmed to give prompt answers by asking a series of
questions and understanding the needs of the customers.
e. Chatbots were deployed on messaging app networks such as messenger, Whatsapp, Wechat, etc, which was
in line with the way people communicated with technology in the modern generation. This will help HubSpot
to serve customers efficiently.
Q6. Go to messenger.com and send a “Hello” message to GrowthBot. Ask the bot
several questions about HubSpot and its competitors. How can this product and
other simple chatbots like it change marketing and sales as we know it?

Chat With GrowthBot – No Response 

Chat with GrowthBot was pretty frustrating as there was no

response even after 4 hours. Initially, we doubted the
authenticity of the page but were able to confirm that this was
the right link and GrowthBot. Our experience can be summarized
as follows.
• Frustration due to lack of response from GrowthBot for over 4 hours
• There was no alternatives provided, Alternatives like speaking to a
human representatives or information about the Bot being down was
unavailable
• The bot continues to exist on a page with over 14000 likes despite
being non-functional. This can cause customer anger and might make
them doubt the credibility of the business
• There was no information as to want happened. A simple message
mentioning “this service has been discontinued” would have been
much better.
• We could not find any information related to why this service is not
working on the internet. This was an unsatisfactory experience.
Q6. Go to messenger.com and send a “Hello” message to GrowthBot. Ask the bot
several questions about HubSpot and its competitors. How can this product and
other simple chatbots like it change marketing and sales as we know it?

ChatBots have been developed to mimic human communication and make decisions regarding the interaction based on machine-learning algorithms
with minimal or no human intervention. Some of the major issues that companies face while marketing and selling their product/service are as
follows.Below are a few pointers that show how it might affect its relationship with its own customers:
• Companies get only a few seconds of attention: Several studies have shown that companies have only 7-8 seconds to get customers’ attention. Any delay can cause
them to lose over 30% of their potential clients and this issue is more acute in a B2C setup.
• Customers expect real-time interaction: Customers prefer the company to give them top priority. Waiting in a phone queue or responding to IVR takes too long and
affects the customer experience. In a business survey conducted by Drift marketing team, it was observed that less than 10% of companies respond to queries within
5 minutes, while more than 50% companies take up to 5 days to respond.
Chatbots can change the way companies market and sell their product through the following ways
• Interactive experience: Chatbots can create a user-friendly, personable experience with customers to ensure that the first impression is good. Chatbots can be
designed to add creative phrases, gifs, images based on customer persona and this creates a unique one-to-one experience for the customer and prevents click away
• Data collection: Chatbots can gather data from conversations with the customer, identify their needs and preferences and store it for later use. Storing data allows
chatbots to recall past conversations and provide additional value. This information can be leveraged to send more specific messages and content to returning
visitors.
• Personalized experience: Chatbots can be programmed for each individual customer. Being able to customize the product offering based on individual customers’
requirements and preferences improves customer experience and leads to better sales and positive word-of-mouth marketing.
• Sales funnel flow: Chatbots can be used to effectively filter out potential clients from others who are not very serious about making a purchase. Chatbots can assist
customers in their search process, educate them on products and drive sales. They can also redirect potential clients to sales representatives while providing a better
experience to non-serious purchasers so that they can turn into potential customers soon. This will improve the efficiency of sales representatives while also
incentivizing hesitant customers to buy the product/service.
• Lead generation: Chatbots could help businesses create quality leads and nurture them. They can engage with prospects without the company sending annoying
emails or SMS. Chatbots can select the right leads based on the information collected and convert them into customers.
 Q7. How would you assess the potential for chatbots for managing B2B and B2C customer
relationship in general? Under which conditions do bots have the most and least potential?

Assessment of chatbots :
• Simplicity during the Onboarding Process – According to Dharmesh, the co-founder of HubSpot, the chatbots should be
simple and example-based.
• The retention rate of users for the software – When product designers pay attention to the conversations that occur
throughout the interactions, they can simply construct a roadmap that aligns the demands of consumers.
• Suggestion boxes provided – If developed appropriately, UI widgets, such as suggestion boxes, can actually improve
client interaction with software. Widgets can be used to introduce customers to new usage while also minimising the
amount of input required to obtain a final response.
Conditions :
MOST LEAST
Post-sale – Chatbots can be used to maintain and develop client Bottom of the funnel – Because this is a challenging stage, and
relationships, as well as to answer customer questions and retain salespeople are hired for things like answering technical issues,
them in the long run. facilitating integration, negotiating costs, and other things,
chatbots may result in client loss.
Bots can be employed in the middle of the funnel to reach out to Because the answers must be smart and targeted to their needs,
an increasing number of customers, ensuring that there is no delay chatbots cannot be used as the first line of connection between
in responding to clients. customers and Hubspot.
 Effectiveness of ChatBot
2500* Strangers Conclusion
4%
Visitors • Only one out of 2500 Strangers who visited hubspot.com
100
becomes a profitable customer. This translates to a
40% Leads conversion ratio of 0.04% (Strangers to Profitable clients)
40
Qualified Leads
12.5%
• Human intervention can happen from the leads part of
the funnel as a higher degree of human assistance will be
5 Opportunities
required from this stage. Hence, ChatBots can help
Clie identify potential leads which is only 1.6% (40/2500) of
nts total visitors. It helps eliminate 98.4% of clients who have
20%
limited intention to buy.
1 • Average cost of sales representative is $60000 per year
*numbers are assumed for simplicity and elimination of almost 98.4% of non-serious customers
will help optimize resources (cost and headcount of sales
Given Information rep)
• 4% of people who visited hubspot.com filled out a form or interacted in live
chat (Visitors)
• The ChatBot would be effective at the Tofu level and to a
• HubSpot was attracting a pool of leads where 40% were graded with scores
ranging from 7 to 10, making them worthy of a salesperson’s attention lesser extent at a Mofu level to enhance customer
(Leads) experience, gather information and control unwanted cost
• Chat reps were able to set up meetings with the more expensive salespeople of human representatives. At the Bofu level, human
for 12.5% of these leads. (Qualified Leads & Opportunities) representatives are required to provide deep assistance to
• Conversion rate was 20%. Each salesperson closed five customers per month. the potential customers.
(Clients)